Crew members stepped off the bus at Bear Brook State Park and breathed in the cool, rainy New Hampshire air Monday – a welcome relief after close to two weeks fighting fires out West – before quickly unpacking their gear at the Forestry Warehouse.
The 20 members of the New Hampshire Wildfire Crew were returning from their mission helping firefighters tame the raging wildfires on the other side of the country, starting at the Peekaboo Fire near Maybell, Colo., and winding more than 2,300 miles across Colorado, Wyoming and Utah.
On these missions, firefighters were tasked with fuels reduction work, mop-up duties and fire line construction, battling temperatures that reached 100 degrees and enduring long hikes along with the fires.
The work is so important to many of the firefighters that they use their vacation days from work to make these trips, Forest Ranger Doug Miner said.
One of the firefighters who answered the call to head west was 19-year-old D.J. Smith of Newbury, who said it was his first wildfire mission.
“Everything was bigger than I expected,” he said. “It was fun, a lot of hard work and a lot of driving around to get to places because everything is so far apart.”
The firefighters were tackling one of the largest environmental problems facing the United States. Though there are close to 3,000 fewer wildfires this year than the 10-year average, the fires are sprawling across a far greater area, with 4.9 million acres burned already this season – straining local crews’ resources and drawing assistance from across the country to share the burden.
But Smith, whose parents are both firefighters, said he was unfazed by the danger and scope of the fires. In fact, the part of the trip he found most memorable was away from the wildfire frontline.
“A lot of the time (was spent) driving around with all the guys,” he said. “Becoming friends with them was a defining moment.
Unlike Smith, still in his teens, many of these crew members with were seasoned veterans in combating wildfires.
Bill Bellion of Canaan, who is in his 30th year fighting fires, was training to become a crew boss on the trip, learning how to “be in charge of the general welfare of the crew.”
But even with that experience under his belt, Bellion said this mission provided two unique challenges for him and the rest of the crew – the terrain and the altitude.
“It’s high desert, which for us is radically different from what we have in New England,” he said. “We had some high altitudes, we got up over 8,000 feet. … Without any adjustment time, you have to pace yourself.”
These conditions, coupled with exhaustion, were particularly difficult, Bellion said.
“You don’t get to sleep all the time that you really need,” he said. “You really start digging into your conditioning, making sure to push yourself through.”
One of the few crew members who’d been at it longer than Bellion was Ron Klemarczyk of Hopkinton – in his 40th year fighting wildfires.
“It wasn’t as exciting as some of the fires I’ve been on, but it was better than others,” he said. “Every trip is a little different.”
Klemarczyk, a forester by trade, said that despite the dangers, he keeps signing on to fight fires across the U.S. and Canada whenever he is needed.
“It’s something that gives you a good feeling,” he said. “They’re calling us because they need help, so we answer that call – we’re protecting the environment.”