20 state firefighters head west

Razorback Crew helping clear land to stop Oregon blazes

Sixteen-hour workdays facing raging wildfires and short nights in isolated camps will constitute the lives of a crew of 20 Arkansas firefighters for the next few weeks as they battle blazes that are destroying thousands of acres on the West Coast.

The group, known as the Razorback Crew, includes five employees of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture's Forestry Division, according to a news release. It also includes eight employees from the U.S. Forest Service, two from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, two from the National Parks Service, and three from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The crew chief is Les Miller, a Forestry Division ranger from Conway County.

"We are proud of the Razorback Crew members who volunteered to do hard, labor-intensive work to help safeguard the people of Oregon," state forester Joe Fox said in a news release. "Our employees are honored to use their training and expertise to provide assistance."

The team is fighting the Thielsen Fire, north of Crater Lake in Oregon, said Wesley McKinney, a county ranger with Arkansas' Forestry Division.

McKinney helped put the crew together in 2013, and it has been sent across the country to assist other states numerous times.

"There's always a need for hand crews, especially out West," McKinney said. "It's also a good training tool for our newer employees we bring in, to give them experience on firefighting."

Although McKinney isn't on the crew in Oregon, he recently returned from an assignment fighting fires in California.

He said people and equipment have been spread thin fighting the blazes on the West Coast, not only because so many acres are burning but also because covid-19 has left fewer people to help. Crews across the nation are dealing with understaffing or bans on travel by state order.

"We're running low on resources, and that's a challenge we're having to deal with fighting fires," McKinney said.

The Razorback Crew is scheduled to work in Oregon for two weeks, but McKinney said they may be asked to stay a third week because help is so needed.

The Thielsen Fire is just 1% contained, McKinney said Friday, and it covers more than 8,000 acres.

Among the tasks firefighters may perform: Clearing areas of anything that an approaching fire could consume. They often do that by starting a fire of their own. Then when the wildfire arrives, there's no fuel to burn and it dies.

The Razorback Crew is a hand crew, meaning they won't operate heavy machinery for their work in Oregon. They use smaller tools.

"You get to see a different aspect because here in Arkansas, we use [bulldozers] a lot," McKinney said. "Out there we use hand crews a lot. It gives them a different perspective of how to fight fire, and they bring that knowledge and experience back home."

The areas the crew will be in are relatively remote, McKinney said, so it's possible firefighters won't have cellular service while they work in Oregon.

Though crew members are being paid, individuals volunteer to join the Razorback Crew.

"To them it's not about the money. It's more rewarding to get to experience the knowledge and helping a fellow state out," McKinney said. "These people volunteered to head out there and put themselves on this crew, and I just ask for prayers for their safe being and for them to come back home safely to their families."

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