{"id":20389,"date":"2023-07-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=20389"},"modified":"2023-07-28T06:42:38","modified_gmt":"2023-07-28T06:42:38","slug":"washington-guard-aviation-crews-help-fight-wildfire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=20389","title":{"rendered":"Washington Guard aviation crews help fight wildfire"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Washington National Guard Sgt. Nathan Smart a member of B Company, 1st Battalion, 168th General Support Aviation, checks the water bucket level during wildfire air operations training June 6, 2021, at Joint-Base Lewis McChord, Washington.
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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. \u2014 As hot dry weather continues to affect the western United States, aviation crews from 1st Battalion, 168th General Support Aviation are prepared for what could be a busy summer firefighting season.<\/p>\n

On July 20, Washington Army National Guard members working at the Army Aviation Support Facility on Joint Base Lewis-McChord were asked to help ground crews control a fire that had entered the timber on the edge of the impact area near the Nisqually River.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur flight operations received a call from JBLM range control and the US Forest Service requesting water bucket support for a slow-moving fire working across the impact area,\u201d said Maj. Kevin Robillard, executive officer for 1-168th GSAB.<\/p>\n

The Guard dispatched a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter to the fire location and, two hours later, a CH-47 Chinook. The crews were able to slow the spread of the fire by early evening and deployed again the next morning to drop additional water and help contain the fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a number of crews in for training, so we were able to react quickly and provide the requested support,\u201d said Col. Mitch Sieglock, commander of 96th Aviation Troop Command and state aviation officer for the Washington Army National Guard.<\/p>\n

While the crews often train in spring for wildfire season, they found it beneficial to have the chance to drop water on a live fire in the impact area.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur teams remain trained, qualified and ready to assist for the duration of Washington\u2019s fire season, but it\u2019s always great when we get the opportunity to get some repetitions in,\u201d said Robillard.<\/p>\n

The Washington National Guard did not deploy personnel last year during the wildfire season but maintained 10 trained and equipped 20-person hand crews and UH-60 and CH-47 aviation crews.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were very fortunate last year, but we have to continue to be ready for the potential threats of massive wildfires in our state,\u201d said Maj. Gen. Bret Daugherty, the adjutant general. \u201cWe have shown in the last 10 years the importance of having well-trained and qualified wildland firefighters in the National Guard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since 2013, the Washington National Guard has focused on building resources and training personnel for this mission. More than 3,000 Guard members have deployed to support these efforts, including 1,200 Guard members during the historic 2015 wildland fire season when more than a million acres burned across the state.<\/p>\n

For more National Guard news<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington National Guard Sgt. Nathan Smart a member of B Company, 1st Battalion, 168th General Support Aviation, checks the water bucket level during wildfire air operations training June 6, 2021, at Joint-Base Lewis McChord, Washington. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army National Guard photo by Peter Chang) VIEW ORIGINAL JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. \u2014 As hot dry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20391,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20389"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20392,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20389\/revisions\/20392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}