For Release: Friday, July 15, 2005

DEC Forest Rangers Dispatched to Quebec to Help Fight Wildfires

21-person Crew Leaves For Matagami, Quebec to Help Canadian Forest Service Control Wildfires

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Acting Commissioner Denise M. Sheehan today announced that sixteen DEC Forest Rangers and five DEC wildland firefighters left for Matagami, Quebec early on July 14, 2005 to help combat raging wildfires in the James Bay region.

"New York State's Forest Rangers are among the most highly trained, professional wildfire fighting teams in the nation," Commissioner Sheehan said. "Throughout the years our Rangers have assisted neighboring States and Provinces in controlling large scale and dangerous wildfires, protecting life and property and our beautiful natural resources. These Forest Rangers and firefighters will be a tremendous asset in the fight to halt the spread of wildfires in Canada. I am extremely proud of their efforts and wish them luck on their journey."

The firefighters are being dispatched through an interstate cooperative agreement with other Northeast Forest Fire Protection Compact members. Northeast Forest Fire Protection Compact members include the states of New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Maine. It also includes the Provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in Canada and the National Forests in the Northeast. The Compact members assist one another when large scale wildfires occur in any of the member States or Provinces that can not be effectively controlled by the local wildland firefighting team.

The New York State wildland firefighting crew departed from the DEC Forest Ranger Fire Cache in Saratoga, NY by bus early Thursday morning and headed directly to Matagami. Quebec has had over 520 wildfires totaling more than 1.5 million acres so far this year. Several villages have been evacuated that were in the path of these fires.

A list of Forest Rangers and wildland firefighters and their hometown dispatched to Quebec follows.

William Meehan - Tyrone, Steuben County, Forest Ranger;
Arthur Perryman - Northville, Fulton County, Forest Ranger;
Charles Kabrehl - Chestertown, Warren County; Forest Ranger;
Robert Praczkajlo - Jay, Essex County, Forest Ranger;
Ian Kerr - Brookhaven, Suffolk County, Forest Ranger ;
Jeremy Oldroyd - West Windsor, Broome County, Forest Ranger:
David Russell - Chateguay, Chateguay County, Forest Ranger ;
Evan Donegan - Schenectady, Schenectady County, Forest Ranger;
David Pachan - Brookhaven, Suffolk County, Forest Ranger;
Gary Miller - Forestport, Oneida County, Forest Ranger;
Delbert Jeffrey - Saranac Lake, Essex, Forest Ranger;
Jason Scott - Gilboa, Orange County, Forest Ranger;
Joan T. Staples - Waverly, Chemung County, Forest Ranger;
Justin Thaine - Angelica, Allegany County, Forest Ranger;
Daniel Cordell - Springwater, Steuben County, Forest Ranger;
Gregory Hoag - Rome, Oneida County, Forest Ranger;
Lisa Van Alstyne - Mexico, Oswego County, Assistant Forest Ranger;
Joshua Brown - North River, Warren County, Assistant Forest Ranger;
Mark Neuroth - Harrisville, Lewis County, Assistant Forest Ranger ;
Jacob Deslauriers - Cohoes, Albany County, Assistant Forest Ranger; and
Adam Richter - Hume, Allegany County, Wildland Firefighter.

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