Appeal Tribune Wednesday, September 13, 2017 3A
PHOTOS BY CONNOR RADNOVICH / STATESMAN JOURNAL
Cody Goodnough, left, of the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training hands a pack to Audra Luther of the 173rd Fighter Wing at the Oregon Public Safety Academy in Salem.
Specialist Justin Lambert with the 741st Brigade Engineer Battalion, left, selects a pair of pants
with Miguel Benitez of the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training.
Pfc. Patrick Connor, center, tries on his new wildfire fighting clothing along with a group of
other Oregon National Guardsmen at the Oregon Public Safety Academy in Salem.
“Going to a fire, especially a wildfire,
Fires
you’re definitely going into the
Continued from Page 1A
unknown.”
“If you’re in Brookings
and your house is in jeop-
ardy, that one day is im-
portant to you,” said Eriks
Gabliks, director of the
Department of Public
Safety Standards and
Training.
The first group activat-
ed in early August was
trained in 2015, so they
only required a one-day
refresher course. The
next two groups had nev-
er faced a wildfire, so
they needed the full four
days, though some of the
individuals had previous
experience.
Springfield-resident
and current trainee Zack
Prather of Alpha Compa-
ny, 2nd Battalion, 162nd
Infantry, came across a
small brush fire while
hunting with his father
when he was 14 years old.
They were able to contain
the blaze for a few hours
until a local fire depart-
ZACK PRATHER
ALPHA COMPANY, 2ND BATTALION, 162ND INFANTRY
ment showed up, using a
nearby highway as a fire
break and cutting it off on
the other sides.
“My dad just kept tell-
ing me to dig, so I did,” he
said.
Prather was deployed
to Afghanistan for more
than a year in 2014 and
2015. He worked protec-
tion duty; a “GA” or
“guardian angel” to the
people he looked after.
Overseas, he said, you ba-
sically know the enemy
and the kinds of situations
you’re going to find your-
self in.
That’s not always the
case with wildfires.
“Going to a fire, espe-
cially a wildfire, you’re
definitely going into the
unknown,” Prather said.
Master Sgt. Rebecca
Thompson, of the 142nd
Fighter Wing, was de-
ployed in Romania two
years ago when wildfires
last cut major swaths
through the Oregon.
These areas included land
near her childhood home
in John Day; a fire crept to
within a few miles of her
family’s cabin.
She couldn’t do any-
thing then, but this year
she will have the opportu-
nity to defend someone
else’s house.
“You protect your
home, you protect your
state,” she said. “Your
home’s on fire, you got to
do something about it.”
Contact the reporter at
cradnovich@statesman
journal.com or 503-399-
6864, or follow him on
Twitter at @CDRadnovich
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