FRESNO - With wildfires now burning in Northern, Central and Southern California, National Guard troops on Wednesday were preparing to deploy to fire lines — the first time the military has been called to ground-based firefighting duty in California since 1977.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday ordered 200 guardsmen to report for fire training to begin assisting on the fire lines early next week. The extra hands are expected to boost the nearly 19,000 personnel currently fighting hundreds of fires up and down, as well as across, California.

“I think that they all are doing a great job, but the danger is that our firefighters get stretched thin,” the governor said of the existing crews. “A lot of them are working overtime, and they are staying up there for more than 12 hours, sometimes 24 hours, 36 hours. So we have to be very careful that they get enough sleep and they get enough rest.”