You've probably seen pictures and videos of the massive wildfires that have threatened thousands of homes and businesses out west. What you may not know is that local crews are helping to fight many of those deadly fires.
So far this year, about 200 DCNR workers from Pennsylvania were sent out-of-state to assist with wildfires. They've traveled to several places including California, Texas, and Nevada.
Kristen Turner lives in Pike County, but in July she spent time out west in Colorado.
"Back then it was there fire season, so they were having a lot of fires going on," Turner explains.
She served as a dispatcher for a coordination center, and helped manage several large wildfires at once. She says, "we get the requests to bring in the resources, and then we find the resources and get them to the fires."
Mike Kern is Division Chief of DCNR's Forest Fire Protection Division in PA. He says local crews are called upon quite a bit.