Example of a Fire Camp at a Complex Incident

 I am always on the lookout for interesting photographs and videos to share with you that give us a glimpse at life working a wildfire. The Facebook video that I will share with you in this post is about life at the fire camp for the Cougar Creek Fire that has burned 18,615 acres near Ellensburg Washington. The fire was first reported on July 15th and is currently at 29 percent containment. I called this a complex incident in the title to this post because according to inciweb's Aug 2nd news report the fire is currently under the command of the Northwest Complex Incident Management Team, Jeff Dimke - Incident Commander.

I am reasonably certain that larger, more complex fire with lots of personnel and equipment assigned to the wildfire such as the Cougar Creek Fire will have a fire camp while smaller less complex fires may not have a separate fire camp. I suspect that some amenities such as the laundry facility and a store may not be available at all fire camps. There is a nice AP article dated August 28, 2021 written by Keith Ridler about fire camps that you might want to read.

While I understand and want to be clear that not all wildfire will have a fire camp like the one you see in the video, you will get an idea of the life of a wildland firefighter on more complex incidents while they are not fighting a fire. Of course, at a smaller fire the firefighters may be camping out with few if any amenties in a safe spot close to but not in or near the fire line.