Eleven of New York’s elite wildland firefighters are headed west to help battle raging wildfires in Colorado, Governor Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday from Albany.
“New Yorkers are always ready to volunteer when other states need our help,” Hochul said. “We’re fortunate to have well-trained incident command and wildland firefighting experts in New York State to lend emergency assistance and support. I thank all the responders working the fires for their efforts and look forward to their safe return.”
The crew includes six Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Forest Rangers and four Lands and Forests staff assigned to the San Juan National Forest’s Pagosa Ranger District. They’ll join initial attacks during a stretch of high fire danger and expected lightning. A separate Forest Ranger will assist on the South Rim Fire in Gunnison National Park, which has already burned more than 3,600 acres and remains completely uncontained…