3/24/2009 1:11:00 PM Wildfire Academy features bagpiper, state forester for St. Patrick's Day
Joanna Dodder/Courier
Arizona Wildfire Academy student Michael Donelson of Williams serenaded fellow students and instructors at the 7 a.m. briefing on St. Patrick’s Day – which also happened to be Donelson’s 19th birthday.
By Joanna Dodder Nellans Special to the Williams-Grand Canyon News
PRESCOTT - St. Patrick's Day revelers might be used to hearing bagpipes, but not necessarily at 7 a.m.
The Arizona Wildfire Academy started its day off right March 17 as student Michael Donelson - on his 19th birthday - regaled the daily morning fire briefing with his bagpipes.
Donelson spent his spring break week from Northern Arizona University training to be a better volunteer firefighter for the Sherwood Forest Estates Fire Department near Williams.
"I just thought it would be great to help out the fire department," Donelson said of his volunteer training. It's a common attitude in the firefighting world, witnessed by the massive amount of volunteer time people donated to the academy.
The multi-agency staff runs the Wildfire Academy like a real wildfire camp, following the incident management system of daily morning briefings about weather, tactical and logistical issues, for example. All the students must attend the 7 a.m. briefing. Several donned Irish garb Tuesday.
Academy Coordinator Don Howard, chief of the Summit Fire Department near Flagstaff, reminded students that they will be seeing their academy instructors on the real fire line this summer.
"We want to make sure we do take care of each other," Howard told the students, urging them to make new friends. "Leadership is all about developing relationships."
March 17 also was VIP day at the academy, and several local, state and regional government officials toured the academy.
"Your jobs really help those who cannot help themselves," Yavapai County Supervisor Tom Thurman told the academy students.
Vicki Christensen, who has been Arizona's state forester for less than a month, visited the Prescott area for the first time during VIP day.
"I'm here to look, learn and listen," she said.
Academy Coordinator Tony Sciacca, a former Prescott National Forest fire manager, and Deputy Incident Commander Darrell Willis, Prescott emergency services director, took turns giving Christensen a tour of the campus alongside Deputy State Forester Cam Hunter and State Fire Marshal Bob Barger.
Christensen came here from Washington, where she also was a state forester. She has a long history in wildland firefighting as a division supervisor, fire information officer and fire line explosives blaster. Although relatively rare in the Southwest, in the Northwest firefighters sometimes use explosives to blast fire lines clear of thick vegetation. Christensen's husband is a structural firefighter.
The state contingent briefly visited a wide variety of classes, from Introduction to Incident Information to Intermediate Incident Command System.
Despite being new to Arizona, Christensen was familiar with many of the people at the academy because wildland firefighters tend to travel to blazes all around the country.
"Mr. Jim Payne signed off on my (firefighter) task book" about 15 years ago, Christensen said of Incident Information instructor Jim Payne, now a Southwest Region information officer for the Forest Service.
About 1,000 Wildfire Academy students and instructors from 27 states occupied the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University campus during its spring break. With widespread instructional support from federal, state and local fire agencies, the academy is able to charge students only $60 per day for the classes, instructional materials, meals, and use of gear and equipment.
Grant money from the Prescott Area Wildland/Urban Interface Commission, Kieckhefer Foundation and State Farm allow the academy to offer $30,000 worth of scholarships, Sciacca noted.
Christensen said she was impressed with the tuition costs for such top-notch instruction.
Sciacca hopes to start offering satellite courses around the state in the future.
(Editor's note: Joanna Dodder Nellans is a reporter with The Daily Courier, a sister publication of the News.)
