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FIRE!!!
Montana Unless you've been on Survivor Island you are painfully aware of the severity of the wildfire situation in the western United States. As in the past, Maryland's Foresters, Rangers, Wildlife Technicians and Park Rangers have volunteered to leave their families and friends for 2 weeks at a time to assist in the suppression effort. Our crews are some of the first to be called up because of their qualifications and experience. Our people are mobilized out of the Eastern Area Coordination Center at Ft. Snelling, MN and fly out on either a private charter flight or on commercial air lines out of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Civilian volunteers are also encouraged to apply to become part of the suppression crew but must first pass a rigorous physical endurance test and be trained in wildland firefighting techniques. (AKA "red carded") Battling a house fire is much different than battling a raging forest fire which may consist of 16 hour days for 14 straight days. Usually the crews are brought back home to rest for 48 hours before returning for a second assignment. Not all volunteers end up on the front line. While some are front line crew bosses or observers others may end up at base camp or demobilization staging areas. Still others may never even see smoke. These qualified individuals could be stationed at Geographic Coordination Centers around the country charged with ordering more crews or equipment. So far Maryland has sent out four full crews of 20,one half crew and 30 individuals a total of 120 firefighters. On average, our Forest Rangers and Foresters battle 600 wildfires per year here in Maryland but truly they do no reach the magnitude or devastation of the western fires. This page was last updated on 12/10/00 |
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The Forest Conservancy District Board for Baltimore County 9405 Old Harford Road Baltimore, Maryland 21234 (410) 665-5820 Email Robert Prenger ....... rprenger@dnr.state.md.us Melvin Noland ....... mlnoland@bcpl.net
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