Ready to fight Alaska wildfires
Ready to fight Alaska wildfires
4 August 2009
published by www.timesunion.com
USA — Eight state Department of Environmental Conservation forest rangers and 12 volunteer employees left Monday for Alaska to help combat wildfires.
The firefighters were dispatched through an agreement with the U.S. Forest Service.
The 20-person wildland firefighting crew departed from the DEC Forest Ranger Fire Cache in Saratoga Springs by bus early in the morning.
They will meet up with four other crews from Eastern states before flying to Fairbanks.
The crew expects to spend 14 days fighting fires in the Crazy Mountain Complex along with hundreds of firefighters from around the country.
The fires have struck hundreds of thousands of acres in the Railbelt and Crazy Mountain areas.
Forest rangers and wildland firefighters dispatched to Alaska are:
Crew boss: Forest Ranger Scott Jackson (Central New York.)
Crew boss trainee: Ranger Arthur Perryman (Northeast/Adirondacks.)
Squad bosses: Rangers Martin Flanagan (Western New York), Adam Pickett (Northern/Central New York) and Joseph Hess (Capital Region.)
Rangers Gary Miller and Benjamin Baldwin (Hudson Valley Region) and Kevin Slade (New York City Region)
Volunteers Eric Kasza, Steven Brown and Kraig Senter (Capital Region); Donald Nelson and Harry McDaniel (Central New York); Matthew Manning, James Canevari, Jerry Eaves (Northern/Central New York.) Aaron Graves (Northern/Central New York); Anthony Leung and Joseph Pries (New York City); and Paul Giachetti (Western New York).
