A 20-person wildland firefighting crew has been sent from Connecticut to help battle wildfires in Alaska. The crew, made up of 18 Connecticut Interstate Fire Crew members and two from Rhode Island’s Department of Environmental Management, left on July 3. The deployment was coordinated by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Forestry Division. This is the first crew assignment of the season for Connecticut firefighters. All costs are covered by the U.S. Forest Service under a national aid agreement.