Fighting fires: How departments work together to put out the flames

During a busy fire season, fire departments from different cities are called to help assist in times of need.

Cal Fire crews responded to a fire on Tyler Street in Coachella on Monday, with some help from the Palm Springs Fire Department.

“We sent out one engine and I believe they were requesting you know, for structural protection and we go out there and go to their plan location they need us and go from there," said Captain Nathan Gunkel.

It’s certainly not the first time it’s happened, and it won’t be the last. Gunkel told News Channel 3 there’s several reasons why they’re called out to assist other areas. “We may, you know, disconnect propane tanks. We may, you know, clean off the roofs are certain buildings that have shaped shingles," Gunkel explained, "We may go and protect on that and actually like you said, park in front of it and be the barrier in between the fire and the house.”

And sometimes, a fire isn’t always necessarily involved to ask for extra assistance. “No one agency is going to be able to handle a large event, whether it be an active shooter situation, you know. They may we may be requesting, you know, 50 engines from local departments when we're able to get that immediate, you know, assistance out there," Gunkel explained.

Thanks to the mutual aid agreement, Palm Springs Fire, as well as other departments, can get those resources when they’re in need. “When we need them for fires and our mountain sides and our local surrounding areas, we may be requesting 5 to 10 to 20 engines.”

Gunkel told News Channel 3 it’s an agreement that helps immensely. “There's no way we could have 30-40 engines on our city for the what if or the big, you know, fire that day. And same thing with our locally you know, neighborhood departments. So we run with what's good operational every day and knowing that we can reach out.”