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Soldiers complete firefighter training in Washington

soldiers fighting wildfires
Luke Lanphear (left) and Rene Drew do the initial bucking of a 60′ hazard tree they had just dropped near one of the Kalispel tribal elders homes that the Army Task Force was doing Firewise work around as the last part of the military’s training prior to being deployed to the fireline. The professional fallers dropped the tree so the Army’s fledgling sawyers could finish bucking the tree so that the rest of the crew could stack it for fire wood.

The 200 U.S. Army‬ Soldiers fromt the 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Field Artillery Brigade, 7th Infantry Division, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Washington completed their firefighting training Sunday and will begin to perform actual fireline work Monday on the Tower Fire in eastern Washington near the Idaho border.

Tom Story took these photos for us on Sunday.

soldiers fighting wildfires
Michael Mora of the BLM (center) works with Crew 9 from the Army’s Task Force First Round as the soldiers put in some hand fireline behind the home of one of the elders of the Kalispel Tribe of Indians. The tribe was hosting the Tower Fire Incident Command Post at their Pow Wow Grounds, across the river from Cusick, Washington.
soldiers fighting wildfires
Vegas Valley Hand Crew Lead Chain Saw Jonathan Pilkerton (left) instructs Specialist Robert Sandoval in the specialized skills of fire line chain sawing as PFC Timothy Illig (cq) (right) stands by to swamp for the saw. Members of the Army’s Task Force First Round was finishing up their training August 23, 2015 on the Tower Fire in northeastern Washington. The Task Force was divided up into crews and were using the training opportunity do some Firewise work around the homes of some of the elders of the Kalispel Tribe of Indians.
soldiers fighting wildfires
Russ Long, the Incident Management Teams Operations Section Chief, (center), talks with the Army’s Lt. Col. James Dunwoody (the Task Force First Round Commander), Command Sargent Major Tony Phelps and Major Tim Lynch (left to right) after the Tower Fire morning briefing on August 23, 2015.
soldiers fighting wildfires
Members of Crew 10 clamber up a steep section of hand line they had just put in near a home on the Kalispel Tribe of Indians.

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