Lt. Ken Smith, a San Francisco firefighter and resident, recently helped battle the state’s wildfires.

Is this the first time you’ve gone to fight a wildfire elsewhere in the state? Yes, for me personally, but for us as a city, it’s something we prepare for as a state mutual resource. We’re willing to take that call when it comes in.

What fire were you sent to fight? The Butte County fire. A total of 26 of us went out.

What was it like out there? It was challenging — the terrain was steep. Most city companies do structural protection, which basically you’re assigned to an area where you need to protect homes. That’s a Type A strike team. A Type C strike team … you would actually be in the forest area putting hotspots out. And then there’s Type G. They have nothing but tools and they fight the fires with tools. We went from A to C to G — so we did it all.

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Have you ever done anything like this before? No. It was definitely a tremendous and rewarding experience. We had 24-hour shifts, and we were driving down or hiking down into these remote areas. We worked from dawn to dusk ... You’re out there backpacking, we saw bears and deer.

Bears! Were they running from the fire? They weren’t necessarily running from the fire. But their food and homes were burned and they were wandering around looking for a new spot. It’s real, it’s a different environment.