 I'm Brian May at the Incident Command Post for the Mendocino Complex fire, now the largest fire in California history. It is over 290,000 acres. There are close to 4,000 firefighters here battling this fire right now and they're working out of this Incident Command Post. We have seen firefighters from literally every corner of the state of California and over a dozen states sending mutual aid. But there is no question as to which crew has traveled the farthest to get here. It is late evening on day 10 of what has become the largest wildfire in California state history. Amidst a sea of fire engines from across the country, a non-descript white bus rolls in, the end of a very long journey. We don't get fires of this size in New Zealand. These 41 firefighters have traveled over 8,600 miles from New Zealand, a 13 and a half hour flight all to help join this firefight. This morning in the briefing they said that this fire could turn out to be California's largest ever fire. It is now. Oh, there we go. The bus trip was long. These 41, like all of the crews on this fire, will be together 24-7. They expect to be away from home for the next 40 days. After a quick night's rest and a hearty breakfast the next morning, it is time for the daily morning briefing at 0700 Sharp. Go down the road all the way back down into here. Take a look around and you will see patches and logos and uniforms from local fire departments all over California. When it comes down to it, California's mutual aid system works on a volunteer basis. Every single one of these teams here are here because they got the call and said yes. We'll go anywhere that we can ask that we can help out. And every guy you have with you wants to be here, right? Every single one. We've been pretty fortunate we've had a strike team of hardworking individuals that wanted to be here. We respond to help out the whole community of the state of California. I mean that's kind of what our job is is to be out there and to not just help our community but help the whole state of California and where our resources are needed. Answering the bell when called upon, it's what California's mutual aid system depends on. And as they head out for another day's fight, a grateful community stands just across the street to say thanks. Show my respect to these gentlemen and women that left their families and their children at home come and keep my family and my children safe. There is no question the locals here are showing all of the firefighters love not only on this fire but on all the fires that are burning across California and speaking of these fires are making for some horrible smoky conditions all over the state of California. Joining me now from the State Operations Center in Sacramento, Michelle Mead with the National Weather Service. We're going to talk more about why we have these conditions, Michelle. First of all, thank you for joining us. Tell me why we're seeing this smoke just linger in the valley like we've seen over the last several days. Hi, Brian. Well, as you mentioned, there are numerous fires burning across the state of California with some of the bigger ones in Northern California. And I notice you're looking a little warm out there and reason for that is we've got high pressure building over the area. And what that means is the air underneath the high pressure ridge doesn't move very much. So what that means is when the smoke from the fires is going up into the air, there is no wind to mix it out like we normally see happen. And what it does is it lays down into the valley because we are like a giant bowl. So the smoke will just linger and it does result in very smoky conditions and in some instances so dense that it even causes some visibility issues for aviation community. Do we expect this to lift anytime soon? What's the forecast going forward? So it does look like the smoke is going to remain in the valley for at least the next day and a half to two days. We do get some relief in the Delta because we are experiencing a little bit of an onshore push. But it doesn't make it much past Sacramento or as far north as even Yolo County. So the folks up in the hardest hit areas of the fires unfortunately are dealing with very smoky conditions. Michelle, I know you guys at the National Weather Service have put together a map that really helps people understand just how bad the conditions are. Can you talk about that? Yeah. So the scientists have put together, the meteorologists have put together what we call a surface smoke model forecast. So what it does is it uses the ongoing fires, the current atmospheric conditions and it will give us a forecast of where the smoke might go over the next 24 to 36 hours. We've been putting these out daily to help folks realize or figure out you know whether or not they should be going forward with their outdoor activities but like the last couple days I've shown better idea to postpone them or move them indoors if possible. And tell us again where we can find that map. We usually post them on our social media. It's not readily available on our website but we are doing daily updates of those maps. So follow us at NWS Sacramento on Facebook and Twitter and we are posting them there. Michelle Mead with the National Weather Service. Michelle, thank you so much. You're very welcome, Brian. Stay cool out there and safe. Thanks. For more information on the air quality around California you can go to airnow.gov. Again I'm Brian Mead at the Incident Command Post for the Mendocino Complex Fire for all of us at Cal OES. Thanks for watching.