Bedford Fire Department deputy chief helps with wildfire in Oregon

The volunteer is on a federal incident management team and handled logistics such as supplies and housing for firefighters and staff.

Courtesy Zeph Cunningham

Zeph Cunningham's day job is as a park ranger for the National Park Service.

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Jordan Fifer | 981-3349

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

The volunteer deputy chief of the Bedford Fire Department returned from Oregon on Friday after spending two weeks there helping to coordinate the federal government’s response to a massive wildfire.

Zeph Cunningham, whose day job is as a park ranger for the National Park Service, is also a member of one of 17 highly trained federal incident management teams across the country that respond to disasters — commonly wildfires — on National Park Service land.

As the logistics chief for one of two such teams based in the South, Cunningham was in charge of ensuring that the firefighters and staff had housing, food, transportation, medical support, communications and supplies during his stay at the Big Windy Fire near Grants Pass, Ore.

“I got to get them what they need to do the job,” Cunningham said. “Everything it takes for a person to live and survive.”

Cunningham said he was responsible for as many as 1,250 personnel in what was essentially a makeshift city set up in a field near the fire’s base. The blaze, which began in July after a lightning strike, has burned 24,253 acres and is nearly 87 percent contained.

Teams like the one Cunningham is on serve on a rotating basis and are typically called up two to three times a year. His group was last deployed to the Elephant Fire in Buena Vista in April.

The teams are also sent under contracts with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to disasters such as hurricanes, even if they aren’t on National Park Service land, Cunningham said. His team served in New York and New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy devastated the region.

Two other National Park Service employees from Roanoke serve on the team, as does a Roanoke County firefighter.

Saturday, September 14, 2013