RIVERSIDE – With so many local fire crews sent north to battle fires still raging across Northern California, some firefighters who remain down south have worked up to 21 days in a row to cover for their missing comrades, it was reported Saturday.

CalFire Capt. Scott Herrick covered a Highland station for three straight weeks while his colleagues are assigned up north.

Extended shifts of up to three weeks continuous duty are the norm for firefighters in Riverside and San Bernardino counties these days, the Press-Enterprise newspaper reported.

Normal shifts at Inland Empire fire stations are three straight days of 24-hour duty, followed by four days off, the Press-Enterprise reported. Under an extended schedule for many CalFire teams across the state, firefighters get only two days off and then start another three-day shift.

Other firefighters are pressed into continuous service, they said.

The extended shifts go into effect every fire season during major incidents, said CalFire-Riverside County Capt. Fernando Herrera.

“At any one of our stations, there is a group that has been on for 21 days,” Herrera told the Press-Enterprise. Lately, he added, “You'll see more of the families coming by the station to see dad or mom.”

Herrick, who lives in Irvine and is divorced, plans to return home today to spend the weekend with his two teenage sons before going back to work, the Press-Enterprise reported.

“I'm handling it pretty good. The hardest part is being away from the family,” Herrick told the newspaper. “I've kind of noticed it goes in phases. You do good the first week. Then you get a little depressed but get over it, and then you're just cruising along. You kind of accept that you're going to be here for a while.”

During the peak of the fires in Northern California, crews from across the state and elsewhere in the nation were fighting an estimated 1,400 blazes, many sparked by lightning. The estimated number of fires still raging out of control upstate today was closer to 300.