Team Rubicon Greyshirts discuss safety and site assessment during the Cody Fire “Burning Rubber Operation” in Oracle, AZ. Photo by T.C. Brown
Dozens of volunteers from across the Southwest are in the Oracle area from Sept. 10-20, 2025, helping the community with wildfire recovery. Volunteers from Team Rubicon, a veteran-led nonprofit humanitarian organization, are in Oracle to help residents recover from the devastation of the Cody Fire in May and protect the community from future wildfires. Team Rubicon volunteers, known as Greyshirts, perform wildfire recovery and mitigation operations year-round to ease the risks of wildfires to vulnerable communities nationwide, including several recent operations in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, and California.
Team Rubicon is a national and local organization, with the ability to serve communities across the nation because Greyshirt volunteers live in every state, Puerto Rico, Guam, and Canada—including over 4,000 here in Arizona. This operation is possible because of our local Arizona volunteer leaders and the critical support from the Pinal County community, especially the Oracle Fire District, Oracle CERTs, Oracle Firewise, Oracle Living Word Chapel, Rotary Club of SaddleBrooke, YMCA Triangle Y Ranch Camp, Oracle Community Center, Oracle Piano Society, Pinal County Public Works, and Pinal County Emergency Management. Thanks also to Simply Sandwiches and Way of Bean of Oracle, as well as Bubb’s Grubb in Catalina, who helped feed the volunteers.
The Cody Fire consumed over 1,200 acres in Pinal County, severely impacting the town of Oracle—destroying six homes, damaging up to a dozen other buildings, and impacting wells and water access. The Pinal County Emergency Management requested Team Rubicon’s assistance in debris management and removal, demolition of homes requested by homeowners so they can begin rebuilding and felling and removing hazardous trees to mitigate the danger of wildfires.
“This “Burning Rubber’ operation is to aid Oracle residents affected by the Cody Fire and protect the Oracle community at large. Over the next week and a half, just under 50 Greyshirt volunteers from all around the region are travelling to Pinal County to support this wildfire recovery and mitigation operation with chainsaws, heavy equipment, and the desire to serve a community in need.
Team Rubicon Sawyers assist in the wildfire clean-up on Cody Loop in Oracle, AZ. Photo by T.C. Brown
This year to date, Team Rubicon has already completed 65 operations across the country and recently deployed to:
- Burnet County, Texas (Flood Recovery)
- Lincoln County, Nevada (Wildfire Mitigation)
- Milwaukee County, Wisconsin (Severe Storm Response)
- Los Angeles County, California (Wildfire Recovery)
From fire mitigation to natural disasters and crisis response, Team Rubicon responded to 98 disasters across North America last year. As we enter hurricane and tornado season, Team Rubicon is ever reliant on our 200,000 volunteers to respond to where they are most desperately needed. To support our Greyshirt volunteers and Team Rubicon’s humanitarian mission, visit www.teamrubiconusa.org to donate, volunteer, and find more information.
Team Rubicon is a veteran-led humanitarian organization that serves global communities before, during, and after disasters and crises. Founded following the Haiti earthquake in 2010, the organization has grown to more than 200,000 volunteers across the United States and has launched over 1,200 operations domestically and internationally. To drive equity across disaster and humanitarian services, Team Rubicon focuses on three areas of impact: disaster response- from mitigation to immediate response to recovery; long term recovery & workforce development — maintaining the fabric of communities through resilient building methods; and medical services- providing emergent and surge health care, WASH, and disaster risk reduction. The organization is featured in the Emmy-nominated Roku original series titled Team Rubicon, which highlights the work of Greyshirt volunteers assisting communities across the country. Visit www.teamrubiconusa.org for more information.”
Team Rubicon Heavy Equipment Operator removes metal debris from a home lost in the Cody Fire in Oracle, AZ. Photo by T.C. Brown