HILO — A crew of firefighters from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has been hard at work since last week combating a growing forest fire.
They just aren’t in Hawaii.
The 10-person crew left Nov. 17 to lend aid to the ongoing effort to contain a blaze in the George Washington Forest near Lowesville, Va.
As of Tuesday, the fire was 2,711 acres in size and only 5 percent contained. There were 51 fire personnel working at the site.
More than 80 large fires (defined as greater than 100 acres) are burning across the southeastern United States because of ongoing drought conditions.
About 147,000 acres in the region were affected as of Tuesday, with more than 4,440 personnel at work.
“A lot of federal agencies help each other out during these kinds of situations,” said HVNP spokeswoman Jessica Ferracane. “It’s rare that anybody who is a firefighter is going to say no when a need arises.”
Ferracane said that in the early 2000s, crews from Yosemite National Park came to Hawaii to offer aid when the Big Island was experiencing drought and fires.
The HVNP firefighters has also offered aid for West Coast fires in the past.
“The firefighting community at the federal level, as well as the other levels, is one big ohana,” Ferracane said. “The call came in that assistance was needed.”
Crews are expected to remain in the Southeast until Dec. 3.
“If conditions warrant, we will consider mobilizing a second (group) at the beginning of December,” Ferracane said.
The park posted a photo of crews at work on its Instagram feed, and received a thank-you note from the Blue Ridge Parkway curators. The Parkway runs through 29 counties in Virginia and North Carolina.
“The lands around the Parkway are burning at an alarming rate in the east,” the curators wrote.
Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.