TYGH VALLEY, Ore. – Oregon Air National Guard hand crews moved into their second day of wildland firefighting operations Aug. 9, shifting from structure protection to mop-up, monitoring and patrol of existing containment lines on the Grasshopper Fire.
Chief Master Sgt. Brian Brown, 173rd Fighter Wing, on his fourth major wildfire deployment during about 26 years of service, said the mission reflects why he became a Guardsman.
“We can, in a military capacity, support our state and see the effects that we have to assist the state,” Brown said. “That community connection and the commitment that we have to our state is really what it's about to be a Guardsman.”
The Guard crews are working closely with the Oregon Department of Forestry’s liaison to the National Guard and with contracted crew bosses assigned to oversee day-to-day fireline work.
The Grasshopper Fire’s proximity to a metropolitan area sets this deployment apart from past fires he has supported, Brown said.
“We’re not out in the middle of nowhere where people don't care,” Brown said. “We’re closer to the communities, so just seeing that, it’s different.”
On the crews’ first day, Airmen worked on structure protection by wrapping buildings, signage, bathrooms and bridges with fire-resistant material to help them withstand the fire if it reached them. Sean Hunt, a crew boss with the Coos Forest Protection Association based in Coos Bay, said the work is guided closely by fire resource advisors who identify which structures and sites are worth protecting.
“We're working real closely with the resource advisors, so they’re the ones that are kind of pinpointing these values at risk,” Hunt said. “Yesterday there were multiple structures, signage, bathrooms. We even did a couple bridges that they wanted to keep.”
Daniel Schroth, a crew boss with California’s smokejumper program who traveled to Oregon to support the mission when fire activity slowed in California, said crew bosses and fellow smokejumper Giovanni Carranza are brought in to help lead crews such as the Guard’s hand teams during high-demand periods.
“If it's slow in California and there's no lightning or anything like that, we’ll single resource out,” Schroth said. “We'll go out and help as a crew boss or a task force or a division on fire.”
This is the first experience fighting a wildfire for many of the Airmen. Tech Sgt. Slade McCord, an avionics technician with the 173rd Fighter Wing, said the first day gave him a new appreciation for the work.
“It was quite the experience just to see kind of the logistical things that go into it, the things that you don't think of and just the extent to which we're ready to protect as much as we can,” McCord said. “We're definitely doing the best we can to keep Oregon's parks nice and safe.”
McCord, who volunteered for the mission, said his family was initially anxious but supportive.
“They were definitely stressed when I told them, and of course they're worried about me, but they know that we're in good hands,” McCord said. “It's great to get back to the community, to experience something that not a lot of people get to see.”