HARRISBURG, Pa. — Wildfire season is underway in the western United States and firefighters from Pennsylvania are on their way to help.
Twenty firefighters from every region of Pennsylvania are set to deploy to Montana on Tuesday to fight wildfires in the region.
The firefighters, who range in experience, will fly out of Harrisburg and begin their two-week trip based in Miles City, Montana where they will await the call to go where they are needed.
The more experienced firefighters say the experience of traveling west, along with the mission of helping fire-weary communities, keeps them coming back.
It's just kind of a venture thing," said Eric Monger, who has traveled west to fight fires for more than ten years. "You can see some country you've never seen, and it's beautiful out there. So help some people out and provide the resources that we have to the other folks of the west."
Pennsylvania has sent two crews west already this year and has been sending crews west for more than fifty years.
The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is organizing the trips west, and DCNR officials say taking the trip is a matter of pride for the firefighters.
"Usually, somebody's got a Pennsylvania flag that usually works its way onto some sort of rugged stick right out in the middle of a camp somewhere," said Chad Northcraft of the DNCR. "It is definitely a sense of pride and the communities that you're impacting, you can see it too. You see the thank you firefighters signs and all that stuff. It's really nice."