Manitou firefighters return from California wildfire

A wildfire larger than the Waldo Canyon and Black Forest fires combined is where three members of the Manitou Springs Fire Department recently served volunteer duty.

The crew returned a week ago from the Fork Complex, a lightning-sparked fire in a dense national forest south of the town of Hayfork in northern California.

The fire is one of many burning in the Northwest this summer, aided by drought conditions.

Capt. Bobby White, Kirk Greasby and Steven Stockton are the three Manitou firefighters who worked 16-hour shifts for two weeks, averaging five hours of sleep daily.

“They’ve had only a tenth of their normal snowfall,” White said of the Fork Complex area. “They’re as dependent on snowmelt as we are. They have bigger trees and overgrown forests.”

The Manitou trio was part of a task force that did a variety of tasks including laying hoses, digging fire lines and conducting small controlled burns around the fire’s perimeter.

White said he has volunteered for similar duty before.

“There’s a side of you that wants to go somewhere different and new,” he said. “It’s good to be able to do that and bring that experience back to your home unit.”

White said the weather was warm but not hot, with temperatures in the 80s.

“We weren’t at high altitude,” he said. “We worked at night, mostly. And we slept in an air-conditioned building. All of that was helpful. But the work still wears you out after two weeks.”

White said Hayfork, which was not evacuated during the fire, has a population of 1,500.

“The firefighter camp was 2,500,” he said.

White said he’s glad to help, much as firefighters from other states helped during Waldo Canyon in 2012 and Black Forest in 2013.

“Fires are getting bigger and fire seasons are getting longer,” he said.