Two Boone County Fire Protection District firefighters to fight blaze in Oregon

Two volunteer firefighters from the Boone County Fire Protection District were on their way to Oregon today to help battle a wildfire.

The two men, Lt. Chris Roberts and firefighter David Davenport, are the fourth group of volunteers that the Fire Protection District has deployed this year to combat wildfires in western states.

“Both of them are certified wildland firefighters and have experience with large-scale incidents in the past,” said Gale Blomenkamp, a spokesman for the fire district.

The fire they will be fighting is located in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, 28 miles northeast of Enterprise, Ore., and has affected about 75,000 square acres. Roberts and Davenport will battle the blaze alongside 1,000 firefighters from across the country over the next 16 days. They will set up camp on the side of a mountain.

Upon arrival, they will be provided with a cache of firefighting equipment from the National Forest Service.

The wildfire season begins in early June, when native flora begins to dry up, and runs into mid-September. Eight firefighters from the fire district have been dispatched to fight three different fires this summer.

Blomenkamp said that the fire district dispatches small teams of nationally-certified firefighters to battle about a dozen wildfires each year.