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Forest technician fights wildfires

Forest Technician Nick Mossbarger, 30, of Williamstown, clears a downed tree from a road at Hune Bridge Campground. (Photo by Janelle Patterson)

LAWRENCE TWP. — Pulling branches and logs from a downed tree out of the roadway to prepare for the building of a new culvert at Hune Bridge Campground, Nick Mossbarger, 30, of Williamstown, spent his day doing what he loves surrounded by trees.

“I like the variety of my job and getting to utilize different expertise, depending on the task at hand,” said the technician for Wayne National Forest. “Some days you’re building kiosks, bridges or clearing trails, others you’re teaching hiking safety and putting on events. With my job I get to do everything.”

Mike Grebeck, a civil engineering technician for the Wayne, said he relies on Mossbarger heavily to maintain trails and other projects within the “mosaic park.”

“Whenever I need something done, I talk with Nick,” he said. “He’s the guy you want on your team whether it’s building structures or fighting fires.”

Mossbarger’s love of the outdoors extends to duties performed while serving for the Ohio National Guard, which included fighting wildfires this past August in South Dakota and Wyoming.

“The severity of the fires was pretty high out there, a lot of their fires are caused by lightening strikes,” he said. “In the Medicine Bow National Forest in Wyoming there was this dry thunderstorm that passed over us as we were clearing trees from a road where a fire had ripped through last year. That storm ignited the forest and we got called out to fight a 35-acre fire and keep it contained so it wouldn’t drop off this cliff and spread.”

Mossbarger said the first night his unit spent fighting the Wyoming fire they slept in a cow field nearby.

“I had to watch where I was sleeping so I didn’t roll into a cow patty,” he said as he laughed. “And waking up from a dead sleep to mooing, well that scared me for a second there.”

But fighting wildfires is about more than just a week’s camping trip in a national treasure.

“The worst thing is the smoke,” he said. “With the initial attack, we’re dispatched to the head of the fire to stop it in its tracks. We have our gear, but no respirators or masks on our faces so you’re literally choking on smoke.”

Part of Mossbarger’s duties while attacking the blaze include cutting down burning trees so that they don’t fall past the containment line.

“Cutting down trees is already a dangerous task, you really have to pay attention to where it’s going to fall,” he said. “But when it’s also on fire I have my guard up so there’s no fire going down my neck. And you check for weak spots too so it doesn’t collapse on you.”

This summer wasn’t the first set of wildfires Mossbarger has had to fight. Both in the Wayne National Forest and in the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee, flames have come with the territory.

“We had one here in the Wayne this past spring caused by an ATV driving through the brush and down in the Cherokee we had to fight a 150-acre fire that was started through arson,” he said. “That was the source of most of our fires down there. And it’s based on the severity of the fire how many people and agencies respond.”

Mossbarger said he hopes locals utilize Wayne National Forest more before the cold of winter kicks in but asks that all remember to be careful about the greater risk of fire in the fall and spring seasons.

“Without the green leaf coverage fall and spring are our risk times for wildfire here in the Wayne,” he explained. “With all of that dry brush and leaves on the ground it’s easy for things to catch fire with these warm days like today.”

Grebeck also emphasized the need for responsible use of the forest.

“We allow hunting, gathering and the extraction of minerals,” he explained. “It’s a multi-use forest, not a preserve, but we want all practices to be environmentally sound and we respect the forest. Please follow the guidelines and be aware of what you’re bringing in and out of the Wayne.”

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