Carbondale-area fire fighters are heading to Oregon to help tackle a wildfire. Three firefighters from the Carbondale & Rural Fire Protection District have headed west with a small firetruck. They’ll lend a hand with the Bendire Fire in Eastern Oregon. The crew was requested by the US Forest Service, which put out a call for help from Colorado fire stations.
Due to low wildfire danger in the Roaring Fork Valley, the District is able to send firefighters and equipment to Oregon. The Carbondale and Rural District is grappling with a funding crisis and won’t be paying for this trip.
As is common, the Forest Service will reimburse the District for the trip and firefighter pay, with some money left over for the District to keep. The last time Carbondale sent a firefighting crew outside of the valley was in 2013, for the Black Forest blaze on the Front Range.
