BEND, OR -- Firefighters from all over the world are in Central Oregon this week, training with the Deschutes National Forest. Kassidy Kern, with the Forest Service, says it's not just the good weather that's leading to more prescribed burns, right now, there are people in town ready and willing to help with the operations. "Because we have the training program, we're able to get more acres done, but really the prioritization of how and which units we choose to go with are really about the safety of our communities and protecting private land assets."
She says the Central Oregon Training Exchange, which is a partnership between the US Forest Service and the Nature Conservancy, gives firefighters a unique training opportunity. "We've brought people in from all over the world. There are people here from Florida, from Arkansas, and even a man from France, who are prescribed fire practitioners wherever they are, or in some cases, maybe they're learning about it for the first time. But, this is giving them an opportunity to continue their skills, and it gives us an opportunity to get more work done on the ground."
