Forest rangers are “always the ones that run into danger when everyone is running the other direction,” said Basil Seggos, commissioner for the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation on Monday.

He spoke to the press in an online conference call along with four rangers who had returned on Sunday from two weeks of fighting wildfires in Québec.

They were part of a team of 14 members made up of volunteers from Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont as well as New York.

They “put to bed” three out of four fires and finally were evacuated by helicopter from the fourth as it burned across 12,000 acres, said Chester Lunt, a ranger based in Cayuga, Cortland, and Onondaga counties.

The crew was led by Robert Praczkajlo, a ranger based in Essex and Franklin counties, while Arthur Perryman II, a ranger based in Warren County, led a crew in Nova Scotia, returning home, after two weeks, on June 18.

Asked why they volunteered, Lunt said, “We raise our hands because it feels good to help other people. It feels good to work hard. It gives you purpose and meaning.”

The father of four, Lunt went on, “It’s a family job that we all take on together … Everyone is picking up slack for Dad at home.”

Anastasia Allwine, a ranger based in Greene County, said, “We’re trained for this,” and she had seen the effect the smoke from the fires had across New York state.

She went on, “You hear about a lot of things happening in other countries that’s a concern to you but you can’t directly affect so having the opportunity to go up, have a direct — however big or small — effect on the situation was really a privilege I couldn’t pass up on.”

William Roberts, a ranger based in Chemung, Schuyler, and Seneca counties, said he had family in Canada. “Their lives have been heavily impacted by smoke and air quality, and to be able to go up and help out … I was very happy to do that.”

Praczkajlo called the fires in Canada historic, stating that over 4.5 million acres have burned in protected areas with another 2.4 million burning north of the tree line in the unprotected area.

“They have a very serious fire season on their hands,” he said. “They’re definitely asking for all the help they can get.”

Praczkajlo also said, “I imagine if we have a north wind, that smoke will move back down into New York, changing the air quality.”

On Monday, June 26, Governor Kathy Hochul put out a release saying the statewide air quality forecast for Wednesday, June 28, “shows the potential for unhealthy air quality to impact most of the state with thick surface smoke overnight Wednesday.”

The release explained, “Due to a cold front entering Western New York from the northwest in the early morning hours Wednesday and reaching Downstate regions by Wednesday evening, winds are expected to bring potential near-surface smoke impacts statewide.”

Praczkajlo, on the press call, described his crew’s two-week sojourn; in addition to the four on the call, the crew also included rangers Matthew Adams, Christopher Pelrah, and Howard Thomes. Praczkajlo said the sky was orange as the crew drove north and that the Canadians were thankful for their help.

“They were so kind to us and supported us above and beyond what I expected,” said Lunt. He also said the language barrier was “largely solved by them.”

Lightning storms came through Québec on June 1, Praczkajlo said, igniting the fires. “Three of the fires we fought had not had any personnel on the ground ever. We were the first to engage.”

The group stayed in a remote, rustic lodge and were provided with “amazing” meals, Praczkajlo said.

Allwine said the noise when on the ground fighting a fire sounds like a freight train.

She described 30- to 40-foot spruce trees torched into flames. On their second day, she said, “The speed was dramatic. We had to pull back to the river.”

For the last fire they fought, Allwine said, as they were flown over to the front, they saw “an immense wall of flame, a huge column of smoke.” She called it “a little daunting.”

On the flight to the last fire, Praczkajlo said, “We passed two others we helped to repress. We still flew 10 minutes till we were at the head of the fire; it’s like flying from Lake Placid to Lake Clear and everything in between is burned.”

He explained that fire first travels in the moss and lower ground matter on the forest  floor. “And as soon as it gets to a ladder fuel, meaning a tree that has limbs all the way to the ground, it starts to build the heat under the tree and it goes up into that tree and burns.

“If it’s hot enough, dry enough, and enough wind, that treetop just burns the next tree and eventually you go from torching to a crown fire where the fire is sustained just by literally burning, treetop to treetop, and that’s when fire grows very quickly.” 

The majority of wildfire suppression consists of “putting a pump in a lake and spraying out on the edge of where it is burning,” said Praczkajlo. At the same time, helicopters, using Bambi Buckets, drop water from overhead “to keep the fire down on the ground where we can control it.”

On the crew’s second day of firefighting, Praczkajlo said, by 1 p.m., the fire started to get up into the trees and jumped across a logging road. Two helicopters dropped water on 50 fire spots, he said.

With flames three or four feet tall, Praczkajlo said, “You can’t get close enough to stop it. You have to put water on it first and then dig down to the mineral soil below.”

The last fire they were flown to fight, Praczkajlo said, was “burning slowly on the ground” when they arrived. “We could attack it with hoses and pumps but, by early afternoon, it had gotten up into the treetops and was beginning to travel just in the trees … which makes a fire grow fast.”

For most of their two-week stay, he said, the temperature was 90 degrees and 10- to 15-miles per-hour winds blew, with no rain. “They need the rain to help them get the fires under control,” Praczkajlo said.

With the last fire, he said, “The temperature and humidity aligned and the fire just raged out of control and we had to be evacuated.”

All of the volunteers indicated that they would go again.

Seggos explained that the DEC is part of the Northeast Fire Compact. “We’ve indicated our availability,” he said. Two weeks ago, he said, when much of New York state was dry, there was a high risk for fire here but, since most of the state has received rain, the fire risk is down.

“Our resources are more available …,” said Seggos “We’ve raised our hand and we’re ready.”

 In 1979, New York sent its first firefighting crew to assist western states with large wildfires, according to the governor’s office. On average, one or two crews are sent as needed to assist with wildfires nearly every year.

Personnel and travel expenses for the New York crews are either paid directly by the United States Forest Service or reimbursed to New York State based on a mutual aid agreement between states and federal land agencies.

“I think it’s pretty clear there are such things as heroes,” said Seggos on the press call. “They’re right here in front of you.”

On Monday, June 26, Quebec’s fire prevention agency, Société de protection des forêts contre le feu, reported 78 active wildfires, down from 106 on June 15, from 111 on June 13, and from 125 on June 9.

Asked about returning to Canada to fight wildfires again, Roberts said, “I’d be all in.”

“We would love to go back and fight the fires absolutely,” said Praczkajlo. “It was hard to leave.”