Delaware Forest Service to hold 18th Annual “Fire Camp”

Delaware “Fire Camp” offers intensive hands-on wildfire training:
Saturday, April 20 from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Blackbird State Forest.

Glenn "Dode" Gladders surveys the edge of the fireline during a previous "live burn" exercise at the Delaware Forest Service's annual "Fire Camp," which will be held on Saturday, April 20, from 7 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Blackbird State Forest near Smyrna.

 

Watch a YouTube video from a previous “Delaware Fire Camp”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlkpTtOqjzY&feature=youtu.be

 

DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOREST SERVICE
2320 S. DuPont Highway, Dover, Delaware 19901

MEDIA ADVISORY:
Contact: Henry Poole, Assistant Forestry Administrator
Delaware Forest Service
Email: henry.poole@delaware.gov
(302) 943-3593 (cell)
(302) 698-4548 (office)

WHO: Delaware Forest Service and volunteer wildland firefighters

WHAT: Fire Camp: annual intensive one-day training session to prepare volunteers to battle wildfires

WHEN: Saturday, April 20, 2010 from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

WHERE: Blackbird State Forest, 502 Blackbird Forest Rd., Smyrna, DE 19947, (302) 653-6505

WHY:

  • “Fire Camp” marks the capstone of the Delaware Forest Service’s annual training cycle to ready its wildland firefighters for the upcoming summer fire season.
  • The intensive one-day course serves as a necessary prerequisite for firefighters to achieve yearly “red-card” certification from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) to serve on out-of-state fire assignments
  • Delaware’s crew is a highly-regarded unit that has battled blazes in many states, including last summer’s well-publicized forest fires in Colorado and Idaho. The one-day seminar provides prospective crew members with key instruction in many areas: wildfire suppression techniques, fire behavior, fire weather, mobilization, pump and power saw usage, as well as “live” simulated fire situations.
  • Participants must also complete an arduous work capacity test—hauling a 45-pound pack over a three-mile course in less than 45 minutes.

 

NOTE: This event offers many excellent photo opportunities. Firefighters and instructors will be available for interviews and photos; however, media members planning to capture footage of the live burn should plan on visiting the camp on Saturday, April 20th by 12 noon*.

 

* The timing and location of the “live burn” is subject to change based on weather conditions.
Additional contact: John Petersen, Community Relations Officer, Delaware Forest Service
Email: john.petersen@delaware.gov
(302) 233-8180 (cell)
(302) 698-4552  (office)