Train now, deploy faster later: Oregon National Guard prepares for wildfire season

SALEM, Ore. - Oregon isn't waiting for fire season to overwhelm available wildland crews before calling up the National Guard to help.

This weekend, 180 members of the Oregon National Guard will get a refresher course to maintain their wildland firefighter certification.

And next week, over 300 Guard troops without prior wildland fire training will arrive at the Oregon Public Safety Academy in Salem for a week of training.

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The Guard has played key roles on the air on the ground during recent fire seasons in Oregon.

In 2017, more than 400 of Oregon's citizen-soldiers and citizen-airmen supported firefighting efforts at High Cascades Complex near Crater Lake, as well as on the Chetco Bar, Blanket Creek, Horse Prairie, and Milli fires.

In 2015, members of the Oregon National Guard assisted with wildfire suppression efforts in John Day and Enterprise in eastern Oregon.

Each year, the Oregon National Guard and the Oregon Department of Forestry update Operation Plan Smokey, which stipulates the details of how Oregon National Guard members will be utilized to assist in annual firefighting efforts if needed.

"What is different this year is that funds were requested by state officials, and approved by the federal government, to provide training to members of the National Guard ahead of the need," according to the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training. "This will allow these wildland firefighter trained citizen-soldiers and citizen-airmen to be activated and deployed much faster should the need arise for their assistance."

Once their training is completed, the citizen-soldiers and citizen-airmen "will return to their respective armories and air bases and full-time careers and be on stand-by for deployment should their assistance be needed during fire season," the state said.