Longmont Fire Wildland Team Deployed to Northern California for Second Time in July

On July 23, four Longmont firefighters from the Longmont Fire Wildland Team were deployed to northern California for a “severity” assignment, in which a forest is under significant risk of large fires and lacks firefighting resources. The members of the wildland team are expected to be in California for seven to 14 days and can be moved to any fire in the northern California area while they are stationed there.

This is the second time that a group of four firefighters has been deployed to northern California this month. On July 2, Longmont Public Safety announced that a different group of four Longmont firefighters from the wildland team had been deployed to assist in firefighting efforts in the Mendocino National Forest.

The firefighters who have been deployed will not be identified until they have returned to Longmont due to security and safety issues of family and property being unattended, according to Longmont Public Safety Communications and Marketing Manager Robin Ericson. The group of four firefighters who were deployed last week is a different group than the one that was deployed earlier this month.

The firefighters who were deployed last week left with a Type 6 wildland engine, which is smaller and able to get into more areas than a Type 3 vehicle, Ericson said. The group that was deployed in early July took the Type 3 engine, but Ericson said that the Type 3 has since broken.

All Longmont firefighters are trained to handle wildland fires, Ericson said.

“We have a group of about 30 firefighters that possess the national qualifications to respond to wildland fires nationwide,” she said. “Our team responds to fires throughout Colorado and the west. Since no one agency or area can handle all incidents within their jurisdiction, several other agencies provide assistance when requested. This happens several times a year while our area is at lower fire risk… These firefighters gain experience in larger, more complex incidents and bring that knowledge back to the city when we have incidents.”

Ericson said that all costs to the city in deploying these firefighters are reimbursed.

All Longmont wildland firefighters receive specific training annually and are also required to pass an annual fitness test specific to wildland fire, according to Ericson. “These are national requirements and are in addition to Longmont Fire’s normal fitness and training requirements,” she said.