Military, international crews bolster firefighting response on Little Giant, Sisi fires

LEAVENWORTH —As the Little Giant Fire reaches approximately 150,000 acres, nearly 1,900 personnel have been assigned to the fire, including hundreds of Washington National Guard members, active-duty Army soldiers and firefighters from Australia and New Zealand.

“When we have fires of this magnitude…There's just not enough firefighting resources,” said Tim Ritchey, Operations Branch Director for California Incident Management Team 5 (CIIMT 5). “They really provide us the support that we need…We can always use more, but the support that they bring has really bolstered us.”

For more than a month, Washington National Guard Soldiers and Airmen have supported wildfire response operations across the state, providing aviation, hand crew, and community support as fire conditions and mission requirements evolve.

“It's been several years since [Washington State Department of Natural Resources] has requested the National Guard. This year, the fire activity is a little bit different, a lot quicker spread, larger fires, and so they called us,” said Captain Georgia Lamb.

During the first two weeks of August, over a hundred Washington National Guard members supported firefighting operations on the Little Giant Fire, during which crews worked more than 14,840 hours and improved more than 6.5 miles of fire line, according to the Guard.

That work has continued with a new rotation of members. Currently, 180 Army National Guard and Washington State Guard members are mobilized on state active duty to support ongoing wildfire response efforts, including 139 assigned to the Little Giant Fire, according to CIIMT 5.

The members work alongside firefighting agencies from across the country, conducting fire line construction, hose lays, mop-up, debris clearing, brushing, chipping and other demanding ground operations.

The National Guard is not the only military force supporting wildfire suppression efforts in Washington state. Approximately 240 active-duty U.S. Army Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, have also been assigned, said CIIMT 5.

“We're proud to come help,” said Major Donny Galatis. “This is neighbors helping neighbors, and we are here along with the National Interagency Fire Center to help protect the way of life of the community members.”

Since 1975, the U.S. The Department of Agriculture and Department of the Interior have had an interagency agreement with the Department of Defense, which allows DOD to provide firefighting support to the wildland fire management agencies when needed, according to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC).

Soldiers joined Little Giant Fire firefighting operations on Aug. 20, also assisting with initial attack for the Stormy Mountain Fire.

“The biggest challenge is just changing our frame of mind of being active duty infantry soldiers and putting ourselves in the shoes of a firefighter,” said Galatis, who added that the soldiers receive prior training to participate in everyday firefighting operations.

“The cohesion and the camaraderie we're building with our agency crews has really shortened that learning curve,” he said.

As fires burn across the western U.S., the country has also called in international assistance, bringing in wildfire personnel from Australia and New Zealand to help with suppression operations.

According to NIFC, the first group to arrive included 74 fire management specialists, including a 15-person Incident Management Team. The team integrated with U.S. personnel to support command and control, planning, logistics, operations, and safety oversight, returning home on August 27.

In mid-August, a second wave of international wildfire personnel from Australia and New Zealand were assigned to work across the Northwest and Great Basin geographic areas in support of wildfire response.

Currently, three 15-member incident management teams and approximately 270 fireline management personnel are assigned to fires across both regions, with about 70 of these firefighters assigned to the Little Giant Fire, said CIIMT 5.

“When they told us how big it was, the scale of that compared to what we get at home is huge. It’s pretty hard to comprehend,” said New Zealand team’s Assistant District Commander James Martin-Bond. “It's a lot bigger than we've got. I think if you overlaid Little Giant onto New Zealand, there wouldn't be much land left.”

The lightning-caused fire started July 15 in the upper Chiwawa River drainage of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, about 20-30 miles northwest of Leavenworth. It is burning near the communities of Plain and Chelan, near Lake Wenatchee, and along the Lake Chelan shoreline. Firefighters are also fighting the 878-acre Sisi Fire, 10 miles northwest of Stehekin, which was started by lightning Aug. 14.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media