A 10-member contingent from Hutchinson Community College is heading west to help fight Colorado’s massive wildfire.

The group is made up of students, former students and instructors in the college’s fire science program. They expected to leave for the Colorado Springs area Friday.

The group includes Jessica Peters, a Wichita resident and second-year student in the program. Peters said Thursday she knows the dangers but feels it’s an honor to have the chance to help.

Her assignment will be to help an engine crew fighting the flames that have burned more than 15,000 acres of the Black Forest.

Rodney Redlinger, an instructor in the Hutchinson college program, says it’s a good opportunity for students to find out if battling wildfires is what they really want to do.

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Associated Press information from: KSNW-TV.