Our guys have been really excited, said Barrhead, Alberta firefighter Keith Nanninga. Originally, the firefighters were flown to Missoula to participate in a brief orientation program on fighting fires American-style, and were quickly routed to Boulder to tackle the High Ore Road Fire. And we re going to be fighting this fire in a different way than we usually do. Hawley explained that half of the crew members belong to a Rapattack crew that is accustomed to rappelling out of helicopters into fire areas that are difficult to access. The other half are members of helitack crews who are flown in to fire areas in helicopters the crew members work on fire lines while the pilot does water drops.
Structures usually don t fall under the auspices of their responsibility.
Therese Yacyshyn, liaison officer for the Canadian crews, said there will be a learning curve for the firefighters as they tackle wildfires under Montana s extreme conditions, but they are up for the challenge. We usually get a few days of warm weather, then it rains, she said. But these guys are well-trained. Incident coordinators working on the High Ore Road Fire are pleased to have the Canadians on board. After about a week with manpower assigned to the fire holding steady at 600 people, new blood is just what fire crews need to help them make progress on the fire.