By Randy Ludlow
The Columbus Dispatch
Copyright 2007 The Columbus Dispatch
All Rights Reserved
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A big wildfire in Ohio might eat a couple of hundred acres.
Twenty volunteers from Ohio are scheduled to depart today to fight a fire 300 times larger in northeastern Nevada.
The crew, as part of a mutual-aid arrangement with the U.S. Forest Service, is headed west for up to a two-week stay to help knock down a fire that has claimed 63,000 acres.
The specially trained firefighters are nine Ohio Division of Forestry employees and retirees, 10 members of various fire departments and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee.
The “hand crews” will work 12- to 16-hour days, clearing vegetation to create fire breaks and dousing hot spots, said Mike Bowden, fire supervisor with the Division of Forestry.
Bowden acknowledges wildfire fighting can be dangerous, but calls the safety of firefighters the No. 1 concern.
Gary Vollrath, a state forester and firefighter who worked across southern Ohio before retiring last year, will fight fires out west for the 19th straight year.
“You get out with some of the same folks every trip, so it’s nice to maintain that connection and camaraderie while doing some worthwhile work, too,” he said.
Besides, said the 56-year-old, “it forces a person to stay in shape.”
Under the mutual-aid agreement, Ohio officials could summon out-of-state volunteers to help battle wildfires, but such blazes are infrequent, Bowden said. Even with a bout of hot, dry weather, Ohio’s state parks are in little danger.
Federal funds will cover the volunteers’ travel and other expenses, he said.