What if someone called you this afternoon and asked if you’d be ready to go on a two-week trip to Alaska or California tomorrow at 9 a.m.? Now what if they said instead of a vacation, you’d be fighting forest fires? Would you do it?
    Smyrna residents Tyler Torres and Nathaniel Sommers were among the members of the Delaware forest fire fighting crew who said “yes” when that call came Thursday afternoon.
    The National Interagency Fire Center contacted the Delaware Forest Service Thursday and asked if the crew could battle blazes in Alaska. However, after the crew gathered at Blackbird State Forest Friday morning, they learned they had been transferred to other assignments, first to Utah and then California.
    Even with the last-minute change, Torres and Sommers were both looking forward to their first assignment on the forest fire crew.
    Torres, 18, was interested in joining the team because he’s a volunteer firefighter in Citizens’ Hose Company. He just graduated in May from Smyrna High School.
    To qualify for the forest fire fighting crew, he had to take classroom courses and complete hands-on training at a controlled burn. He  also had to pass a fitness test – carrying a 45-pound pack three miles in less than 45 minutes.
    “I was able to do it in just over 40 minutes,” said Torres. “It wasn’t bad – a lot better than I expected.”
    Why did he want to go on the forest fire mission?
    “It’s the experience of a lifetime,” said Torres. “I always wanted to do it, and when they said we were going to Alaska, that kind of sold it.”
    Now heading to Utah and California, Torres said while the trip will be an adventure, he’s aware of the dangers.
    “You have to be on the look out for snags which are dead trees that could fall over,” he said. “You’ve got to watch the fire at all times, and be aware of wind changes. You don’t want to be caught with the wind blowing toward you.”
    Sommers, 22, graduated from Central Christian School in 2006. He’s now a tour guide at Legislative Hall in Dover.
    Why did he want to serve on the forest fire crew?
    “I’ve always liked the outdoors, and eventually I might like to become a forest ranger,” Sommers said. “I’ve also considered the Coast Guard, but I’m trying this first.”
    He also wanted the opportunity to see new places.
    “The farthest from home I’ve ever been is Indiana to the west and the Canadian side of Niagra Falls to the north,” he said. “I didn’t know we’d be going to Alaska, though. That appealed to me, definitely.”
    Like Torres, Sommers was a bit disappointed that the assignment was changed, but he was still looking forward to traveling out west and participating in this service project.
    “We’ve put in a lot of training, and I want to help make a difference,” he said. “We have a good team.”
    That team includes Delaware Forest Service workers, but also other state employees, people who serve with volunteer fire companies, and college students.
    Many of the members have served on the crew for years, while some like Torres and Sommers just completed the initial training courses in January and February. But all the members have to take the field training and fitness test annually, held this year in April at Blackbird State Forest.

Responding with less than 24 hours’ notice
    Torres and Sommers will be serving on a team commanded by Michael Valenti, Delaware’s Assistant State Forester.   
    Valenti said he received the request to send a crew Thursday afternoon at 1:30. Then the Forest Service started contacting the other crew members until they found enough volunteers for a 20-person team, telling them that they needed to be at Blackbird Forest Friday at 9 a.m.
    “We’re prepared all season and ready to go,” Valenti said. “You don’t know exactly when, but you know when it starts getting hot in the summer, it’s bound to happen.”
    Valenti has guided Delaware’s program to an outstanding reputation with the national wildfire community, according to Delaware Forest Service spokesman John Petersen.
    This trip is Valenti’s 15th assignment with the fire fighting crew.
    While the duty has its dangers, he said, the crew is well prepared.
    “Fire is near you and the terrain can be difficult, but you rely on the training and safety standards, and these are national standards we’ve trained under,” Valenti said. “If you stick to those standards you’ll be OK.”
    The work is organized like a military operation, he said. Each squad boss supervises a five-member crew. The squad bosses answer to team leaders, and so on, up the chain of command.
    “We’re in constant communication with radios,” he said. “You keep track of everyone’s location and the status of the fire, the wind direction, the weather.”
    While the mission will mean long, hot days, hard work, and potential risks like fire, falls, and even wild animals, Valenti said it’s also an adventure. The crew members usually enjoy the chance to see a different part of the country, especially the mountainous regions which are a big change from Delaware. And they get to be part of a worthwhile experience – helping others, working as a team to control the fires, saving forests and wildlife, and keeping the blazes from spreading to more populated areas.

Where is the
Delaware crew now?
    After spending the weekend working on the Pole Fire in Utah, the Delaware forest fire fighting crew is now stationed near Santa Maria, California, battling the La Brea Fire, which has burned up to 10,500 acres in an area 26 miles east of Santa Maria, California near Los Padres National Forest.