MOUNTAIN HOME, Idaho — Dodge Boys Excavation has been a fixture in Mountain Home since 1992 — and for about 20 years, fighting wildfires has been part of the job.
Founded by John Dodge, the company added wildfire response to its work roughly two decades ago after connecting with the Boise Bureau of Land Management.
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"I decided to do it and got a dozer and got it set up and started doing it and the Boise BLM kind of put me under their wing and really taught me how to do it," Dodge said.
Today, every employee at Dodge Boys Excavation is fire trained — a process that office manager Lisa Miller said prepares crews for the realities of the work.
"They teach you how fire works, what to expect. They usually show some videos of fires that didn't go so well where people have gotten killed,” Miller said. “And then you have to learn how to get into your fire shelter.”
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When a fire breaks out around Mountain Home, neighbors and local fire crews know they can call on the Dodges. The company volunteers its time, tractors, fuel and water for local fires. This year, crews responded to the RA-1 Fire in May and the Bennett Mountain Fire in August.
"It's my community," Dodge said. "I don't want to see Bennett Mountain burn. I don't want to see any houses burn. I'll do anything to keep the town from burning."
Volunteer and nephew of John Dodge, Nick Dodge, said the family name carries weight in the community.
"They know my uncle's created a good name for himself around here, and he'll help anybody," Nick Dodge said.
When they are not helping locally, the crew primarily takes contract fire jobs across the West. This summer, the team was dispatched to Nevada, Owyhee County and Montana.
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Nick Dodge said the work puts operators close to the action — sometimes uncomfortably so.
"When you get 10 or 15 feet from the fire, it definitely gets hot quick, you can instantly feel it on the windows," Nick Dodge said.
John Dodge acknowledged the toll the work takes, but said it is something he is passionate about.
"It's hot, it's hard on the equipment, but it's truly adrenaline," Dodge said.
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