Local media are invited to meet Bureau of Land Management wildland firefighters Kris Bruington and Farron Kunkel on Thursday, Feb. 13 at the BLM Idaho Falls District Office from 10:30-11:30 a.m. The two Idaho Falls District firefighters recently returned from fighting the Australian bushfires.
Battalion Chief Kris Bruington has 18 years of wildland fire experience. In addition to his responsibilities managing fires across eastern Idaho, he is an Operations Section Chief for the Great Basin Type 2 Incident Management Team, which responds nationally to wildfires. Before working in Idaho Falls, he was the superintendent for the Lone Peak Hotshots crew in Utah.
During Bruington’s assignment to Victoria, Australia, he served as a Task Force Leader, overseeing 20 U.S. and Australian firefighters and their engines. They were responsible for backfiring control lines, structure protection, handline construction and hazardous tree removal on various fires across the East Gippsland region.
Engine Captain Farron Kunkel has 18 years of wildland fire experience working for both the BLM and U.S. Forest Service. Kunkel has spent the majority of his fire career working on engines, but has also responded nationally to wildfires on handcrews and helicopter crews. He currently supervises the BLM engine model based out of Blackfoot.
Kunkel responded to the Australian bushfires as a member of a firefighting task force in the state of Victoria. The task force assisted Forest Fire Management Victoria, Country Fire Authority, and Rural Fire Service. In addition to fire suppression efforts, they protected residential properties and cleared roads of hazards to maintain public access.
TIME: 10:30-11:30 a.m.
Please arrive early to allow time for signing in with building security.
DATE: Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020
LOCATION: BLM Idaho Falls District, 1405 Hollipark Drive, Idaho Falls, ID 83401 RSVP: Bruce Hallman, (208) 524-7550, bhallman@blm.gov
Additional resources for information about the Australia bushfires:
* National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) US Resources Mobilized to Australia
* NIFC Flickr Album- 2020 Australian Mobilization
* New South Wales Rural Fire Service
* South Australian Country Fire Service
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management
