When wildfires are raging, you can't send just anyone to help put them out — so Maryland firefighters who know what to do have been sent to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
An agreement with the U.S. Forest Service allows Maryland Wildland Fire Crews to go anywhere in the nation when needed. These Maryland firefighters are pictured near Meeker, Colorado. (Courtesy, MdDNR/Lance Carroll)
Courtesy, MdDNR/Lance Carroll
The Maryland Wildland Fire Crew that’s deployed now in Colorado includes state agency firefighters as well as volunteer firefighters from Washington and Caroline Counties. (Courtesy, MdDNR/Lance Carroll)
Courtesy, MdDNR/Lance Carroll
It’s prime time for wildfires in the Rocky Mountains now. (Courtesy Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s Office)
Courtesy Rio Blanco County Sheriff's Office
The MDS #1 crew is made up of firefighters from the Maryland Forest Service, Maryland Park Service, Maryland Wildlife and Heritage Service along with volunteer firefighters from Washington and Caroline Counties. (Courtesy Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s Office)
Courtesy Rio Blanco County Sheriff's Office
The MDS #1 (as in Maryland State #1) Wildland Fire Crew was deployed July 8 and might be away from home for nearly three weeks. (Courtesy Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s Office)
Courtesy Rio Blanco County Sheriff's Office
Maryland firefighters have been sent to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. (Courtesy Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s Office)
Courtesy Rio Blanco County Sheriff's Office
An agreement with the U.S. Forest Service allows Maryland Wildland Fire Crews to go anywhere in the nation when needed. These Maryland firefighters are pictured near Meeker, Colorado. (Courtesy Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s Office)
Courtesy Rio Blanco County Sheriff's Office
The Maryland Wildland Fire Crew that’s deployed now in Colorado includes state agency firefighters as well as volunteer firefighters from Washington and Caroline Counties. (Courtesy Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s Office)
WASHINGTON — When wildfires are raging, you can’t send just anyone to help put them out — so Maryland firefighters who know what to do have been sent to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
The MDS #1 (as in Maryland State #1) Wildland Fire Crew was deployed July 8 and might be away from home for nearly three weeks, but a colleague said they consider it a public service.
“When you talk to [firefighters] who do this — that kind of thing year-in and year-out, that’s what they’re doing it for — is because they like to help people. They like to travel and they like to help out the communities that they’re helping,” said Chris Robertson, Fire Manager with Maryland Department of Natural Resources Forest Service.
“Their assignment will be 14 days working — that doesn’t count travel,” Robertson said.
As part of a mutual aid agreement with the USDA Forest Service, the Maryland crew deployed to Colorado with other mid-Atlantic teams from Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Hampshire.
It’s prime time for wildfires in the Rocky Mountains now, Robertson said, because of conditions that include high temperatures, low relative humidities, low fuel moistures and high winds.
The MDS #1 crew is made up of firefighters from the Maryland Forest Service, Maryland Park Service, Maryland Wildlife and Heritage Service along with volunteer firefighters from Washington and Caroline Counties.
