Hundreds of Marines and ten Navy helicopters stand ready, but California has not requested help from the Pentagon to fight the raging fires in Los Angeles, according to a Pentagon spokesperson on Friday.
“Why isn’t the military putting all of their forces right now on the ground? We have to work with the state,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said at a Pentagon briefing Friday.
“So as the state requests resources, as the state of California requests capabilities, we are standing by and ready to support, but we absolutely have to work with the state, and the state and the governor is going to know best on how to use our assets,” she said.
The Pentagon currently has 500 active-duty Marines and a variety of equipment on standby, but they have not yet been requested by California, Singh explained.
She said they are prepared to support requests of route clearance, distribution of supplies, search and rescue, and air support.
The Marines are only 60 miles east of L.A. at March Air Reserve Base, which is currently serving as a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) staging base.