Wildfire Dozer in Action

I have a lot of respect for all wildland firefighters whether they be on the ground or in the air. Wildland firefighters on the ground may be operating dozers. Dozers are important in wildland firefighting. One of the important roles that dozers play are in clearing large line around a fire to help contain the wildfire. And there are other roles that dozers play in working wildfires. I know that the New Jersey Forest Fire Services operates dozers when needed to work wildfires. 

I enjoyed this twelve minute January 2026 video shot from the point of view of a dozer operator. I always learn something from videos like the one I am sharing with you today. Thanks to all wildland firefighters on the ground (on foot or in dozers) and in the air fighting wildfires. Stay safe.

Direct link to January 2026 video from Wildland_Firefighter on YouTube

A Wildland Firefighters First Assignment from NIFC

Direct link to the April 2025 video from the National Interagency Fire Center on YouTube

I have been referencing videos shared by the National Interagency Fire Center this week and I continue sharing NIFC videos today. The NIFC website has a lot of good information, it may be found here. One of the ways I learn more about wildland firefighting and keeping up with current events in the wildland fire community is through videos and social media. The video that I shared above offers a quick look at what a wildland firefighter's first assignment under NIFC will be like. I suspect that the experience of a wildland firefighter in a State system, e.g. New Jersey, will be different as some State wildfires are not under NIFC.

Airtanker Operations: Coulson's Air Attack

Direct link to August 2023 video from Brit Coulson of Coulson Aviation on YouTube

One of the important elements of how airtankers of various sizes and helicopters work in the air to help firefighters on the ground to fight wildfires are the aircraft known as air attack. Air attack aircraft coordinate the aerial operations above the fire. Lead planes will lead the tanker or helicopter into the fire to make their drop. Watch to this eight minute video from Brit Coulson of Coulson Aviation where the various aspects that make up air attack are discussed. 

Life at a Wildfire Camp in British Columbia

 Direct link to video from the BC Wildfire Service on YouTube

I always like to learn thing and I enjoyed this video where I learned something about wildfire camps in British Columbia. The video was shot in 2021. Hopefully this wildfire camp is representative of other camps for larger incidents across Canada and the United States.

2024 Wildfire Season: American River Hotshots doing backfires

 I stumbled across a video on YouTube just now from NorCal Storm Chasing showing the American River Interagency Hotshots performing backfire operations to prevent the spread of the Park Fire on August 7, 2024. The video is a little over 17 minutes. I thought that some of you might be interested. One of the ways that I can experiences what various wildfire crews go through in working wildfires is through videos such as the one that I am sharing here. Enjoy.

Direct link to video from NorCal Storm Chasing on YouTube.

Fire Camp May 2024: NJ Forest Fire Service and North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange

I enjoyed this video from the NJ Dept of Environmental Protection - Forest Fire Service highlighting the May 2024 four day workshop in the Pinelands. I always learn a lot from videos like this one. I appreciate what the New Jersey Forest Fire Service does to keep us safe as well as their partnership in this and other Fire Camps.

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.

Wildland firefighting: aerial ignition by helitorches

Another use of helicopters in wildland firefighting is aerial ignition using a helitorch. A helitorch is suspended from the helicopters and is used for backfires, burnouts and prescribed burns. I found the video that on using a helitorch when I was poking around on YouTube just now. I liked what I saw and want to share it with you. Before posting, I saw that Bill Gabbert of Fire Aviation shared this same video on August 6, 2015. The video was shot in 2009 by BrimAviation, enjoy!

Direct link to video by BrimAviation on Youtube

Wildland Firefighting: more on aerial ignition by helicopters using PSDs (ping pong balls)

In my previous post, I shared a video about how helicopters are used in aerial ignition using ping pong balls or PSDs to perform backburns (go here to see my October 17th post). I follow-up on that post by embedding two more videos. 

The first video is shot in 2014 during a training run where you will see how the PSDs or ping pong balls are loaded into the assembly on the helicopter for dropping on the wildfire or controlled burn. Both videos are a few years old and perhaps some of the drop mechanisms and technology have changed, but I think you will get the idea, I know I did.

Direct link to video by Phillip Garrett on YouTube

In the second video, shot in 2013, you will hear John Holloran from the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee discuss how PSDs are loaded onto a helicopter and later dropped to help with controlled burns or prescribed fires.

Direct link to video by the Knoxville News Sentinel on YouTube.

Wildland firefighting: aerial ignition by helicopters using PSDs (ping pong balls)

 Helicopters have many uses in before, during and after wildland fires. One of the uses of helicopters is to drop small balls filled with compounds that ignite on the ground. These balls can be dropped to help with a prescribed fire as well as being dropped during a wildfire in remote areas to light a backfire. In the video below you will learn about these "ping pong balls" or PSDs are prepared and then dropped on the fire along with safety measures. I have not yet been able to find a video where you can see these PSDs being dropped on a fire. If I find one, I will amend this post.

 Direct link to video from PIO365 on YouTube

About the National Wildland Fire Preparedness Levels and the Fire Danger Rating System in the United States

Obtained from https://www.nifc.gov/fire-information#current-level on October 10, 2022

Edited on October 10, 2022

I was looking at the NWS IMET Office on Twitter  earlier today where I noted on September 27th the National Wildland Fire Preparedness Level (NWFPL) was lowered to a rating of 2 (go here to see the post on Twitter). Now I did have something else in mind for today where I was going to start out by referencing that same post from the NWS IMET Office and I am holding off on that post for the moment. I know about the National Wildland Fire Preparedness Level (see the graphic and link above) because I see this referred to on social media wildland fire agencies. I also know that there is the National Fire Danger Rating System (NFDRS)  used by wildland firefighters. Now I have to be honest and say that I am not certain of the similarities between the NWFPL and the NFDRS. However, I was curious about the NFDRS and found a video that I thought you might be interested in, I know that I was. I found the one I was looking for from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG). While the video seems to be focused on being a training aid for wildland firefighters, I think that watching this 10 minute video will give you an idea about what the different catagories in the NFDRS are and what they mean, and how the NFDRS is used by federal and state wildland fire fighting agencies.

Direct link to video from the NWCG on YouTube

Life on a hotshot crew

Join videographer Bureau of Land Management Contract Videographer Matt Irving following the Colorado Craig Interagency Hotshot crew on a fourteen day assignment. The incidents shown in the video were in California and Montana. I have seen various crew videos of Hotshot crews and learned a lot from those videos. This video gave me a different perspective as I followed the crew on the video and listened to some commentary from individual hotshots. Hotshot crews are but one of many crews fighting wildfires. There are other types of crews that may be on a fire for fourteen day assignments as well as engine crews, go to this NIFC page to learn about the different type of crews. While I notice that Hotshot crews do a lot of work on wildfires in the western U.S., they will work where needed including the eastern U.S.

Allow just under 25 minutes to watch the video, it is worth the time/ Enjoy!

Direct link to video from the National Interagency Fire Center on YouTube

Air tanker training (Oregon) with groundcrews

Training of airtanker pilots and new wildfire fighters along with recurrent training is crucial to safety and good fire fighting techniques. Communications are crucial wildland firefighting including but nor not necessarily limited to safety, weather, resource positioning and firefighting strategy  to name a few. When airtankers and or helicopters of any size are working a wildline fire communications between the tanker and the firefighters on the ground is important. In the video below from KOIN6 in Oregon you will get a birdseye view of Air Tractor Fire Boss training with wildland fire ground crews to practice good communications on the fireline. Thanks to my friends at NJFFS Section B10 who recently shared this video on their website.

Direct link to video from KOIN6 on YouTube

wildland fire fighting: 10 standard orders and 18 watchout situations

According to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group the 10 Standard Firefighting Orders and the 18 Watchout Situations 

provide wildland firefighters with a set of consistent best practices and a series of situations to be mindful of when responding to a wildland fire.

The 10 Standard Firefighting Orders are organized in a deliberate and sequential way to be implemented systematically and applied to all fire situations.

The 18 Watch Out Situations are more specific and cautionary, describing situations that expand the 10 Standard Firefighting Orders with the intent that if firefighters follow the Standard Firefighting Orders and are alerted to the 18 Watch Out Situations, much of the risk of firefighting can be reduced. (obtained on June 13, 2022 from The 10 Standard Firefighting Orders, PMS 110 from the Wildfire Coordinating Group

Please take a few moments to watch these two videos that discuss the the 10 Standard Firefighting Orders and the 18 Watchout Situations. I like to share these every so often and I think it has been awhile since I have done so.

Direct link to video from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (10 Standard Orders) on Youtube

Direct link to video from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (18 Watchout Situations) on YouTube

About wildfires: some terminology

 As sometimes happens I got involved in a couple of appointments out of the house and then some important personal business, so I am unable to make the post that I intended to make today. I will try to make up for this tomorrow. In the meantime, here is a short video about some commonly used wildfire terminology.

Direct link to video from WBIR Channel 10 (Tennessee) on YouTube