Grizzly Bear
Complex Fire
Friday, August 28, 2015
Australian tactical fire team to fill
scarce overhead positions critically needed at Grizzly Bear Complex Fire
Elgin, Ore. – Six members of an all-risk Country Fire Authority Team from the state of Victoria in Australia will be filling tactical overhead positions at the Grizzly Bear Complex Fire for the next week. Two additional team members will arrive today to fill air support roles at heliports near the fire. The Team arrived in the United States last Saturday in response to a national scarcity of overhead positions for the many fires burning throughout the Western United States.
After this morning’s radio briefing for fire personnel located at five
camps surrounding the Complex, three of the team members took an opportunity to
talk with incident information officers about their new roles.
Craig Brownlie from Melbourne, Australia will work as a safety officer
for Branch 2, the southernmost branch of the fire. He will be supervised by Ray Hershey, safety
officer for the Washington Interagency Incident Management Team #4, to provide
safety oversight for line personnel in the Branch. He will be stationed at the
base camp at Troy, Ore.
Two other team members, Russ Cutlock, Victoria, Australia, and Ian Cross, Melbourne, will be division supervisors in Branches 3 and 2, under the direction of branch directors.
Two other team members, Russ Cutlock, Victoria, Australia, and Ian Cross, Melbourne, will be division supervisors in Branches 3 and 2, under the direction of branch directors.
According to Craig Brownlie, the group is prepared to do whatever is
needed by the incident management team and they are excited to be participating
in wildfire management in the United States. “We will be learning new strategic
planning processes and tactical approaches to fighting fire on this landscape,”
Brownlie said. “We will be bringing the
knowledge we gain and new methods we learn back to Australia. This exchange of technology and information
is important to both countries as we also host firefighters from the U.S. in
Australia,” he said.
Before arriving at the Complex, the team was briefed in Boise, Idaho. They are part of a 71-member contingent of experts from Australia and New Zealand that includes specialists such as heavy machinery operators, task force leaders, supervisors, airbase managers, safety officers and strike team leaders, said Craig Lapsley, emergency management commissioner for the Australian state of Victoria.
Before arriving at the Complex, the team was briefed in Boise, Idaho. They are part of a 71-member contingent of experts from Australia and New Zealand that includes specialists such as heavy machinery operators, task force leaders, supervisors, airbase managers, safety officers and strike team leaders, said Craig Lapsley, emergency management commissioner for the Australian state of Victoria.
The deployment
allows the team to support other countries that need support. They have also been deployed to Canada this
year. The crews are very experienced in
dealing with large wildfires having handled fires on similar terrain across
Australia.
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