COLORADO—Like supply caches across the country, the Southern Area Incident Support Cache in London, Kentucky, stocks, issues, refurbishes and maintains equipment and supplies used for wildland fires and all-risk incidents such as floods, hurricanes, and search and rescue efforts. With wildland fire seasons extending throughout the year, preparedness is a central tenet for the public land management agencies that manage wildfire. The southern cache serves as a mammoth Costco for emergency response professionals in the 12 states forming the Southern Geographical Area. Even before the wildland fire “season” morphed into the wildland fire “year,” workers at the 16 caches composing the National Interagency Support Cache system rarely experienced extensive down time.

Equipment and supplies shipped out during the fire year are returned to the cache for repair and refurbishment during slower months. Although administratively determined employees are hired during peak times, there are only four full-time employees to manage this process and operate its 20,000-square-foot warehouse and 2,000-square-foot office. In early December 2023, led by Camp Crew Boss Anthony Hansen, a Pine Knot Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center Camp crew arrived on-site to assist Fire Cache Manager Timothy “Shane” Campbell and staff member Frank Antos with clearing out some of the backlog.

Antos, a retired Forest Service special agent, had high performance standards and provided thoughtful tutelage to crew members Jeremiah Celestin, Saun Crump, Trevon Gregory, Papa Mensah and Tavon Paris. Supervised by Hansen and crew boss trainee Andrew Harmon, crew members toiled 10 hours a day, first unloading two semi-trucks of returned gear and subsequently cleaning, sanitizing and refurbishing miles of hose and 10 2,000-gallon water tanks; cleaning and assembling chainsaw, drip torch, leaf blower and yurt kits; and power washing, sanitizing and re-boxing hundreds of tables and chairs, food storage containers and backpack units. In total, the crew provided 550 human hours of labor.

Beyond supporting the agencies firefighting efforts, camp crews provide immeasurable learning opportunities for Job Corps students. “Job Corps students unable to serve as firefighters can participate in this important process while learning important job skills and earning income,” shared Hansen.

The operation of a cache is anything but simple. The National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s handbook, Standards for Fire Equipment Storage and Refurbishing, MPS 448, outlines standards and procedures for assessing returned equipment to determine whether it can be repaired or refurbished or, if beyond repair, it can be recycled. Each piece of equipment has its own standards, from the ubiquitous Pulaski to the innocuous coupling, and each is inspected before being returned to the shelf with a signed letter to provide quality assurance.

Fire Cache Manager Timothy “Shane” Campbell said of the crew, “They showed up on time and ready to assist in any way needed. Everyone was truly professional and did everything asked of them without complaint. I would gladly have everyone in this crew back any time.”

Civilian Conservation Centers do their utmost to hand select their best students to participate in camp crews. These students recognize they are being provided a unique professional development opportunity.

“I loved working with the guys in the warehouse,” said Shaun Crum. “I learned a lot about the cache and fire from Frank,” he enthused.

The Job Corps Wildland Fire Program is a partnership between Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management and Job Corps. Centers are eager to work with, support and collaborate with national forests and grasslands. If your unit would like to order up a camp crew, reach out to  JCNO-FAM Program Coordinator CorDell Taylor at cordell.taylor@usda.gov or 970-615-0922.

The Forest Service operates 24 civilian conservation centers, the only Job Corps centers with the unique conservation mission to conserve, develop or manage public natural resources and public recreation areas and respond to natural disasters. In FY2023, Forest Service Job Corps students contributed 283,202 hours in fire, equating to a value of $9,030,436. They also contributed 123,925 hours to conservation work, valued at $4,009,534, and 23,460 hours supporting rural development, valued at $744,756.