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A firefighter is fighting the so-called Creek Fire in California in early September
Photo:
Noah Berger / AP
"We work in shifts. 24 hours on, 24 hours off until the fire is over. I've been putting out the fire for almost 40 days. Right now I'm on a fire near Lake Oroville in Northern California. It's been burning here for around one week, and in the first night the flames traveled about 40 kilometers.
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Robert Foxworthy
Photo: private
About 2,000 firefighters fight with me on Lake Oroville.
That is little.
A fire of this size would normally have twice as many people on duty.
But this time there are several major fires across California.
Everyone is busy.
We don't have enough people.
I am still not afraid.
I've been a firefighter for 20 years, my father was a firefighter, I grew up with this profession.
The use of such fires puts my life in danger every time.
But that's my job.
That's what I've trained for many years.
To person
Robert Foxworthy
, 39, is a firefighter in the California city of Chico.
Captain Foxworthy has been fighting the flames almost without a break for weeks.
His rank is comparable to that of a German head of operations.
There are always difficult moments, of course.
When the tops of large trees catch fire, the flames can sometimes reach more than 30 meters high.
But we protect ourselves as best we can.
For example, we don't go into areas where the fire is too dangerous.
We always have an escape route in view.
And we try to stay close to the vehicles.
At the front, we communicate using radios.
There are always colleagues who keep track of the area.
Fortunately, a firefighter is rarely injured or even dies.
We are also slowly getting used to the fires.
We have been dealing with these great fires over and over for the past ten years.
Here in California it is windy and dry and there is not enough rain.
We know what to do.
In the beginning, it was all about getting people to safety.
Now we're trying to protect the buildings from the flames.
My own house is in no danger.
But many residents have lost their homes.
Some fires have spread to the housing estates.
They are still threatening more than 70,000 buildings across California.
We don't know how long the fire fighting will take.
There are many influencing factors, for example the weather or the number of firefighters who are on duty.
So it's hard to predict.
But we're slowly getting the fire at Lake Oroville under control. "
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