What it’s like for a Maine truck driver to battle a massive wildfire in Oregon

An Amity man is part of a Maine Forest Service crew called to help contain a raging 25,000-acre wildfire in Oregon’s Umpqua National Forest.

Chuck Jackman, a wildland contract firefighter with the Maine Forest Service for over 15 years, is currently on assignment with Maine Forest Service and New Hampshire Forest Service firefighters as an incident commander in eastern Oregon for the Cottage Grove Lane 1 fire that was caused by lightning, according to the Oregon Department of Forestry.

Jackman, who is also a Hodgdon volunteer firefighter and works as a commercial truck driver  for SW Collins in Houlton, has deployed over 30 times to wildfires in various states including several trips to Alaska, said his wife, Angelina Jackman, on Tuesday.

“I couldn’t continue to come out west to help with these large fires if not for the continued support of my wife and kids and the generosity of my full time job back home,” he said via text on Tuesday. “SW Collins is very understanding and flexible. They allow me to leave with a very short notice to come out and make a difference.”

The Oregon Line 1 fire is in a mountainous region of the national forest at altitudes ranging  from 4,000 to 5,000 feet. On this particular trip Jackman has a Maine Forest Ranger who is training under him, firefighters who chop down massive trees known as fallers, and four chase trucks, Angelina said, adding that a lot goes into the effort.

This Umpqua National Forest fire is a bit different from his other deployments because they are doing all night ops this time, she said.

“He’s never really had the chance to do that for a full assignment,” she said.

Chuck Jackman said they are working 16-hour night shifts that are uniquely hazardous because of an inability to see potential dangers in the rough terrain, especially massive silent falling trees that are the number one cause of injury and death for firefighters.

“A tree can appear as just a shadow and you think it’s fine and walk right past it and you rumble the ground just a little bit or a wind current comes and that tree will come right down without warning,” Angelina said. “They call them widow makers.”

Oregon has an added danger of mountain lions, Chuck said.

“One shift around midnight we were patrolling a rather steep piece of the fire line and met two  firefighters from another crew that said they were being followed by a mountain lion,” he said.

Later that night, at about 3 a.m., one of the members of Jackman’s crew stepped away from a pump they were manning and came face to face with a mountain lion, he said.

The Lane 1 fire is currently at 25,250 acres and is 61 percent contained.

Thunderstorms over the weekend sparked new small fires, according to the Oregon Dept. of Forestry.

Firefighters are currently getting to hotspots in the interior of the fire. But the work is tedious and firefighters have to dig into the dirt and smoldering root systems underground to prevent them from reigniting weeks or months later, officials said.

Jackman’s assignments are generally for 14 days on the ground with additional time for travel.

“There have been times that he has been gone for 18 days and I don’t hear from him,” Angelina said. “Other wives connect on Facebook and support each other through it. I feel it’s a bit like being a military wife on a short term basis.”

Several years ago, there were times when he would get back for a day or two and get deployed again, she said.

“Whether it was Hurricane Katrina to clean up because they need fallers to clear the roads, then he’d go to Alaska, then in Oregon and back to Alaska,” she said. “It was harder when our five children were small, but they are grown now and they look up to their Dad.”

All this started for Jackman when he was working for a logging company in Wytopitlock and he took a CPR and first aid course. That led to basic emergency medical training and he worked for Houlton Ambulance for a while, then became a structure firefighter.

But he met the late forest ranger Jeremiah Crockett who mentored him in wildland firefighting.

“He’s a Maine legend,” Angelina said. “He was an icon in this community.”

Crockett, who became ill with cancer, gave all his personal gear to Chuck before he died, she said.