Delaware Forest Service forester Erich Burkentine of Milton is now leading a 20-person team of wildland firefighters from Maryland that is part of 1,148 personnel battling the Trinity Ridge Fire near Boise, Idaho that has burned an estimated 94,718 acres at a cost of $14.3 million to date. So far, the blaze is only 5 percent contained and officials don’t think it will be under control until October 1. Eight structures in that area have been lost to a blaze that has grown 4,054 acres in the past 24 hours.
Burkentine is a Delaware Forest Service veteran who was part of the 20-person crew from Delaware that traveled in June to battle a wildfire in southwestern Colorado. Burkentine currently serves as the DFS Regional Forester who oversees operations at Redden State Forest near Georgetown, Delaware’s largest state forest at over 12,000 acres.