Fire professionals from around world in C. Oregon

On Monday, fire professionals from around the country and the world gathered in the Deschutes National Forest near Sunriver to conduct a prescribed burn together.

The program called TREX, which stands for TRaining EXchange, is coordinated by the Fire Learning Network, a joint project with the Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of the Interior.

It’s all about “having that opportunity for folks to share,” said Pete Caligiuri, a forest ecologist with The Nature Conservancy in Bend.

“You can see the light bulb turn on, when suddenly someone who comes from halfway around the world is learning about the similarities and differences of using fire as a tool for forest health, for community safety for firefighter safety,” Caligiuri said.

This is the fourth year Central Oregon has hosted TREX, and there’s a range of participants, including Lisa McNee, a public information officer trainee.

“It’s really educational to see people from all over come together. It’s a neat opportunity. So we have one guy here from Florida, another from Arkansas, and they have totally different fuel types from us. So it’s good for them, and it’s good for us to see how different things burn and have different needs, but also how different forests do things.”

There’s even one participant all the way from France.

Emory Maxwell, the Florida participant, works for the Florida Park Services and had heard good reviews about TREX.

“Our issues in Florida may be a little different from the Northwest, may be different from Montana, so comparing notes and learning how different people do things and share those experiences” is valuable, Maxwell said. “Because some people have some really valuable things. Some of the issues in one part of the country, there may be issues we may have to deal with at some other point.”

Audrey Maclennan is a graduate student at OSU who decided to attend the program.

“It’s been really fun,” she said. “I don’t know if I would ever have the opportunity to train with this many qualified people from all over the world, so it’s really cool.”

On Monday, the crews worked a prescribed burn on about 155 acres east of Sunriver.

“Having his additional group of 30 fire professionals from all over the country and the world is a real boost to the program here in Central Oregon, in terms of our ability over these two weeks to put some good fire back into these ecosystems,” Caligiuri said.

Plus, the program can be helpful for people already working fires in Central Oregon, according to Trevor Miller, a fuels assistant fire management officer.

“Folks in on the Deschutes National Forest and the prescribed fire program, we work together all the time, we’re very familiar with each other,” Miller said. “So having those new faces, new skill sets coming into the mix, I think bolsters our capacity to think through our processes and learn while teaching.”

For more information on TREX, you can visit this website: https://www.conservationgateway.org/ConservationPractices/FireLandscapes/HabitatProtectionandRestoration/Training/TrainingExchanges/Pages/fire-training-exchanges.aspx