MISSOULA - The private wildland firefighting service Rocky Mountain Fire Company has just welcomed some international guests for the fire season.
Eight members from the firefighting group NCC Environmental Services of South Africa have come to help the Rocky Mountain Fire Company for this year’s fire season.
Rocky Mountain Fire Company General Manager Matthew Thompson says their crew and the NCC’s crew are learning from each other on their different firefighting techniques.
“They’re interested in how we use chainsaws and how we fight the heavier fuels we’re really interested in how they fight the light fuels and the grass because that’s what they’re good at. They use different tools, I know we bought a bunch of tools that we had never seen before in wildland firefighting based on how effective they were with using those tools," Thompson explained. "So I think we have a lot to learn from each other.”
Rocky Mountain Fire Company plans on having NCC’s support through mid-September. The NCC firefighters will undergo training sessions on Monday, July 24, 2023, before joining the local fire crews.
