It is a story as old as time. 

An ancient enemy, savage and relentless, that destroys both homes and forest with equal propensity.  A team of dedicated professionals, with the most up-to-date arsenal of weapons and equipment, and a duty to defend their territory at whatever cost. 

With the fate of Fairbanks hanging in the balance, the University Fire

Department joined in the many battles waged in the interior this summer against a world of fire during one of the worst Interior wildfire seasons on record.

"The whole department worked to support the wild land effort, " Chief Edith Curry said.  "It really was a tremendous experience for students who had never worked on wild land fires before."

 Approximately 35 firefighters from the University department, Curry said, went out to work on the Boundary, Wolf Creek, and Central Complex fires at some time or another, under a mutual aid agreement with the State Division of Forestry.

"We had to put people on overtime to cover it," she said.  "We were pulling our people back before forestry wanted them to leave."  

Brush trucks, fire engines, and their crews were donated to the cause, paid for in part with federal FEMA money after Governor Murkowski declared the fires a disaster area.

Crews went out for an average of one week, working sixteen-hour days.

Jesse Wood, a student firefighter with the UFD, was part of a brush truck crew stationed on the Boundary Fire just a few miles north of Fairbanks.  He helped the fire crews with mopping-up, patrolled the Steese looking for trouble areas, and kept portable draft tanks filled with water to fuel his comrade's hoses.

"It was a great opportunity to learn more about forestry firefighting, because we mainly respond to structure fires," he said.  "We made good money too, because of all the overtime available.  They (division of forestry) needed crews 24/7."

No one from the UFD was injured working on the fires.

Curry expressed pride in her crew's work on the wildfires.  "The reports we got back said they were some of the best firefighters forestry had ever seen.  Our people did great," she said.

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