Colorado Springs Fire Capt. David Vitwar wanted to battle wildland fires since he began his career more than two decades ago, an opportunity he didn’t pass up when he volunteered to deploy as a Type 1 Safety Officer Trainee with the Rocky Mountain Type 1 Incident Management Team.

“For the longest time in Colorado Springs, we were used to seeing smaller fires, grass fires and structure fires, and we got really good at handling those,” Vitwar said Wednesday in a phone interview from Winthrop, Wash., north of the Carlton Complex fire. “But the Waldo Canyon and Black Forest fires were rude awakenings because they left no doubt that the urban and wildland interface had grown tremendously, and we had to expand our abilities.”

The Carlton Complex fire has given Vitwar and four other Colorado Springs firefighters the opportunity to do just that.

The fire began July 14 from four separate lightning-caused blazes in the Methow River Valley of Washington. It has become the largest fire in state history at 251,698 acres.

One death caused by a heart attack has been blamed on the fire, which has roared through several towns and rural areas, destroying at least 320 homes and threatening thousands more.

The Colorado Springs contingent of firefighters are on a 14-day deployment to aid the battle. Vitwar said the work helps firefighters learn to battle fires in different terrains and settings, offering hands-on experience they wouldn’t get otherwise.

Beside Vitwar, three more Colorado Springs firefighters are deployed to Washington: a structure protection specialist, a medical unit leader and a paramedic/EMT.

One more firefighter is assigned as a helicopter base manager in Oregon, spotting and directing emergency helicopters for wildfire operations.

“All of these guys are long-term, professional firefighters. They hold leadership or command positions here in Colorado Springs,” said fire spokesman Capt. Steve Oswald. “Because of their years of experience, they are more calm and calculating during larger events, dealing with way more pressure.”

Part of that pressure, Vitwar said, comes from the sheer size of the fires and the number of firefighting personnel and equipment that are involved. There are about 1,700 firefighters assigned to the Carlton Complex fire, along with 94 engines, 17 Chinook and Black Hawk helicopters, and a DC-10 Air Tanker.

Deploying Colorado Springs firefighters to large wildland blazes and exposing them to equipment and situations that they wouldn’t usually encounter – such as burnout operations and forestry chainsaw work – will prove invaluable.

“After Waldo Canyon and Black Forest, it became paramount for our firefighters to know how to operate a helicopter, how to set up large containment lines, how to approach a fire that spreads over tree tops, rather than on grass,” Vitwar said.

“The next time we face a fire that threatens our wildland and urban areas, we won’t have to wait for someone else to send an expert because we’ll have the personnel with the know-how at home.”

The Carlton Complex fire was 90 percent contained Wednesday and it was predicted for full containment by Aug. 15, according to Okanogan County fire officials.

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Contact Andrea Sinclair: 636-0235

Twitter @GazetteAndrea