June 30, 2012 - Armed with a fire hose attached to a pump that's pulling water from a fold-a-tank, firefighter Jeff Darner kept a fire-drowning spray on the tree in front of him.Behind him, fellow firefighters Charles Dusenberry and Michael Tucker worked to keep the engine running and the water flowing.
The men are veterans whose experience in the military will be counted on as members of Team 10, a U.S. Bureau of Land Management squad of wildland firefighters that includes 10 young military veterans on the 20-person team.
Based at the BLM's Medford District, the team has grown out of a nationwide program by Uncle Sam to put young veterans to work and on a career path.
It is one of three teams being organized in Oregon and Washington, including one in Klamath Falls and another in Spokane. Several other teams of young veterans are being mustered in California and Nevada.
There was no fire consuming the tree Darner was hosing down. The firefighters were participating in a field readiness review on Thursday at the U.S. Forest Service's J. Herbert Stone Nursery in Central Point. They have completed their firefighting training and are now ready to do battle on the front lines.
They expected to be shipped out to a fire in either Colorado or Wyoming this weekend. read more>>>>
No comments:
Post a Comment