07/10/08

The Chena (CHEE-NA) Hot Shot Crew from Alaska is now here in the lower 48, hosted by the Bureau of Land Management Twin Falls District Fire and Aviation Program. Since 1997, the Twin Falls District becomes the home unit for the Alaska crew when their own fire season is over the beginning of July.

“It’s a good deal for both us and them,” Chena Superintendent Chris Marabetta, said. “It provides the Western states with another Hot Shot crew when their season is the busiest and lets us keep working longer than we’d be able to at home.”

The Chena Hot Shots are one of 110 Type One hand crews in the United States. The crew is made up of 20 specialized and experienced firefighters. They are considered the best of the best in battling terrain and fire behavior that other resources can’t.

The BLM is able to host the crew through severity funding, money that is handed down to individual fire programs from the national level and based on the threat of wildfires in each area. For the past 11 years, this funding has allowed the Twin Falls District to welcome the Chena crew into the lower 48 states to fight fires in the West.

Although the crew considers Twin Falls District their home unit for now, they rarely fight fire here. They are used most often in steep terrain or on large fire incidents. As a nation resource, they can be ordered and sent wherever need at any time. The crew works a maximum 14 days and then takes two “rest and relaxation” days wherever they may be at the time.

The Hot Shots provide help in other ways for the BLM locally, however. They often take on engine crew members for two week details, giving them training and experience they couldn’t get here in the Twin Falls District. They also conduct project work for the BLM fuels organization, falling and piling trees as part of ongoing regeneration efforts in difficult terrain. Having arrived in south central Idaho on Wednesday, the crew is currently working at Martin Canyon near Bellevue, waiting for their next fire call.

The primary needs the BLM provides the Chena Hot Shots are vehicles and a tool shed. The BLM maintains and stores two crew buggies that are the crew’s means of getting to and from each fire for the rest of the summer. A set of hand tools are also stored in a shed in Shoshone during the off season. The crew hauls chainsaws from Alaska.

The agreement between the Chena Hot Shots and Twin Falls District BLM is a Memorandum of Understanding, (MOU) outlining how their time here will work. Each MOU covers a five year period, with the current one having just been signed this year.

“During the heat of fire season, there is always a need for as many resources as possible,” BLM Fire Management Officer Chris Simonson said. “This agreement with the Chena Hot Shots is another small way we can help the national fire effort, bringing them to where it’s more cost effective to put them to work.”

For further information, please contact Sky Buffat at (208) 308-4198.

- # # # -

Sky Buffat
Fire Information
Idaho BLM Twin Falls District
cell: (208) 308-4198
office: (208) 732-7307