Alaska fire crews mobilized to the lower 48

Alaska fire crews mobilized to lower 48 firefighters
Fire crews line up to board a National Interagency Coordination Center aircraft at the BLM Alaska Fire Service on Fort Wainwright Friday, July 24, 2020. Photo by Tim Mowry, Alaska Division of Forestry.

Three Alaska wildland firefighting crews traveled to the Lower 48 states on Friday to assist with wildfire suppression efforts in the western United States.

The three crews – the BLM Alaska Fire Service Midnight Sun Hotshots, Chena Hotshots, and the Alaska Division of Forestry White Mountain Type 2 Initial Attack Crew – boarded an airliner at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks Friday morning. The aircraft came up to Alaska from the National Interagency Coordination Center in Boise, Idaho Thursday to transport the crews to Boise, where they will be quickly assigned to one of a multitude of wildfires burning in the western U.S.

“It’s always sad leaving Alaska but it will be good to get down there,” Iris Sager, crew superintendent for the Chena hotshot crew, said.

Alaska’s fire season was slowed by abundant and widespread rainfall the past five weeks that has dampened wildfire danger across the state. Because of this, Alaska’s wildland fire agencies have made many resources available to assist with the national firefighting effort while keeping adequate firefighters and aircraft in Alaska to handle any fire activity here.

The mobilization of firefighting resources to the Lower 48 is an annual tradition, similar to Alaska importing firefighters and aircraft from the Lower 48 to assist with wildfires here. Firefighters from Alaska travel to the Lower 48 almost every year to help other agencies battle wildfires after the Alaska fire season winds down, usually in mid- to late-July.

The three crews that departed Alaska on Friday totaled 62 firefighters and will add to the 60 other Alaska firefighting personnel that are already working in the Lower 48. One other crew – the Division of Forestry’s Pioneer Peak Hotshots – flew south last week and is working on the Cedar Fire in Nevada.

In addition, 13 Alaska Smokejumpers are in the Lower 48 working, as well as multiple other personnel filling positions such as dispatchers, heavy equipment managers, engine bosses and division supervisors.

Three more Division of Forestry crews – the Gannett Glacier, Tanana Chiefs, and Yukon Type 2 initial attack crews – are scheduled to fly to the Lower 48 early next week.

Given the fact that Alaska’s wildland fire season has been very slow this season and crews have been relegated to working on fuels reduction projects and other project work the past several weeks, firefighters welcomed the opportunity to head south to work on actual fires.

“We’ve spent less than 20 days on fires this summer,” White Mountain crew superintendent Owen Smith said as he waited to board Friday’s flight. “Everybody is ready for an assignment.”

As of Friday, a total of 309 fires had burned an estimated 178,025 acres in Alaska this summer, which is well below the approximately 650,000 acres that burns in a typical fire season.

Barring any major drying event in Alaska over the next month or two, crews will likely remain in the Lower 48 until fire season in the western U.S. dies down, which isn’t typically until September or October.

Alaska fire crews mobilized to lower 48 firefighters
BLM Alaska Fire Service fire specialist Tasha Shields hands crew members bag lunches prior to them boarding a National Interagency Coordination Center jet at Fort Wainwright, Alaska Friday, July 24, 2020. Photo by Tim Mowry, Alaska Division of Forestry.

Firefighters wore facemasks as they lined up to board the plane on Friday at Fort Wainwright. BLM Alaska Fire Service workers, also wearing facemasks, handed each firefighter a bagged lunch as they boarded the flight to Boise.

While the increase in COVID-19 cases in Alaska and across the U.S. is a concern, it’s something the crews and other Alaska firefighting personnel have been dealing with since the season started in April. Agencies and crews have COVID protocols in place to help prevent the spread of the virus and each crew was traveling with at least three days of personal protective equipment  such as facemasks and hand sanitizer.

Alaska fire crews mobilized to lower 48 firefighters
Chena Hotshots arrive in Boise, Idaho July 24, 2020. NIFC photo.

“I think it would be harder if any of us had families and didn’t live by ourselves,” Smith said in reference to mobilizing to the Lower 48 during the pandemic. “It definitely makes it interesting.”

Returning personnel will follow Alaska state and local health mandates addressing testing and quarantining upon return from their Lower 48 assignments. In some cases, personnel will spend days off in the Lower 48 instead of returning to Alaska in between fire assignments.

Alaska fire crews mobilized to lower 48 firefighters
Midnight Sun Hotshots arrive in Boise, Idaho July 24, 2020. NIFC photo.
Alaska fire crews mobilized to lower 48 firefighters
Alaska fire crews arrive in Boise, Idaho July 24, 2020. NIFC photo.

From the BLM Alaska Fire Service

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Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.

4 thoughts on “Alaska fire crews mobilized to the lower 48”

  1. In every fire season some get to go both to fires as well export and some don’t. Being at the right place at the right time often comes down to nothing more than dumb luck. If you put in enough fire seasons it all tends to even out in the end. Patience .while tough, is usually the key to Wildland firefighting.

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    1. I rode to Alaska in one of those Serra Pacific 737s from Redmond Oregon to Fairbanks and I was just about crippled by the time we arrived in Fairbanks. They had decreased the leg room between seats so they could put more seats in.

      I had to twist my legs sideways to sit down. We stopped in Seattle to pick up more crews but they wouldn’t let us off to stretch our legs. I had sat in that dam thing for five hours by the time we got to Fairbanks. My back hurt so bad it was two days before I could walk standing straight up.

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  2. And what about the crews and engines still sitting. I see how it is. Agencies first and to hell with everyone else!!!

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    1. Yes, agency resources are often prioritized up for dispatch, it makes financial sense to do so as they are often much less expensive than contractors.

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