Wildland fires are forces of nature that can be as near-impossible to control as hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods.
In the right circumstances, wildfires can be environmentally beneficial by reducing grass and brush and improving wildlife habitats. However, these same fires can bring devastation in the wrong place and the wrong time. Over the last few decades, fire seasons have been getting steadily worse; longer fire seasons, bigger fires and more extreme fires have become the norm instead of the exception.
The U.S. Forest Service, alongside other federal, tribal, state and local partners have been managing fire on National Forests and Grasslands for more than 100 years. But what exactly do fire crews do, and how many crews are there?
Engine crews range from two to ten firefighters. These crews respond to new wildfires and serve as the first line of defense. These crews use hand tools, water and foam to put out fires as best they can.
Forest Service hand crews, usually consisting of 20 people, has the main responsibility to create “firelines” around wildfires, which means to remove fuel from the fire’s path. These crews use Pulaski’s (a special hand tool that is able to dig soil and chop wood), shovels and chainsaws to clear out potential fuel in the fire’s path. Sometimes, a fireline may need to be more than 100 feet wide in order to stop the fire from spreading. Usually, firefighters will conduct “burnouts” in these situations, where handcrews start a fire (under the right conditions) to advance towards the approaching wildfire. With all the fuel in it’s path spent, the fire should die off. In addition to constructing and patrolling firelines, these crews also cut open smoldering trees to put out sparks and spread water dropped via helicopter or by engine crew.
Helitack crews are teams of firefighters transported by helicopter to wildfires. Helicopters provide transport, and some crews even rappel from hovering helicopters to the ground to construct firelines, drop off supplies and equipment and for emergency medivac.
Aptly named, hotshot crews work on the hottest parts of the wildfires. First established in the late 1940s in Southern California, the primary mission of hotshot crews are to provide safe, professional, mobile and highly skilled hand crews. There are more than 100 Interagency Hotshots Crews (IHC) active in the United States, with these crews essentially serving as special forces for firefighting.
Smokejumpers travel across the country to provide highly-trained, experienced firefighters for rapid deployment to wildfires in remote areas. Fire fighting tools, food and water are dropped by parachute to the firefighters after they themselves land near the fire, allowing them to be self sufficient for the first 48 hours. Managing these natural disasters can be a deadly occupation, and is a job that requires training, skill, experience and bravery. These brave firefighters put themselves in harm’s way to protect lives, property and resources when threatened by raging wildfires that are only getting worse as climate continues to change.
Credit: U.S. Forest Service
-------
Story Image via Pixabay