QUEBEC — It is not every day that a Houlton High School graduate gets to spend his summer battling wildfires in Canada, but that is precisely how Hugh Farrar, 19, spent his vacation.
“I had the opportunity to go to Québec with the Maine Forest Service and fight a wild land fire in the upper parts of Canada,” Farrar explained. “That way I was able to go was from the class Region 2 put on and was available through my forestry class.”
After completing that class, a few more things were required for him to be allowed to go out of state. Farrar needed what is called a “red card, which is a fitness test. He also needed to complete two online courses to get his qualification.
“We traveled from Island Falls to Manchester, Mass. where we met up with a crew from around there and flew on a charter flight to Chibougamau, Québec,” Farrar said. “We stayed in a logging camp for the week I was there. The food was very good to say the least.”
On average, he worked 14-hour days, including a 45-minute helicopter flight to and from the fire line.
“We would get up at 3:30 a.m., eat breakfast at 4 a.m., fly out from the airport at 5 a.m. and depending on wind and weather, we were normally on the line by 5:30 or 6 a.m.,” Farrar said. “Everybody was great to be around. It was very informational for a rookie like myself.”
A forestry management major at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, Farrar’s family has a rich logging history on both sides of his family. He attended the Region Two School of Technology as a forestry management student and enjoyed his time in the classroom with instructor Ted Wright so much he decided to continue his education in the field.
“Region Two has an articulation agreement with UMFK which allowed me to go to the college’s forestry management program with seven credits already earned towards my degree,” Farrar explained.
He volunteered to go to Quebec and while there, his duties were to follow directions from his squad boss.
“It normally entailed carrying a tool, such as an axe, and a lot of cold trailing to get all of the roots or other debris that was still smoldering extinguished,” he said.
There were not too many dangerous moments during his time in Canada, as his group’s job was to perform “mop up” duties, making sure all of the fires previously extinguished remained out.
“It was a great overall experience,” he said. “I would recommend it to anyone who is interested and I would go again tomorrow if I could.”
Farrar is the son of Steve and Bernadette Farrar of Houlton.
Editor’s note: Please turn to Page 5B to see our Fire Prevention special page.
