"I was fortunate to be able to participate in the recent firefighter exchange program between the Ponderosa Fire Department in Houston," explained Jim Luplow, "and the Campbell County Fire Department in Wyoming. This program allowed four firefighters (two went in July, two in August) from the PVFD to travel to Wyoming to operate as part of that department for a week. Campbell County will send four of its firefighters to the PVFD later in the year."

"Participating along with me in the exchange were Dustin McDonald, career firefighter; Richard Reeg, volunteer, owns own construction company; and Ray Palcic, volunteer, who owns his own construction company. The participants took along their own issued gear and got the wildland gear -- pants, shirt, hard hat, gloves, and back pack -- in Wyoming."

The program is based on an innovative concept that was started by the International Association of Fire Chief’s, Volunteer Chief’s Section. The men selected to make the trip are "seasoned" enough to handle totally different fire emergencies and to bring back information about strategies and techniques to pass along through training to other PVFD volunteers and career firefighters.

"The main focus for us was to learn about wild land (woods/brush) fire fighting. The PVFD covers a relatively small (13 square miles), but highly populated (50,000 people) area and is geared toward structural fire and rescue operations. The Campbell County FD covers a very large area (5,000 square miles) with a limited population (40,000 people) and spends much of their time fighting large wild land fires. The goal of the program was to exchange ideas and techniques between the two departments."

"Upon arrival in Gillette, WY, we were taken to the main fire station where we would be living for the next week. The Chief took us on a tour of a small portion of the County, and we met some of the department members who were out mopping up a grass fire from the previous day. While driving around with the Chief, we made a couple of EMS calls assisting the local ambulance service. At 4:30 a.m. the following morning, we responded to a house fire in Gillette. We helped extinguish the fire and were able to show the guys from Campbell County a few new techniques which they hadn’t seen before."

Later that day the, the team was sent to assist a department in the next County with a medium sized brush and timber fire...that was three hours away. This particular round trip took 12 hours.

After settling into the routine of the everyday operations, the firefighters ran a few minor calls, and then a thunderstorm struck with dry lightning striking and starting several brush fires. Jim and Ray, along with three CCFD members, were deployed to a brush fire in the middle of a large cattle ranch. By the time the team arrived, about 100 acres had burned and it was spreading fast in the wind.

"The five of us were not going to be able to stop it," Jim said, "we called for help and concentrated on the edges and keeping it away from some small buildings and wells. There were several other fires that the CCFD was fighting at the same, so the help didn’t arrive until 90 minutes later."

"By the end of the day, the fire had grown to 1500 acres. We spent the night sleeping at the fire scene and started working to mop it up during the following morning."

By that afternoon, winds had picked up and the fire took off again, burning another 1000 acres. By the time the fire was finally out -- four days later -- it had consumed 4000 acres and had been fought by over 75 fire fighters from many different agencies.

"The exchange allowed us to learn about how to set backfires with drip torches and establish fire lines; which types of terrain are suitable for fighting the fire -- and which to stay out of. We learned how difficult it is to coordinate a large fire when there may be 10 or 15 different units spread out over several miles. And, we saw how the weather conditions greatly affect the fire...how a sudden wind change can be very dangerous. With wildfires, we found out, you had to plan 6 to 12 hours ahead. If you call for an aerial tanker to drop water, for example -- at an expense of $10,000 -- it takes about 90 minutes for it to arrive."

"The exchange was a very worthwhile undertaking," Jim reports. "We experienced a lot of things that will make us better firefighters."

Jim Luplow is a volunteer firefighter as well as a police officer with HPD. He is married and has one child.