MARLBOROUGH, Conn. — A group of firefighters from Connecticut and Massachusetts are back home after spending the last three weeks helping to battle wildfires in California.
"We didn't see the sun the whole time we were out there, it was completely smoke-obscured. We were in smoke all day, every day. When you sleep in your tent there's smoke," said Rich Scalora, the crew boss.
They left on September 4th to work on the Hoopa Valley Indian reservation in Northern California before moving to fight the Red, Salmon Complex in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.
"When we left Tuesday morning it was 110-thousand acres," said Scalora. "To put it in perspective that's one of the smaller fires in California," he said.
Their days were long, working from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m., and were spent literally, fighting fire with fire.
"They purposely set fire breaks to stop fire from moving into communities," said Paul Rego, a wildfire biologist for Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, and member of the group that traveled to California.
"It goes where you want it to go and you control the progression of the fire by doing that," said Scalora.
The conditions they faced didn't make the job any easier.
"We worked in the smoke. Driving and working near very dusty roads, and very rugged terrain," said Rego.
However, the group did have help from all over the country.
"There were over 500 personnel working on it, personnel from all over the nation. there was a crew from Fairbanks, there was a fire engine from Maine, so a small army trying to contain the fires," said Rego.
Finally back home after three weeks, the firefighters say their work out West was worth it.
"Knowing that the reservation we were originally working for was now being protected by the actions that our crew was taking, by burning this piece of land was very rewarding," said Scalora.
This group is the second group of Connecticut Interstate Fire Crew firefighters Connecticut has sent this season, DEEP officials wrote in a release.
Another group of ten was deployed in late July to assist with wildfire response in the Modoc National Forest area in northeastern California.
Welcome back to this brave group:
- Rich Scalora from Mansfield, CT
- Jeremy Johnson from Roxbury, CT
- Allan Waterman from Moosup, CT
- James Bryan from Voluntown, CT
- Mark Lewis from Shelton, CT
- Patrick Marcoux from Sturbridge, MA
- Margo Murphy from Middletown, CT
- Alan Olenick from Lebanon, CT
- Paul Rego from Winsted, CT
- Derek Wnuk from East Berlin, CT