By Ashley B. Craig
The Charleston Daily Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A 20-person crew left West Virginia Monday heading for Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota, an area where wildfires have been causing problems for firefighters in the area, said Leslie Fitzwater, Division of Forestry spokeswoman.
“Typically when the fires are huge out west we’ll get a call,” Fitzwater said. “It’s usually only after their own resources are overwhelmed.”
A fire sparked Friday by a road grader burned over 25-acres in Custer State Park until Sunday when it was contained.
Another fire near Rapid City started Sunday morning when a resident doing landscaping work on a retaining wall caused some sparks. The fire, which was contained by Sunday afternoon, grew to about three-fourths of a square mile and caused some residents to leave their homes as a precaution, the Associated Press reported.
Fitzwater said the crew, which consists of 16 Forestry workers and four members of local volunteer fire departments, will be in South Dakota for about two weeks but could stay longer if needed.
Forestry students from West Virginia University also have made the trip in the past.
She said team members all have to undergo specialized training courses to go on the trip.
She said each member of the team has a specific duty. Some members are responsible for felling trees so that others can move further into the wooded area. Others are trained in dispatching and public relations. All have to pass a physical agility test, she said.
Each crewmember has to undergo wild land training programs and other specialized courses before he or she can make the trip.
“It’s a different world out there,” Fitzwater said. “They have a lot of (vegetation) species that burn quicker and it’s a drier terrain.”
Fitzwater said the team usually is sent to western states like Utah or California. Last year, the team helped with the Dismal Swamp wildfires in Virginia. She said team members vary from year to year but that some try to go every year they are called.
“It’s a wide range of people,” she said. “They have that sense that this is something I can help with. This is something that I can do.”
Team members from all over West Virginia went to aid those in South Dakota. The team’s crew boss is Tom Oxley for this trip.
The team would not know where they would be assigned until today, she said. They will function as an “initial attack” team, meaning they will go in when fires pop up and work to contain them.
“They love it,” Fitzwater said. “It’s really, really hard work but the people out there really appreciate it.”
Copyright 2012 Charleston Newspapers