Twenty firefighters...several from northern Wisconsin..are part of the Wisconsin Interagency Coordination crew have arrived in Southwest Colorado to help fight large wildfires.
The crew left Thursday morning from the USDA Forest Service’s Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest office in Rhinelander. The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest manages the WICC, which sends out interagency crews to support firefighting efforts.
The crew is made up of staff with the Forest Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. Crew leader is Ron Waukau of the Menoninee Tribe from Keshena. When we talked to him they were awaiting orders Friday morning after a 24 hour drive to the fire site...
"....that's what we're seeing on the reports. We're waiting our briefing, but it is dry. There's some big fires and they're moving good. It's going to be a long summer out here dealing with these fires. Today is our first day on shift. We'll be 14 days(deployed) averaging 14-16 hours a day...."
Waukau says after this crew finishes, other similiar interagency crews will be headed to the Colorado fires which could last all summer.
