Levittown resident Joe Pries recently returned from a two-week assignment in Oregon to help combat raging wildfires in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.

Pries, a fish and wildlife technician with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for over a year, is among a team of 20 DEC forest rangers and employees who set out to control the large scale wildfires and protect life, property and natural resources.

"We had to make sure that the fire lines that we cut were good enough that a fire couldn't jump across and start on the other side," he explained. "We also would chase spot fires, which is when embers would be picked up from the main fire and drop them on another area and start another fire. After we put the spot fires out we had to do mop-up and cold trail, which is when we bare hand the burnt ash and logs to make sure they are cold and won't start again."

The crew's initial assignment was on the Battle Creek Complex, which was listed as being nearly 3,000 acres in size with very few resources assigned. This fire complex was located about 28 miles northeast of Enterprise, OR.

"The first thing I noticed was that it was hot and dry," Pries described. "It would be 90-something degrees in the middle of the day and the humidity was below 20, which is perfect burning weather. The terrain was classified as extreme."

Deployed on the eastern flank of the blaze, their responsibilities centered on keeping the fire out of Hell's Canyon National Recreation Area (which features the deepest gorge in North America) by creating burnout zones ahead of the fire to stop the advance and attacking spot fires. Due to their remote location, cell phones were unusable; radio communications relied on portable and human repeater systems. About 1,000 people have worked on the fire, which began July 14 due to lightning. The fire is now fully contained.

As a fish and wildlife technician, Pries said he informs people about the rules and regulations of fishing on Long Island, answers questions about the water bodies, responds to fish kills and studies ponds and lakes for toxic substances and population growth of fish.

"I also work with a co-op with a sea grant that has an outreach program to get kids into the outdoors, and I will teach them in a classroom and also teach them how to fish when we take them out fishing," he added.

Pries is a 2002 graduate of Division Avenue High School and earned a degree in Wildlife Management from SUNY Cobleskill. He received his training at the annual New York Wildfire and Incident Management Academy held each fall at Brookhaven National Lab.

"New York State's Forest Rangers are among the most highly trained, professional wildfire fighting teams in the nation," DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis said. "These Forest Rangers and firefighters were a tremendous asset in the fight to halt the spread of wildfires in the northwest."