Oklahoma firefighting crews heading to California

Friday, October 31st 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Undated-AP) -- Two groups of firefighters from Oklahoma and Arkansas are going to California to help fight wildfires.

The Cherokee Nation of Tahlequah is sending a crew of 25 Firedancers to help fight the more than 272,000 acre fire near San Diego. The crew flew from the Fort Smith, Arkansas, airport Friday morning.

The Arkansas-Oklahoma Interagency Fire Coordination Center in Hot Springs, Arkansas, is sending 180 firefighters from nine American Indian crews to California.

The crews leave from Fort Smith at 5 this afternoon and will help fight a 50,000 acre fire in the San Bernardino National Forest.

The crews are from the Seminole, Pawnee, Kiowa, Cherokee, Apache, Caddo, Chickasha, Choctaw and Comanche tribes.