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All-women's fire crew heading to Alaska to help battle wildfires

An all female fire crew prepares to help battle the more than 200 wildfires burning in Alaska.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An all-women’s fire crew is heading to Anchorage, Alaska, to help battle the more than 200 fires burning throughout the state.

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It's the first assignment for the 2019 BLM Women's Fire Crew, according to KTUU-TV.

"To be able to come to Alaska for your first ever fire assignment is so incredible," crew boss Shelby Descamps told KTUU.

“I had fire experience last year with the State of Montana with the DNRC, and quite a bit of solid experience, so they were like, ‘Do you want to lead this crew?’ and I was like ‘Yeah, absolutely that's like the best of both worlds running chainsaws and doing fire with a bunch of awesome ladies,’” Deschamps said.

The crew involves a partnership between the Bureau of Land Management in Wyoming and the Montana Conservation Corps.

The program to train women to fight wildland fires was started in 2016 by the BLM Wyoming and the Montana Conservation Corps.