An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Home : News : Article View
NEWS | Oct. 17, 2019

Kansas Guard buttresses state wildland fire response

By Cpl. Kathryn Mazos 105th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

SALINA, Kan. – Soldiers and Airmen from the Kansas National Guard partnered with the Kansas Forest Service and fire departments from all over the state in a wildland firefighting exercise.

The Sept. 19 exercise was part of a week of classroom and field training hosted by the Kansas National Guard's Director of Military Support Office.

"As a result of the fires that occurred in 2016 and 2017, we looked at that and determined there were things the National Guard could do," said Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli, the adjutant general of Kansas.

Forty-four Soldiers and 15 Airmen from more than 10 units attended the training. Participants came from different civilian careers, as well as some working full-time as Kansas National Guard technicians.

Master Sgt. Michael Baker, assistant fire chief with the 190th Air Refueling Wing, said the training is important because not all fires are the same.

"The biggest difference (between structure fires and wildland fires) is the weather," Baker said. "The weather affects the wildland fires in a different way. Today, it's windy. That creates much different issues out here versus a fire on a structure."

The training included Red Card classroom certification, field training and the final integrated exercise. The Red Card qualification is a 40-hour, nationally recognized course on wildland firefighting.

"The study includes the basics of fire behavior in outdoor environments, operating wildland equipment in direct and indirect fire attacks and survival techniques," said Capt. Hans Stephensen, who helped coordinate the training.

Soldiers and Airmen had to don a fire shelter in the field, attach and hook up hoses to various water trucks and learn basic firefighting techniques.

For the final exercise, participants executed a seamless operation using a controlled burn.

Pilots and crewmembers from 1st Battalion, 108th Aviation, dumped buckets of water on the fire from UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters while Soldiers and Airmen on the ground used 200 to 400 gallons of water from a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) to fight the fires in the brush and grass.

"The central focus now is to build up a robust enough capability to enable the Kansas National Guard to support multiple locations" during a wildland fire emergency, Stephensen said.

In 2016, the Anderson Creek fire burned nearly 400,000 acres of forest, 16 homes and 25 other structures to the ground. The training at Salina will enable the Kansas National Guard to help when disaster strikes.

"When you look at wildland fires, we (the Kansas National Guard) do have a lot to offer," said Lt. Col. Larry Leupold, Kansas Army National Guard. "A lot of our local fire departments rely on volunteers. It's getting harder to get those volunteers, but we have a lot of manpower, so we can come in and help them in that way."

The training was a collaboration among the Kansas National Guard, the Kansas Forest Service, Kansas Division of Emergency Management, and the Kansas Fire Marshal's office.

"Anytime you can build a bigger force, especially for wildland fires, it's a great opportunity [for Kansas Guard members]," said Bryce Haverkamp, eastern district fire management officer for the Kansas Forest Service. "They [the participants] want to help people in Kansas, and this is a way that they can help those communities to provide a resource that we sometimes don't have."

"This is who we are as the Kansas National Guard; we build readiness and lethality for the war fight, but we also build readiness and proficiency to protect our families here in Kansas," Leupold said.

 

 

Related Articles
Nebraska Army and Air National Guard recruiting and retention specialists exchanged ideas and best practices with their counterparts from the Czech Armed Forces during a State Partnership Program engagement Feb. 25, 2025. The exchange focused on maintaining strength in their respective military departments.
Nebraska Guard, Czechs Share Recruiting and Retention Tips
By Kevin Hynes, | March 27, 2025
LINCOLN, Neb. – Nebraska Army and Air National Guard recruiting and retention specialists exchanged ideas and best practices with their counterparts from the Czech Armed Forces during a February State Partnership Program...

South Carolina Army National Guard UH-60 Black hawk and  CH-47 Chinook helicopters conduct aerial, water-bucket operations on the Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge wildfires in Pickens County, South Carolina March 23, 2025.
South Carolina National Guard Fights Upstate Wildfires
By Maj. Karla Evans, | March 27, 2025
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Following a successful fire suppression support mission in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina National Guard aviation units are helping control wildfires in the Upstate.U.S. Army Soldiers from Alpha Company,...

Maryland Air National Guard Lt. Col. Steven Montalvo, 175th Wing inspector general and A-10 pilot for the 104th Fighter Squadron, gestures farewell to fellow Guard members while taxiing to the runway in the A-10C Thunderbolt II aircraft 705 at Warfield Air National Guard Base at Martin State Airport, Maryland, March 26, 2025. The aircraft was the first to be sent from the 175th Wing to the boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona, as part of the initial process of divesting the Maryland Air National Guard A-10C Thunderbolt II fleet.
Maryland Air National Guard Begins Divesting A-10s
By Maj. Benjamin Hughes, | March 27, 2025
MIDDLE RIVER, Md. - The Maryland Air National Guard divested an A-10C Thunderbolt II aircraft at Warfield Air National Guard Base at Martin State Airport March 26.The U.S. Air Force announced in March 2024 a plan for the...