PA Environment Digest

It is a classic case of the best against the worst. Put another way, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Or, more accurately, flying—out of Pennsylvania and into some of the worst wildfires in the Southwest in years.

Southwestern states. Southern states. Western states. As other states needed help this spring and summer battling brush and woodland fires, they called upon Pennsylvania’s elite, highly trained crews. Again, and again.

A total of 124 men and women have left this state for wildfire duty in 2011, still far off the all-time 2000 high, when almost 300 volunteers were dispatched from Harrisburg International and other airports statewide.

Destinations included life- and property-threatening wildfires in Arizona, New Mexico, Florida, Texas, Georgia and North Carolina.

Some DCNR employees, others volunteer firefighters from companies across the state, all are trained in a DCNR Bureau of Forestry wildfire program that strives for excellence.

The manpower commitment continues to rank Pennsylvania as a leader among Northeastern states in supplying firefighting crews. It is a service that repays itself in several ways:

"These firefighters bring home more than the satisfaction of giving 100 percent," said Bureau of Forestry Director Daniel Devlin. “They bring back to Pennsylvania first-hand knowledge to better fight large fires in our woodlands. They know how to work as a team in the face of impending disasters."

"There is a strong underlying 'You help me, I'll help you' approach to this cooperative effort,” adds Randall White, chief of the bureau's Division of Forest Fire Protection. ”If we ever face a major wildfire in Pennsylvania, we know help is just a phone call away."

Before the volunteers, drawn from all 20 of the state forest districts, qualified for deployment they first attended specialized training camps overseen by the Bureau of Forestry. Attendees must pass physical fitness tests that include walking three miles in 45 minutes, with a 45-pound pack on their backs.

The typical day for the firefighters serving their two-week stint is very much like a military field operation, volunteer firefighters say. Amid a daily diet of smoke and grit, briefings, equipment checks, and daily assignments, there was little glory and a lot of hard work.

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