Thousands of firefighters are helping fight the wildfires including crews from Portland.
Damon Simmons with Portland Fire & Rescue said he and about a dozen other firefighters drove 22 hours to get down to Southern California as fast as possible.
They worked through the night. Simmons spoke with KGW News through FaceTime during a break.
Simmons said they're stationed on the Thomas Fire and they've been working hard for the last couple days to make sure homes don't go up in flames.
More than 190,000 people are under evacuation orders in Southern California, and Simmons said people are expressing their appreciation of firefighters who are coming to help them.
“Every other person is saying thank you, and thank you for being here and we really appreciate it, and I can't believe you came this far to help us and it means, it means so much,” said Simmons.
Simmons said there are likely more than 250 firefighters from Oregon who are fighting the six wildfires burning in southern California.
He expects Portland firefighters will stay for two weeks.
Simmons said California firefighters headed up to Oregon this year to help fight the Chetco Bar Fire, so firefighters from Oregon are glad to return the favor.