Fighting wildfires takes a team of people, and not just those directly on the front line.
“There's so many things that happen behind the scenes that most people don't think about that make that firefighting effort happen,” said Dan Killam, a Wisconsin DNR Forester on the Northern Highland American Legion State Forest.
For three weeks this summer he was assisting the Minnesota DNR with getting supplies from the national cache to teams working on fires in the northern portion of the state.
He worked to acquired equipment ranging from hoses to nozzles to pumps. It was an effort that was made more challenging by the sheer number of wildfires across the U.S. right now.
“Once you get a bunch of fires going in the nation, and you’re part of the smaller Type 3 Team, competing for those resources that everyone else is competing for across the country can get really difficult,” said Killam. “Depending on how serious your fire is and how you know the way higher ups kind of decide the importance of each incident is. It can be difficult acquiring those resources.”
The U.S. is currently at a National Preparedness Level 5, the highest level of resource mobilization and preparedness.
This summer, Killam and 68 other DNR employees worked on fires in Minnesota as part of the Great Lakes Forest Fire Compact. All but six staff members have returned. The compact also supports firefighting efforts in other Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces.
“The problem solving, the working with people, I really enjoy that. The communities that I've gone to and been in, they've always been so grateful,” said Killam. “I've met some amazing people that are from the communities that I've gone into to try and help, and building those connections is just like one of the most rewarding parts of the job for me, honestly.”
Wildfires in northern Minnesota burned more than 66,000 acres so far this season.
Smoke from these fires contributed to the hazardous air quality in the Northwoods last month.
Firefighting efforts and recent rainfall have helped greatly reduce fire activity.
Many of the fires in northern Minnesota were started by lightning during a July thunderstorm.
Killam says the fires can burn up to two feet in the peat layer under the ground. They can burn until snow falls and sometimes even hold over into spring.
“It's a tough part of the world to fight fire in because it's also on the Canadian Shield. There's a bunch of bedrock, so getting heavy equipment and dozers in is very difficult too,” said Killam. “There's not even good soil to work with usually, so it's a lot of air resources, planes and helicopters dropping water, and then hand crews. You combine that with the remote nature of it, a long way from a lot of roads, and it just kind of it makes it all a unique and difficult firefighting situation.”
“Firefighters are currently working to contain 80 uncontained large fires, with 28,710 personnel assigned to incidents nationwide” as of August 17, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
There are currently 28 Wisconsin DNR staff out of state on fire assignments in California, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington.
