Soldiers helping fight Sask. wildfires in many ways

Sgt. Kenny Somerset, who’s in charge of transport from their station in Prince Albert, said the support crew is working hard to keep the fight going. They provide fuel, water, food, and speciality items such as new respirator masks to those fighting fires.

“Which will make it a lot easier for the soldiers to breath on the frontlines,” said Somerset.

“We’ll take care of all the small things for them so that they can concentrate on getting the job done.”

The majority of the soldiers involved arrived in Prince Albert a week ago and quickly set up shop. Now, the P.A. Armoury is reminicint of a small, independent city.

“We’ve been doing this for years so it only takes us a few hours to put our footprint down on the ground and get set up,” said Somerset.

He said they rotate troops between different jobs so they have a variety of experiences.

“Obviously they have training in one specific field but a soldier has the ability to do a lot of different things,” said Somerset.

He told the story of a transport driver who took fuel to the frontlines and ended up gearing up and fighting the fire as well. It just so happened that the soldier had previously been a forest firefighter in a past job, Somerset said.

“It brought back happy memories for him and that was one more person to put on the line,” said Somerset.

Somerset said he’s the one who decides who goes out on the frontlines fighting fires. They rotate people through that position as well so that people fighting fires get to come back to the city for a bit of a break.

“When a soldier gets fatigued we’ll bring him back and replace him with somebody else,” explained Somerset. “If they’re still going strong and they’re happy and their morale is good, we’ll keep them where they are.”

Major Joseph Boland, who commands a crew in Prince Albert, said they’re doing their best to help out those fighting fires.

“Essentially our role is to provide the frontline soldier firefighters with the best support we can, sort of enabling them to help the people of Saskatchewan,” said Boland.

They not only transport essentials to the frontlines, they also try and make them as comfortable as possible. They are able to take a mobile shower to the firefighter’s base camps. Boland said their team also serves hot food to the frontline firefighters twice a day. He said, a little goes a long way.

“Just little things, like pushing forward cold Gatorade, means a lot to the troops morale,” Boland said.

Their supplies come from Edmonton where the crew there is involved with organizing supplies and transporting them out.

Personally, Boland said this is his first domestic operation and he and his crew are happy to be part of the effort.

“All these soldiers were pretty pumped to get out here and help these Saskatchewan folk,” said Boland.

“I know it’s long days, I know they’re dirty when they’re done but the energy is there, the morale is there to do what they need to do.”

asoloducha@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alex_soloducha

by Alex Soloducha

Soldiers helping fight Sask. wildfires in many ways

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