Firefighting help from down under arrives this weekend
By BUDDY SMITH Staff Reporter
Fire crews in western Montana will get some help from their counterparts in Australia and New Zealand.
Forty-seven firefighting specialists from lands down under are arriving this weekend to help battle blazes in the state, Linda Slater, information officer for the Northern Rockies Incident Information Center in Missoula, said Thursday.
They arrived in Boise, Idaho, at about 8 p.m. Wednesday and are undergoing orientation through Friday before being sent to Montana, where they will be assigned to different fires, including the Cooney Ridge blaze, which has burned in three counties, including Ravalli, but is most active now near the town of Clinton.
On Saturday, the first of the 47 fire specialists will fly to Missoula, while a second batch of Aussie and Kiwi aviation specialists will arrive Sunday, Slater said, because the helicopter managers who are part of the group will get an extra day of orientation.
"I heard their terminology is very different from what's used in the U.S., so they'll have to get that straight," she said.
This is the third summer in four years U.S. firefighters have gotten help from Australia and New Zealand, according to Slater. Crews from those countries helped battle flames in Montana during the landmark 2000 wildfire season, and again last summer at Oregon's Biscuit fire.
Slater said the Australian and New Zealand arrivals won't be hand crews, but overhead personnel, including strike team leaders, division supervisors, helicopter managers and specialists in operations, planning, logistics and infrared mapping.
She said they're highly trained and qualified, and they're needed in Montana because overhead positions are in short supply with so many large fires still aflame.
According to Slater, officials were still deciding where the fire personnel would be assigned, but she added they will be used where they're needed, likely where blazes are burning from near Glacier to Missoula, though at least one of the specialists will be assigned to the Cooney Ridge blaze, which has burned 24,000 acres since Aug. 9.
She said the fire personnel are here under an international agreement in place since 2000. Last spring, U.S. firefighters flew to Australia to help battle flames. Also, in 2000, Canadians made history when, for the first time, they managed a large U.S. fire, the Blodgett blaze that burned 12,000 acres west of Hamilton. This year, Canada is grappling with a severe fire season of its own.
Reporter Buddy Smith can be reached at 363-3300 or bsmith@ravallirepublic.com
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