The men spent 14 days on the mountainsides of Big Sur, Calif., carrying on their backs several gallons of water, earplugs, sunglasses, sunscreen, extra socks and a variety of foot protection - not to mention fire protection equipment.

Working 14-hour days for the entire two weeks they spent in California, the 20-man team, made up of New York State Forest Rangers and Department of Environmental Conservation personnel from all over the state, spent their trip to the Los Padres National Forest in Big Sur battling the wildfires in the area.

"It is very dangerous work," said Col. Andrew Jacob, with the New York Forest Rangers. "A lot of training goes into this type of work."

Typically, similar crews from the state provide their expertise and services to other areas of the country two or three times a year. The crew includes chainsaw operators and a variety of supervisors, and each member must be a firefighter.

Jacob said the tactics used to fight wildfires in New York are similar to fighting them in California - they use hand tools, chainsaws, portable pumps and sometimes aircraft. The forest rangers and DEC personnel who participate in these trips provide a service, but Jacob said they often gain more than they give.

"These guys are bringing experience back and will integrate that into their training with fire departments," Jacob said. "They will take this experience and incorporate it into our risk management training."

For James Canevari of Hermon, who was on the front lines of a wildfire for the first time, the experience served as a positive reinforcement for the training he received before he left. "Our training here paid off quite well," Canevari said. "I learned a lot. I only had the training and this was my first hands-on experience."

Acknowledging that the terrain was a very different from home, as was the heat, Canevari said the worst thing the group experienced was poison oak.

Canevari said safety was a top priority for the New York group and he was pleased with the way everyone worked together and took care of one another.

Their work began at 4:30 a.m. After completing a 14-hour shift, the men would hunker down in their sleeping bags and tents, only to wake up and start over again.

Although none of the men on the trip were from Saratoga County, Jacob said the location is used as a departure and return point because of its central location in the state. It's the area where all the fire-fighting equipment for the state is kept and maintained.