The men and women who help fight our country's wildland fires are brave people. The dangers are many because a fire in the wilds can be very unpredictable. While science has come a long way since the 1800's, there still remains much to be learned. Today's communities in general are more exposed to wildland fires simply because they have grown so much. New communities have been built immediately adjacent to many wild land areas. While fires certainly burned up towns a century ago, modern day urbanization has place more homes in harms way. By the same token our fire fighting methods have improved as well as preventive measures.
The Varied Experience Levels of Today's Wildland Firefighters
Who are the people who fight our wildland fires? The first thing to recognize is that they comprise several separate units with a wide range of experience. Some are much more specialized and experienced than others.
Wildland firefighters might be members of fire engine crews, hotshot crews, smokejumper crews, helicopter-based hand crews, or regular hand crews. During fire season, these crews may travel throughout their state or possibly to other states. Two of the more experienced units might be considered the smokejumpers and the hotshot crews. Hotshot crews are considered a very experience elite group of ground firefighters. They have high physical fitness standards and extensive training. There are over 100 Interagency Hotshot Crews in existence in the U.S. and therefore they can be utilized across jurisdictions. The term "hotshot" came from their history of being sent to the hottest parts of wildfires. Their coordination nationally is handled by the NIFC, the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise Idaho. Smokejumper crews are another highly specialized unit. The fact that they jump out of airplanes tells you a lot. This unit has been in existence for over 70 years and the very fact that they parachute out of airplanes with firefighting gear tells you they must be physically fit. The smokejumpers are very successful in reaching more remote areas of a wildfire than those on the ground. The first actual fire jumps on July 12, 1940 are credited to Rufus Robinson and Earl Colley near Marten Creek in the Nez Perce National Forest. An interesting historical side note is that when the training began at the newly established smokejumper base at Ninemile Camp in Montana, it was witnessed by Major General William C. Lee. The Army shortly thereafter founded the 101st Airborne Division. The smokejumpers suffered there largest loss of life during the Mann Gulch Fire of 1949. Thirteen firefighter lost their lives during this tremendous blowup and twelve were smokejumpers. Parachuting into remote areas of wildfires is a dangerous job.
Aside from these two elite firefighting units there are several other levels. Many Forest Service districts list their available summer ground firefighting positions directly with state employment offices. If you meet the requirements the jobs are available to college or even high school students. Many look at these positions as a way to earn summer tuition money and work outdoors. There doesn't seem to be any clear cut requirements for these jobs other than you be physically fit. Ground firefighting crews typically use what is referred to as the "Pulaski Tool". This tool was developed after the Great Fire of 1910 by a man named Edward Pulaski who himself became a hero when he managed to save over thirty of his trapped crew in Montana. The Pulaski Tool is essentially an axe on one side and a digging hoe on the other. It is used by firefighters today to dig fire lines. About finding a seasonal job on one of these crews, if you know something about forest fires or know how to operate a chain saw, your chances of getting hired are better. The work itself requires strenuous physical exertion under sometimes harsh conditions. Be prepared to walk over rough, uneven terrain. Climbing hills covered with trees, brush, rocks, and debris is to be anticipated. Also, expect to be working under hot temperatures. Regardless, those who do fill these positions do receive training. Seasonal Forest Service firefighter jobs may include work on a wildland fire suppression crew and/or fuels management crew. On these crews there are designated fire crew leaders and trainees. Part of the fire crew leader's job responsibilities is to be sure the less experienced seasonal workers stay out of harms way. Leadership at this level is very important to safety. The crew leader has the responsibility of securing an escape route whenever the crew engages a fire.
One of the most tragic catastrophes associated with the seasonal regular firefighters occurred in July 2001 during the Thirtymile Fire in northern Washington state very near the Canadian border. Four regular ground firefighters lost their lives after being entrapped in a canyon. At first, this fire was thought of to be easily controlled but as sometimes occurs it grew into an unpredictable raging inferno. Part of the reason that these firefighters became entrapped was their leaders unfamiliarity with the area, not realizing they were going up a road that dead ended at a trail head. In addition, The fire's location caused communication problems regarding the firefighters' request for air support because of confusion over the legality of dipping water from a river which was designated as "protected" per the Endangered Species Act. It's unfortunate that confusion over a specie law would end up contributing to the deaths of four young people. Superiors should have had this worked out well in advance. Another finding was that the Thirtymile Fire of 2001 was caused by an unattended live campfire. In fact, it was a hastily built campfire outside of allowed camping areas.
How Wildfires are Fought
With the number of different crews available with varied degrees of experience, fighting wildland fires is anything but a haphazard undertaking. Today's fire fighting methods are made into a well planned attack. It is a cohesive strategy. There's been much learned over the years and training and adopting new methods is really an ongoing effort. Because of things that have gone right and wrong over the decades of fighting fires, the Forest Service has set up a basic list of rules. There are many things to do and many things not to do. According the Forest Service there are ten basic firefighting orders.The original ten Standard Firefighting Orders were put together in 1957 by a task force commissioned by the USDA-Forest Service Chief Richard E. McArdle. Reviews of tragic fires that happened between the years 1937 and 1956 were studied and the result was the list compiled in 1957.The orders are:
Keep informed on fire weather conditions and forecasts.
Know what your fire is doing at all times.
Base all actions on current and expected behavior of the fire.
Identify escape routes and safety zones and make them known.
Post lookouts when there is possible danger.
Be alert. Keep calm. Think clearly. Act decisively.
Maintain prompt communications with your forces, your supervisor, and adjoining forces.
Give clear instructions and insure they are understood.
Maintain control of your forces at all times.
Fight fire aggressively, having provided for safety first.
It's interesting to note the order regarding "current and expected behavior of the fire". One thing that was learned over all these years was that a wildland fire could be quite unpredictable. The situation and direction of a fire could change in a moment. This wasn't really understood well during earlier years such as with the Great Fire of 1910 in Montana and Idaho or with the tragic fires in the late 1800's in Minnesota and Wisconsin. In fact, the changing nature of a wildfire is what accounts for most entrapments. A wildland fire produces winds and when it becomes big enough it can produce it's own weather. This is why being aware of the current situation helps to save lives. When the Forest Service fights fires today, they keep a constant check on the humidity, temperature and of course wind speed and direction.
The prospect of a burn over is considered the biggest danger. A burn over is referred to as an entrapment. In other words, the firefighters face the prospect of a raging fire burning directly over their position. In the fire fighting world it doesn't get too much more dangerous than that. It's also a reason that the wildland fire gear is so important to the wild land fire fighter. Included in today's firefighting gear is the survival shelter. Survival shelters are considered a "last resort" piece of fire fighting equipment. The fire shelter is deployed when all other means of escaping a fire entrapment are exhausted. Historians report that the first known use of a fire shelter can be traced back to 1804 when a mother covered her son with a buffalo hide to protect him from a raging prairie fire. While not being a scientific breakthrough,the mother's effort was apparently successful.
What To Do When Entrapped
By the very fact that you've found yourself entrapped by a wildland fire, your options may not be many. For the civilian who most likely isn't carrying firefighting gear, the first option is to find a body of water to crouch in. In most areas of wildfire this would probably be a river. If a body of water isn't available the best thing to do is find the clearest area possible, maybe a rocky area or a dry gulch. Try to breathe air as close to the ground as possible. Use a cloth to breathe through. One bit of good advice on Idahofirewise.org is "to choose the place from those available to you that is best able to withstand the flaming front of the fire". These proven effective suggestions were not known during the early days of the Great Fire of 1910 and the devastating Hinckley Minnesota fire of 1894. During both of these large blowups people became trapped by smoke and flames and tried to escape in a panic any way they could. Also, during both of these fires the services of smokejumpers was not an option.
In regards to Forest Service fire crews being entraped, there are a few more options. Wildland firefighting crews now carry with them as part of their wildland gear a fire shelter. This device is used as a "last resort' piece of equipment. According to the NIFC, the first priority when a firefighter is entraped is to find an escape route. When this option has been exhausted then deploying the fire shelter should be done. There is no guarantee that the use of the shelter will keep you alive but it has many times and therefore is mandatory for wildland crews. The latest generation fire shelter does offer improved protection from radiant and convective heat. All federal, state, and local wildland firefighters must carry the shelter while working fires on federal land.
As for the description of the latest wildland fire shelters, they are made up of fiberglass, aluminum foil and woven silica. The dimensions when deployed are at most 86 in. x 15.5 in. x 31 in. What's very handy for the firefighter is the small space it takes to carry the non-deployed shelter, Only 8.5in. x 5.5 in. x 4 in. In 2002 a new version came out which has it's own carrying case and is shaped differently than the old style pup tent version. According to government reports "the outer layer of foil reflects about 95 percent of the radiant heat that reaches it. Because only 5 percent is absorbed into the shelter materials, the temperature of the material rises slowly". The way the shelter is built allows you to lie flat on the ground. The wide floor and the straps allow you to hold the sides down better. Firefighters are also trained to hold the sides down before the actual flames arrive.Some of these changes may have been a result of the tragedy at the Thirtymile Fire. Again, as stated earlier this is a last resort measure. Fire crew leaders are trained to identify escape routes as they are working so to avoid being entraped in the first place. The metal shelters offer a lot of protection against the flames but research states that most wildfire fatalities occur from lack of oxygen along with breathing in the hot gases produced from the flames rather than from burns. This is just another reason why a suitable escape plan is most important.
There's no doubt that much progress has been made in both fighting wildfires and protecting those who do the fighting. We also know more about meteorology than we knew 100 years ago. A fire by nature is an unpredictable event. We know what conditions foster their development but they change fast once they start. The science of wildland firefighting will certainly advance over time just as it had during the last century.
Two excellent books I would recommend in regards to the early fire catastrophes are The Big Burn by author Timothy Egan. It describes the circumstances of the Great Fire of 1910 and the start of the Forest Service. The other is Under A Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894 by author Daniel James Brown. This is about the harsh weather conditions that set off the disaster and how the people of Hinckley Minnesota tried to escape.
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