Colorado, Wyoming Crews Will Help Fight Canadian Wildfires

DENVER (AP) — Firefighters from Colorado and Wyoming will help battle wildfires burning in Canada.

One hundred firefighters from five crews — three from Colorado and two from Wyoming — left Denver on a Canadian chartered jet on Wednesday bound for Edmonton, Alberta. A spokesman for the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center, Larry Helmerick, said they are scheduled to fight fires for two weeks before returning to Denver.

The Colorado firefighters include hotshots, the most highly trained and experienced handcrews, from Rocky Mountain National Park and Monument. The Wyoming firefighters are initial attack crews from Casper and the Big Horn Basin.

Last week, Colorado sent one of its two wildfire planes to Fairbanks, Alaska to help respond to fires there.