The Montana Conservation Corps’ Women’s Fire Crew has returned home after 14 days working on assignment in Alaska.
The 2019 crew is comprised of seven members and two crew leaders. The crew worked to support the BLM through fire suppression, preparing the area from oncoming fire and slowing the progression of the flames.
"We were out on 337 Fire, or the Hadweenzic River, which became a part of the Cornucopia Complex thirty miles west of Fort Yukon, Alaska," said crew leader Shelby Descamps.
The Women’s Fire Crew was created in 2017 as a partnership between the Montana Conservation Corps and the Bureau of Land Management.
"The BLM, or the Bureau of Land Management decided that they had been having several challenges with engaging women in wildland firefighting," said Chris Nesset, Regional Director at the Montana Conservation Corps. "Some of that average percentage rates were around ten percent of all wildland firefighters are women, if not less."