SANDPOINT — While they appreciate the support, fire crews say donations of water and goodies aren’t needed. Everything they need is supplied at the fire camp.

Instead, Idaho Panhandle National Forests officials ask those wishing to help, make a financial donation to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation.

The foundation’s main focus is to help families of firefighters killed in the line of duty and to assist injured firefighters and their families, it notes on its website. The group also honors and acknowledges past, present, and future members of the wildland firefighting community, and partner with private and interagency organizations to bring recognition to wildland firefighters.

The foundation came together as a group of volunteers in 1994, shortly after the Storm King tragedy. With dedication and lots of volunteer work, plans were developed for a national monument to honor firefighters, a dream that was realized in May 2000 and the Wildland Firefighter Foundation officially formed in the spring of 1999.

Active volunteers and supporters of wildland firefighters established the Wildland Firefighter Foundation, a 501(c)3 to maintain the Wildland Firefighters National Monument at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho.

Since 1999, the foundation has also provided emergency support services to the families of firefighters, seriously injured or killed in the line of duty. Families left behind, many with young children, often find themselves with few resources, and the foundation steps in to help.

Information: wffoundation.org