ON THE FIRE LINE
Hatfield man volunteers to help bolster firefighting efforts
Fighting wildfires is hot and heavy work.
When Harris Nowotarski left Pennsylvania at the end of July to fight wildfires in California he was allowed just 55 pounds of gear. That included camping gear and a 25-pound line pack he would wear daily.
“It’s definitely more physical working in the heat and the smoke,” he said.
His most dangerous work was clearing burning snags close to the fire line, working in the black to protect the green.
“A snag is a tree that is dead but is still standing in the woods,” he said. “It’s all a little bit dangerous: You never know how fire is going to behave.”
Firefighters are required to carry their own tent and sleeping bag to fire camp. They must be equipped with flame-resistant clothing (such as Nomex), leather lug-soled boots, hardhat, leather gloves, eye protection and a fire shelter before being allowed to work on the fire line.
Nowotarski, 26, lives in Hatfield, but grew up in Berks County and said his years hunting and being out in the woods led to his career. He studied forest technology at Penn College of Technology in Williamsport. He started as forest technician for the William Penn Forest District since 2016. Now a forester, he works out of the field office in Evansburg State Park.
Dangerous season
It was the second time Nowotarski volunteered to be on a wildfire crew outside the state. He went to Oregon and Texas two years ago.
His group of 20 was sent to the Caldwell and Stump fires in California as part of his 14-day assignment. Due to the coronavirus, the crew had to drive 40 hours instead of flying out west.
The Caldwell Fire, sparked by lightning, has been burning since July 22 in the area of Lava Beds National Monument, in Modoc and Siskiyou counties. It merged with the Gillem Fire, which also was started by lightning, at the larger fire’s northwest corner. Hundreds of wildfires have raged in the western states this year, leading to 33 deaths. They’ve put more than 70,000 people under evacuation orders in the wine region north of San Francisco.
In addition to the human toll, fires in Colorado, Montana, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and California and the Pacific Northwest have cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
In one of the most dangerous and overwhelming fire seasons in history, help from the
federal government and out-of-state crews has been needed to bolster firefighting efforts. Personnel from 27 states and Puerto Rico have joined the battle, but officials have said resources are running thin.
The Boise, Idaho-based National Interagency Fire Center, which coordinates the support, recently requested fire personnel and equipment from Mexico, Canada and the U.S. military to assist with wildfire suppression efforts in California and Oregon.
“We continue to experience above-normal fire activity in California, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and other states,” Ken Schmid, Bureau of Land Management Fire Operations said in a news release. “Thankfully, our Department of Defense and international partners are able to support us in this time of need, as wildfire activity will likely carry on for the foreseeable future, particularly in California.”
The center reported in late September that the number of fires this year is well above the 10-year average. The center reports that to date more than 7 million acres have burned.
Sending help
Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Resources has sent six crews so far this year, including two of its wildfire-fighting engines. It sent two crews last year. The fire crews are paid through coordinating agencies and not the state.
So far, everyone has come back safely, said Mike Kern, chief, division of Forest Fire Protection, Pennsylvania DCNR-Bureau of Forestry.
“We still have 24 personnel scattered across various states in the West, mainly California, Oregon, Colorado and Wyoming,” he said in an email.
On Sept. 25, a half-dozen DCNR wildfire fighters were sent to join others from neighboring states and the National Park Service to help the fight the Mullen Wildfire in Wyoming. The Mullen Wildfire has burned over 19,526 acres and is only about 2% contained.
Pennsylvania wildfire personnel are or have served in Arizona, California, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, Texas and Wyoming this fire season.
The crews, which are trained under national standards, are dispatched through mutual assistance agreements.
On the ground
Nowotarski said some of the work he did involved doing line maintenance of areas that had breaks built by bulldozers to essentially make sure the fire would not advance. He also spent time mopping up, hunting for smoking embers that could threaten green areas nearby.
With the coronavirus, firefighters had to change some of the ways they lived and worked, he said.
The people in the Pennsylvania crew kept to themselves, not mingling with other crews where they camped or worked. Coordination between crews might including yelling over 10 feet.
“The actual base camp was a little different,” he said. They did not have a mess hall. Meals were boxed, and there was emphasis on hand washing.
Nowotarski said he was glad for the opportunity.
“To be honest, it’s a great way to go out and help out with their struggle with wildfires,” he said. “We don’t have woods like California.”