One by one, five yellow school buses pulled into the Signature Airways airport terminal in Manchester and 100 firefighters from New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, New York and Massachusetts stepped out. The men and women set down their rucksacks and laughed and chatted as they waited for a plane to take them out West.
As 31 wildfires rage across thousands of acres in states including California, Wyoming and Colorado, the northeastern crews made the trek to their base in Boise, Idaho on Saturday to await their assignments. Crews will split up to go wherever they’re needed, but the 20 New Hampshire firefighters generally stick together, officials said.
“Look out for each other and look at the bigger picture,” said New Hampshire crew boss and Whitefield firefighter John Ross.
Ross is no stranger to battling western wildfires; he estimated he has made the trip for the past 22 years. In that time, he said he’s seen the western droughts and fires get worse.
In past summers, New Hampshire has sent out six to seven crews to battle Western blazes. They’ve gone as far as Alaska and have traveled north to Quebec to fight fires in Canada.
“It’s been busier summers,” Ross said.
The 19 men and one woman in Ross’s crew are a mix of full-time and volunteer firefighters from all around the state. Most are veterans of western firefighting.
He said the downtime before getting the crew assignment is key, as it allows firefighters time to get to know each other or catch up.
“That way when we get out here, we just hit it,” Ross said.
Besides the usual anticipation before a flight, the mood in the New Hampshire crew was already somber Saturday. The day before, Lincoln firefighter and Grafton County dispatcher Steven Bomba was killed in a crash on Interstate 93, while two other public safety officials from the North Country were injured.
Ross said Bomba was on everyone’s mind, calling the Lincoln man a “nice guy” who was “really into fire service.”
He said Bomba was not scheduled to go out and fight the western wildfires and was instead trained to fight structure fires.
Generally, fire crews going out West have a few first-timers.
This year, the only rookie was 22-year-old Cameron Smith of Chichester, who works at the Epsom Fire Department.
“I love doing this sort of thing, I’ve been on the fire department for a little while and it’s all about helping people,” Smith said. “That’s really what it comes down to. It’s the greatest job in the world.”
Smith said he didn’t have a lot of worries going out, and was excited to learn from his first trip out West.
“I think I’m with a good crew,” he said. “I’m kind of looking at it like a boy-scout trip. I packed the same way I packed for that, it’s just a little different with the firefighting aspect in it. The group’s taking care of me.”
Where Smith had the distinction of being the only first-timer on the New Hampshire crew, 27-year-old Marlow firefighter Jess Allen was the only woman.
Allen estimated she’s already gone to fight western wildfires about five to six times.
“It hasn’t changed a lot over the years,” said the lieutenant at the Marlow Fire Department. “The first time or two, it can be a little overwhelming.”
The biggest fire she has fought so far was one that burned 400,000 acres, but in all that time, Allen said, the crew bosses have kept them safe.
She added the firefighting operation is a well-oiled machine, with a chain of command and specific instruction on how to handle intense fire activity. If a fire is getting too out of control, the order is usually to move out.
She has also been able to take what she’s learned out West back with her to New Hampshire. Allen was one of the many firefighters assisting when a brush fire in Stoddard burned over 100 acres and threatened local homes.
Allen laughs when she recalls how she got into the firefighting profession. Her brother used to be a firefighter and she was dropping him off for work at the station when some of the other department members informed her they had a suit her size. Allen is small but easily pulls her own weight, carrying rucksacks as heavy as the men.
Allen sees more young women joining the profession nowadays, which she said is encouraging.
“It’s not as different as most people put it out to be, it’s just another job,” she said.
(Ella Nilsen can be reached at 369-3322, enilsen@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @ella_nilsen.)