Northern firefighters battle u.s. wildfires
Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services
Coeur D'Alene, Idaho (Aug 28/00) - Northern personnel held their own on the fire lines in southeastern B.C., Montana and Idaho.
They went south in early August, called to help battle a record number of wildfires.
Fifty-five fire personnel from the Northwest Territories, including two DC-4 tanker groups from Buffalo Airways, were called to help out during what U.S. officials have called the worst season of fires in their history.
Since they went south Aug. 9, Northern crews have fought fires in Idaho, near Cranbrook, B.C. and in Montana where hundreds of thousands of acres of forest have gone up in smoke.
It's been quite an experience for the firefighters from Hay River, Fort Providence, Fort Simpson and the Dogrib region.
It's difficult terrain and we're doing a lot of this stuff without using water," said Lance Schmidt, NWT fire services spokesperson while based in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho last week.
"Almost always in the Northwest Territories water is used; here it's hand tools, a lot of bending over using the shovels.
"It's a lot of back-breaking work that they're not used to."
The crews were based in a camp about 40 minutes from the nearest community southeast of Coeur D'Alene, Idaho.
A typical day for them started at about 7 a.m. with a quick breakfast and then a 45-minute bus ride to the fire.
They have been dealing with steep mountain slopes for the past two weeks, working at an altitude of about 6,200 feet.
The firefighters went in shifts to town every second day to shower after working in sweltering temperatures of around 35 C.
"It's just an amazing opportunity for these guys to not only go south, but south of 49 and not be outclassed," Schmidt said proudly.
"They're smiling, laughing and know they are doing a good job."
Along with the U.S. military and groups from the southern Canadian provinces, about 60 to 80 personnel have been called on from Australia.
"They've all said these guys are doing really well and are impressed with their work ethic," Schmidt said.
The fires are not expected to die down for several months, but the Northern fire crews were expected to return to the NWT last weekend.
"Our fire crews are essentially done there," Schmidt said.
"You can't expect people to do much more than that."
