Local forester travels to Wyoming to lend fire suppression aid

As a forester with the Missouri Department of Conservation, Jennifer Behnken typically works with community groups and governments in the region to promote the advocacy and care of trees. Recently, however, Behnken’s job has taken her much farther than Missouri.

Behnken, along with other department of conservation staff, recently returned to Cape Girardeau after a 14-day excursion of wildfire suppression in Wyoming.

“It was an enlightening experience,” Behnken said. “It gave me a greater understanding of some of the scale and scope of what it takes to coordinate such large events like wildfires.”

Behnken and her crew were given designated tasks to do when they engaged with an active wildfire. She helped suppress blazes by creating firelines, or strips of land where the ground is stripped to bare dirt so flames can’t spread farther.

Crews also assisted in “mopping up.”

A fire suppression crew member extinguishes fire embers on the site of the Red Hole Fire in Thermopolis, Wyoming.Missouri Department of Conservation

“That means following where fire has already burned and putting out hot spots, embers, ashes — things that are still smoldering so fires don’t accidentally reignite,” Behnken said.

Behnken was dispatched to Wyoming through the Missouri-Iowa Interagency Coordination Center (MOCC).

As an agency part of the MOCC, the Missouri Department of Conservation provides resources such as staff, equipment and supplies to other states if they request assistance in wildfire suppression.

Behnken said fighting fires in a different state gave her a new perspective on how wildfires behave. She’s fought wildfires in Missouri, but never handled fires on landscapes as large as Wyoming’s, where vegetation, weather patterns and elevations are different.

It wasn’t easy work, Behnken said. On multiple days, crews had to work under 100-degree weather.

“They also take time away from their jobs and families to be able to do something we also find value in,” Behnken said. “We hope our efforts make a difference.”