Texas A&M Forest Service sends 20 firefighters to battle Oregon fire

NACOGDOCHES, Texas (KTRE) - Texas was hit hard by wildfires over the summer, but rainfall has gotten rid of most of our worries.

But that doesn’t mean firefighters get time off.

The Texas A&M Forest Service sent a 20-man crew to help in a massive fire in Cedar Creek, Oregon. The fire has burned over 110,000 acres so far according to Ryan Burns, resource specialist at Texas A&M Forest Service.

The twenty firefighters make up the Lone Star State Type II Initial Attack Handcrew. They all specialize in fighting fires, according to Burns, and have gone out of state to fight massive fires three years in a row.

Burns says battling fires in Texas versus the mountains is a different challenge for the firefighters.

“They’re not able to go fighting fire with our dozers that we like to use in Texas and East Texas,” Burns said “Now a lot of them they’re hiking in mountains with nothing more than (a fire hoe) sometimes fighting fires.”

The hoes are essential firefighting tools when dealing with the mountainous terrain.

“It’s a really good contrast for folks fighting fires with a dozer to something like this.”

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