In all the reading that I have done to date about wildland fires, including a couple of blogs written by firefighters and (mostly) lurking on wildland fire (a website and discussion boards where wildland fire fighters –– and others –– hang out), there are two important points that I have come away with. One is the importance of the wildland fire fighter staying safe and the other is that fire is powerful and at times has a mind of its own.
I have written about safety here on this blog before, and I write about it again because it is something that I have seen stressed, in different ways, over and over again. I can talk about books, official investigative reports and other reports by fire researchers about wildland fires where fire fighters have died such as Mann Gulch (1949), Rattlesnake, South Canyon/Storm King, and the thirty–mile fire. Those are just the ones that I have read about. There are others that I have not read about. I will leave the analyses and comments on these analyses to those better able to speak to what went wrong in those fires where fire fighters died. What I can say is that reading about these deaths have given wildland fires a real and tragic face. So when I read posts on wildland fire where wildland fire fighters are either talking about safety or urging each other to stay safe, safety takes on a new meaning.
Related to safety, I think, is that I have come to see that fire is powerful, can be difficult to control, and at times can seem to have a mind of its own. I never did not respect fire, it is just that I have a great deal more respect for fire now than I did seven months ago.
All the more reason for wildland firefighters to stay safe and practice LCES:
Lookout
Communicate
Escape
Safety
Stay safe out there.
I have blogged about aerial wildland firefighting since 2009. I am not a firefighter and am not a pilot, just an interested bystander who wants to learn more and share what I learn here. Join me here as I blog on the aircraft and the pilots who fight wildland fires from the air in support of crews on the ground. I also blog on concerns affecting fire crews on the ground as well as other aviation and meteorology issues. Learn what it takes to do jobs that are staffed by the best of the best.
2 comments:
I thought you may be interested in: "Sunrise Fire" a young adult novel about firefighting and forestry conservation on Long Island.
Go here:
http://www.qualityparks.org
Mindy,
Thanks for the reference. I actually think that I saw this book, "Sunrise Fire" in my wonderings on the internet. I'll check it out soon. Perhaps I can get it from my library.
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