By Terry Bennett, Oswego County Emergency Services Program Coordinator
Oswego County Emergency Management Office
OSWEGO COUNTY – Several Oswego County volunteer fire departments sent personnel and equipment to Orange County last month to fight wildfires consuming forests and threatening neighborhoods.
The New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control (OFPC) sent out a call for help in early November. According to the State’s mutual aid plan, 72-hour deployments were requested from Wednesday, Nov. 13 through Friday, Nov. 15. In addition to manpower, the agency was also looking for utility task vehicles (UTVs) and a fire engine.
Fire units from across the state responded to the call, including Oswego County Fire Coordinator Shane Laws. He forwarded the request to Oswego County fire chiefs and found seven departments that were able to help, including members of the Lacona, Granby Center, Minetto, Town of Oswego, Phoenix and Volney Volunteer Fire Departments and the Novelis Fire Team.
The crew met at 2 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 13, to convoy for the four-hour drive. They reached the staging area at Greenwood Lake Fire Department in Orange County by 8 a.m. for a briefing, then were sent to various areas to clear debris, create fire breaks and patrol areas to make sure fires didn’t jump the fire breaks.
On their first day, Laws’ crew created a fire break and a road through the woods to stop the fire. They cleared leaves and debris up to a fire tower on a mountain, working until about 6 p.m. The next day, they were back at the staging area at 8 a.m.
“We teamed up with a state forest ranger to make a bridge across a ravine to get to a water source so they could backburn an area,” Laws said. “A backburn is a controlled fire that burns against the direction of the main fire, keeping the main fire from progressing, so it’s essentially ‘fighting fire with fire.’ Once we got fire lines established, we were asked to patrol areas to make sure the wildfire didn’t jump the fire break.”
On the last day, Laws’ group was assigned to another state forest ranger in a different location to make sure no hot spots were reignited in areas that had been burned previously. He said that it was close to residential neighborhoods and that one of the main concerns was the heavy leaves and brush around residences, especially since high winds were projected for Saturday.
Town of Oswego Volunteer Fire Department Assistant Chief Greg Herrmann said the crew he worked with performed similar tasks.
“On day one we were creating a fire line behind lakefront houses to protect them from any fire coming over the nearby ridge,” Herrmann said. “The terrain was difficult at best but everyone worked through it well to achieve the day’s goals. On day two, we lit back fires on the New York/New Jersey line to meet up with already burned portions of the forest and on day three our crew checked for any ongoing hot spots in the brush that had burned previously.”
Laws, who went with his home crew from the Granby Center Fire Department, said the team learned a lot during the deployment.
“For one thing, we’re not accustomed to using a drip torch (a hand-held tool for controlled ignition of vegetation) to put a fire out,” he said. “But, overall, it was definitely an eye-opening experience – to see a wildfire on that scale and the cooperative effort to extinguish it all come together.”
Laws noted that it takes a community to respond to this type of event. “Community help was outstanding – something I never saw before. The Greenwood Fire Department housed 120 firefighters a day and served hundreds of meals. Anything you needed was there – eyewash, bandages, toiletries – and if they didn’t have it, they found it for you. It was pretty spectacular.”
Herrmann said the Oswego Town crews stayed in the Warwick Fire Station with approximately 125 firefighters for all three days. “We were greeted with student-colored signs and notes on each of our cots when returning from a hard day’s work,” he said. “Their gratitude and care were enough to bring a tear to the eye of many a tired firefighter.”
In appreciation of the firefighters’ work, Thursday’s dinner at both Greenwood and Warwick fire stations was a full turkey dinner, with thank-you notes from children in the community. “The food was never ending,” Herrmann said. “And, at the end of the line, people handed out baggies with snacks, hand-wipes, eye drops and other things to help you out in the field. The community support everywhere was amazing.”
Most days, each crew was made up of firefighters from many different departments throughout the state.
Herrmann said that everyone worked extremely well together despite not knowing each other before the deployment. “Although, I was pleasantly surprised on the last day to be standing with officers from the Baldwin Fire Department on Long Island; a station where I spend my first four years of firefighting before moving to Oswego County. What a truly small world!”
Laws added, “I’m proud of our crews that went down and did the work. Everyone worked well together and this assistance was crucial to the volunteer departments in Orange County. Those firefighters have jobs and families, so this mutual aid provided them with some relief.”
“Our counties are alike in that respect,” Laws continued. “We’re all looking for more firefighters and resources. I urge people to consider volunteering, whether it’s as a firefighter or in another capacity. You can serve a purpose if you’d like to help your community.”
Laws has answered calls for mutual aid in the past, including for an ice storm in Jefferson County and the Christmas snowstorm in Buffalo two years ago.
For more information about the Oswego County Fire Coordinator’s Office, call 315-349-8800.
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