Photo By Crystal Farris | Father and son team, Jeb and Tyson Baker, were two of 16 Idaho National Guardsmen who...... read more read more
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As a kid, Idaho Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Jeb Baker used to practice punching what he thought was a punching bag hanging up in his family’s garage. It was only after their dog chewed through the bottom of the dark blue duffle, exposing a military uniform, that Jeb realized his father had served in the U.S. Air Force.
“He never talked about his career,” said Jeb. “The day I enlisted as an Army firefighter was the day I found out my dad had served as a firefighter in the Air Force. It was interesting that I inadvertently followed in his footsteps.”
Today, Jeb serves as a fire chief for the 939th Engineer Fire Fighting Detachment and full time as a firefighter and assistant fire chief for the Idaho Army National Guard’s Orchard Combat Training Center.
Last year, his 19-year-old son Pfc. Tyson Baker, joined the Idaho Army National Guard as an infantryman with Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion of the 116th Cavalry Regiment, and later became a seasonal wildland firefighter at the OCTC, continuing his family legacy as a third-generation firefighter and military service member.
In August, the father and son team were two of 16 citizen-Soldiers and Airmen who volunteered to assist the Idaho Department of Lands fight wildfires in northern Idaho after Gov. Brad Little declared a state of emergency in July. The group of Guardsmen assigned to Task Force Timber Shield were the first in the Idaho National Guard’s history to deploy as Firefighter Type 2 Red Card certified wildland firefighters.
“I have a high level of pride knowing I’m making an impact on my son, who immolates some of my own life choices and wants to follow my footsteps as a Guardsman and firefighter,” said Jeb. “It’s exciting to have this experience with Tyson and the opportunity to share with him what I’ve been doing throughout my career.”
Tyson said his father taught him about firefighting at a young age and becoming a firefighter was always something that interested him. While they both fight fires within the OCTC, this was the first time they trained to fight fires together.
“He’s the one who influenced my decision to join the Guard and to get into firefighting,” Tyson said. “My dad loves what he does and has always shares his experiences with me. Being able to train to fight fires together is really cool.”
Early on in their mission, Jeb and Tyson were called home from northern Idaho after receiving an American Red Cross notification that Jeb’s father had died.
With three generations of firefighters in his family, Jeb said having a shared family passion for fighting fires not only brought him closer to his son, but also to his father.
After Tyson was born, Jeb deployed to Iraq as a crew chief with the 938th Engineer Fire Fighting Detachment in 2003. It was the Idaho Army National Guard’s first unit activated to Operation Iraqi Freedom and one of the U.S. military’s first firefighting elements to serve in Mosul.
During their yearlong deployment in support of the 101st Airborne Division, Jeb’s unit responded to approximately 150 fires, including one at the U.S. Armed Forces’ third largest ammo supply point and another caused by the collision of two Black Hawks that killed 17 Soldiers in the U.S. military’s worst single-casualty-producing incident since Operation Iraqi Freedom begun.
Jeb said after he returned home, his experiences on the deployment inspired conversations with his father about their firefighting careers.
“We had a lot of similar experiences to discuss after that, not only about my career but his too,” Jeb said. “I felt like my father finally had someone to share his stories with now that I had become a firefighter and I could see the excitement come back to him as he told them.”
Jeb and Tyson were two of three Idaho Guardsmen who serve as full time OCTC firefighters to join Task Force Timber Shield. The OCTC firefighting teams collectively help protect surrounding structures and land within the 143,000-acre training center and occasionally respond to wildland fire emergencies and vehicle crashes along I-84.
In 2020, the Idaho National Guard partnered with the Idaho Department of Lands and the Idaho Office of Emergency Management to initiate the Wildland Firefighting Program, which includes a wildland firefighting training course at Gowen Field to help Idaho National Guardsmen earn their Red Card certification.
Jeb helped to establish the program and has since assisted in the instruction and certification of 72 Red Card-qualified Idaho citizen-Soldiers and Airmen.
The fire crew of Task Force Timber Shield returned to Boise at the end of August after helping to contain the Goat Creek Fire in northern Idaho. There the team lived out of their Humvees, dug hand lines, laid fire hose and built water pumpkins to store water.
Their efforts were in addition to the efforts made by UH-60 Black Hawk crews, which the Idaho National Guard sent to northern Idaho in July. Those crews assisted in aerial fire support, dropping more than 205,000 gallons of water on multiple fires throughout July and August.
| Date Taken: | 08.30.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 08.30.2021 18:03 |
| Story ID: | 404194 |
| Location: | BOISE, ID, US |
| Web Views: | 210 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Idaho National Guard father, son respond to fires together, by Crystal Farris, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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