Published: July 19, 2008 12:24 am         

Md. men aid in wildfire

With temperatures in triple digits, area residents undeterred

Certified wildfire fighters Rande Brown, Rob Harvey, Dennis Yoder and Eric Warnick won’t soon forget their recent two-week stay in California, where they battled raging wildfires that are consuming homes and thousands of acres of land day after day.

“This was a tough assignment. The toughest part was the triple-digit heat and steep, rugged terrain,” said Harvey, a Maryland Department of Natural Resources technician at Mount Nebo in Garrett County.

“We were all over the fire, fighting different parts of the line, performing a variety of tasks, anywhere from mopping up to burning out,” he said.

But just getting to the timber and brush fires in the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, 12 miles west of Redding, Calif., was no simple task.

“We did a lot of hiking — most days, two hours to get in. We would go in at 1,000 feet and climb up to 5,000 feet elevation,” said Brown, a Maryland DNR wildlife biologist in the Western Region.

Each firefighter also carried a gallon and a half of water for personal use in addition to 45-pound water bladders for extinguishing the fire, personal protective gear and gear packs.

“I do a lot of trail running and I’m in pretty good shape but at the end of every day I was beat,” said Brown.

At one point, Warnick found himself separated from his fellow Maryland firefighters. His previous 14 wildlife firefighting tours pressed him into service as a strike team leader.

“They flew me up to a remote part of the fire where it was not feasible to go back to camp. I was spiked out one night where we literally slept on the fire line and supplies were sling-loaded to us by helicopter,” said the Frostburg resident.

Gov. Martin O’Malley noted the sacrifice and contributions of the Maryland firefighting team.

“Maryland’s firefighters are once again proving that Maryland knows no boundaries, whether the emergency is occurring here at home or in another state overwhelmed by disaster. I am proud that California and states across the nation can turn to Maryland for assistance,” said the governor.

The firefighters also noted the appreciation they felt upon arriving in California.

“I couldn’t tell you how many people came up to us at the airport to thank us. People after people, they really did appreciate it,” said Yoder, who is also a member of the Bittinger Volunteer Fire Company in Garrett County.

The day the Maryland crew left its assignment to return home, a camp bulletin board spelled out California’s latest wildfires challenge.

“It’s overwhelming. It covers thousands of acres. When we left, there were two large fires contained, two new large fires and 69 fires that were uncontained,” said Yoder.

All of the firefighters spoke of the personal reward of helping Californians deal with the wildfires although the mission was a rigorous one.

For Warnick, California may still be calling.

“It’s very rewarding and it is quite an honor to serve with the Maryland wildland fire crew. We were really needed and I’m thinking of doing a second tour,” he said. “It’s what I do.”

Contact Jeffrey Alderton at jlalderton@times-news.com.