Nearly 40 Oregon Department of Forestry firefighters start heading home from N. Carolina blaze
SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) – As North Carolina's Black Cove Complex wildfire is turned back over to a local fire district, the Oregon Department of Forestry’s 39 firefighters have begun the demobilization process and are returning home.
“This deployment was the best way we could say thank you.” Michael Curran, ODF Protection Division Chief, said. “Firefighters are so interconnected, and being able to lean on each other when we need it is what makes us stronger.”
Over the weekend, 26 firefighters flew home, eight people will fly home Monday, and one individual will fly home on Tuesday. That will leave four ODF staff remaining in North Carolina to help close the Black Cove Complex.
The firefighters went to North Carolina under state-to-state mutual assistance agreements, which creates a reciprocal cache of resources.
When wildfire activity is low in Oregon, like during spring, firefighters can be spared to help in places experiencing high levels of wildfire.
Oregon can and has called on those same states to send firefighters and equipment when wildfire here exceeds local capacity. Most recently, Oregon gratefully welcomed an incident management team and other overhead positions from North Carolina during last year's major fire season.
Through these mutual assistance agreements with other states, including Alaska, Hawaii and NW Canadian territories, states, provinces and territories can share resources with one another, creating a larger, comprehensive fire management system.
“The complete and coordinated system is there not just to benefit other states, but Oregon as well when peak season hits,” Curran said.
Oregon saw the benefit of these agreements this past fire season, in which ODF received resources from about 20 states and Canadian provinces/territories. The department said it is continuing to expand its state-to-state agreements nationwide to facilitate reciprocal resource sharing during heightened times of need.
