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Summer fire sparks new training opportunities in Quinhagak

Quinhagak resident Catherine Beebe participates in a pack test as part of a wildland firefighter training course offered by the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection in Quinhagak on Aug. 1, 2024.
Gabby Salgado
/
KYUK
Quinhagak resident Catherine Beebe participates in a pack test as part of a wildland firefighter training course offered by the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection in Quinhagak on Aug. 1, 2024.

On an overcast morning in early August, around a dozen people trudged back and forth along one of Quinhagak’s main gravel roads under the weight of 45-pound vests.

“Nice job, man. Keep it up. One more push. One more push,” shouted Isaako Muta, a wildland firefighter with the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Muta was in the Kuskokwim Bay community of roughly 800 people alongside two other McGrath-based firefighters to lead a four-day wildland fire training course, the first of its kind.

Quinhagak resident Elia Guest celebrates after finishing his pack test as part of a wildland firefighter training course offered by the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection in Quinhagak on Aug. 1, 2024.
Gabby Salgado/KYUK
Quinhagak resident Elia Guest celebrates after finishing his wildland firefighter pack test in Quinhagak on Aug. 1, 2024.

It’s part of a push by the state to restore the number of firefighters it can call on in a region that once served as a backbone of emergency firefighting for the state. When the local Native corporation in Quinhagak expressed interest this summer in getting residents trained up, the state also saw an opportunity.

“Thirty-seven on the dot,” Muta called out.

Twenty-two-year-old Elia Guest, wearing a cowboy hat and dressed in black, finished well ahead of the rest of the pack and was quickly helped out of his vest.

“I feel lighter now. I’m surprised I did 37 minutes. The most I do is like at least three, four rounds around this village,” Guest said.

Guest managed to keep his pace up for 3 miles while wearing a 45-pound vest to complete what is known as a pack test. It’s something every emergency firefighter in Alaska must check off before being put on fires where 16-hours days, seven days a week, for weeks at a time are common.

As Guest slipped away to give his legs a well-deserved rest, the other pack testers trickled in, some with seconds to spare before the 45-minute cut-off.

Members of the community of Quinhagak complete their pack test as part of a wildland firefighter training course offered by the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection in Quinhagak on Aug. 1, 2024.
Gabby Salgado
/
KYUK
Members of the community of Quinhagak complete their pack test as part of a wildland firefighter training course offered by the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection in Quinhagak on Aug. 1, 2024.

On a blustery day a month earlier, there were also only seconds to spare when embers from burning trash at the landfill sparked a fast-moving tundra fire. It caught the Kuskokwim Bay community of roughly 800 people off guard.

Dozens scrambled to respond, using whatever pumps and hoses they could find, as 30-mile-per-hour winds drove the blaze toward town.

By the time firefighters responded from McGrath, the fire had charred more than 100 acres of tundra. It came within a mile of one of the community’s fuel farms, and within feet of an active archaeological dig.

“We had a lot of moving parts, so many fires going on, and Quinhagak popped off, and it just made sense for us to put those guys on the plane, send them out here,” Muta said.

A volunteer firefighter stands by as a tundra fire is brought under control in Quinhagak on June 25, 2024.
James Williams
A volunteer firefighter stands by as a tundra fire is brought under control in Quinhagak on June 25, 2024.

The training held by Muta and two other McGrath-based firefighters didn't only build skills that could be used to handle future emergencies. In a subsistence-based community with few jobs, it also gave many who fought the recent fire a shot at seasonal work. They earned what is known as a “red card,” certifying them as Type 2 emergency firefighters, or EFFs.

Muta said that while the training in Quinhagak was a first, the state has the advantage of already having an active roster of seasonal firefighters further up the coast.

Isaako Maua Muta, a wildland fire resource technician 3 with the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection leads a training course
Gabby Salgado
/
KYUK
Isaako Maua Muta, a wildland fire and resource technician 3 with the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection, leads a training course in Quinhagak on July 31, 2024.

“We have Chevak, Scammon [Bay], Hooper Bay on the coast. It kind of gives us the opportunity to come out this way more and try to hit some more of these coastal villages that are looking for a lot of these opportunities in fire, who've done it before,” Muta said.

Long-time Quinhagak search and rescue coordinator Henry Jones Jr., who earned a certificate as part of the training, said that he remembered hearing great things over the years about the opportunity to make fast cash by working as a seasonal firefighter.

In the fire that struck Quinhagak over the summer, Jones Jr. played a key role rallying the community. He said that the visit from the McGrath-based training team was both an opportunity to be far better prepared the next time around, and for residents to get paid to fight fires and do fuels reduction work starting at $18 an hour.

“There's lots of locals here that, they need work,” Jones Jr. said. “And it's a good opportunity for them to take this course where they can go someplace else to make a little bit of money instead of sitting around and applying here and there without getting hired and stuff like that.”

On the last day of the training, Jones Jr.'s oldest son and four of his relatives were among the graduates that proudly posed with their firefighting certificates.

Members of the community of Quinhagak receive certificates after completing a four-day wildland firefighter training held by the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection in Quinhagak on Aug. 2, 2024.
Gabby Salgado
/
KYUK
Members of the community of Quinhagak receive certificates after completing a four-day wildland firefighter training held by the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection in Quinhagak on Aug. 2, 2024.

The new red card holders will need to be recertified every year to fight fires. Fortunately, the state said that it will likely be back in Quinhagak in the spring of 2025 to offer additional training, alongside potential stops in Chevak, Hooper Bay, Kalskag, and Kwethluk.

With the move to bring Quinhagak into the fold, the push to build back the wildland firefighter roster in Western Alaska appears to be working.

Find training opportunities as they are posted by visiting the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection website.

Evan Erickson is a reporter at KYUK who has previously worked as a copy editor, audio engineer and freelance journalist.
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