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.
When I post crew videos summarizing their 2023 wildfire season, I always try to look for initial attack crews or other crews that are not hotshot crews. Initial attack crews do important work, often being among the first crews assigned to a wildfire. While on YouTube just now, I came across an eleven-minute video from summarizing the 2023 wildfire season of Crew 3. Given the number of wildfires in Idaho that this crew worked (see the end of the video), my guess is that Crew 3 is based out of Idaho. But I am not certain of this. I don't know if where this crew is based matters, what matters is that they did good work on wildfires to protect us.
This is the time of year when I like to post videos shot be wildland fire crews highlighting their 2023 season. I like to see what these crews experience and how they decide to use videos to showcase their season. I also get a feel for the personality, if you will of the crew as a whole.
In the case of the video that I am sharing or embedding today, I got to learn about a wildland firefighting crew that I had not previously known, the Clackamas Crew 30, which I believe is based in the Clackamas Fire District in Oregon. The video is longer then the videos I usually share, at about 20 minutes but I think you will enjoy the video and getting to know the members of the 2023 Clackamas Crew 30
When things appear to be a little quieter I am always looking for interesting wildfire videos to share with you. To that end, I was looking around YouTube just now and not quite finding what I was looking for when I came upon this video created by Forrest Moreland. This is a highlight video from a longer video from a recent fire season. I enjoyed the videography in this video and thought you might too.
On a slightly more personal note I have been involved in purchasing my first new car in 18 years the last couple of days. Needless to say I have been slightly distracted taking care of various details prior to and just after the purchase. I continue with Subarus. Anyway, I am not here to talk about cars but I am here to continue posting about aerial wildland firefighting and related concerns. To that end, I continue with sharing videos from wildfire crews summarizing their 2022 wildfire season.
I came across a very nice video with some great fire photography from Ben Johnson summarizing the Red River Initial Attack Crew's 2022 wildfire season. I think but am not sure that this crew may be based in the northwestern United States. It does not always matter that I don't know for sure where a wildfire crew is based. The point in continuing to share these videos is both to provide folk like me with a glimpse into life on various kinds of wildland fire crews in different parts of the United States as well as my way of acknowledging and thanking a particular wildfire crew for their sacrifice in working on a wildfire crew in order to keep us as safe as possible from wildfires.
Please enjoy this video of the Red River Initial Attack Crew's 2022 wildfire season.
Direct link to video by Ben Johnson on YouTube
Enjoy this video highlighting Grayback Foretry's 2022 fire season. Thanks Grayback wildfire crews for all you did to keep us safe from wildfires.
I continue posting 2022 season summary videos from various wildland fire crews. Today's offering is from Bald Mountain Helitack 517, located in Stanislaus National Forest southeast of Sacramento, California. As I have no first hand experience of working on a wildfire crew, nor will I in the future, the best way that I can share with you what life is like is through sharing videos like the one I am sharing today. More importantly I hope that the wildland fire crews know that I have deep respect for all that you do to keep us safe and the sacrifices you make in time away from your loved ones.
I enjoyed getting a feeling of the crew's season including on the fireline, resting, and crew interactions during downtime. I also enjoyed the footage of their helicopter. Enjoy! Allow about 12 minutes to watch the video.
As I was looking for fire crew videos summarizing their 2021 fire season, I came across this video from the WZ Fire. From the about page of this video (go here), which states that all scenes in this video are in Minnesota, it seems to me that this fire crew is based in Minnesota. While I consider Minnesota to be a part of the midwest and a distance from New Jersey, they are a part of the Eastern Area Coordination Center (EACC) and that means something to me as New Jersey is part of the EACC as well. I enjoyed the video as I got to know a very little about this part of the United States, a pretty area. Allow about ten minutes to watch the video
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| The Interagency Standards for Fire and Fire Aviation Operations (aka the Red Book), Chapter 13, p. 290) |
I wanted to take a look at some of the handtools that wildland firefighters use when building line or in mop up afterwards. I found this nice short video, courtesy of the West Metro Fire Department of Lakewood Colorado, where a few of the more common handtools are introduced: the Pulaski, McLeod, Combi Tool, Hoe, and Shovel. While I have seen references to these tools over the years that I have been doing this blog, the cavaet is that these are the tools used by the West Metro Fire Department. Wildland firefighters in your area may use some of these tools or use different tools.
I was shared a video on February 17th about what one engine crew carried in 2014 when his engine was deployed to work a fire. I got curious about what a wildland firefighter on a hand crew (with possibly longer deployments) might carry. While I am not wildland firefighter, I know enough to know that there are certain gear that most wildland firefighters on a hand crew will carry in the pack they take with them on the line(water, first aid kit, extra batteries, fire shelter to name a few). I believe that this pack is called a "line pack." Of course, each crew is responsible for taking items that they will need on the line such as prescription medications, vitamins and supplements, personal hygiene items, snacks, etc.
I want to be clear, I am curious and am taking you along on my journey. Nothing more, nothing less. I have watched a few videos, each is different. I chose this one to share because it is short and to the point. This is what one wildland firefighter from the Bureau of Land Management in the Pacific Northwest put in his line pack in 2013.
Knowing that in many parts of the United States crews are starting to do their annual refresher training, I thought that I'd spend sometime (with the help of videos) looking at the gear they carry, a little about their annual refresher training, and other safety concerns.
I spent some time looking at some videos about the gear that wildland firefighters carry and I liked this two part video (2014) by WranglerStar about the gear he carried while driving an engine. I liked this because he explained the reasoning behind the gear, and he is easy to listen to. Allow about ten minutes minutes for each video. It is a little long, but the time passed quickly and I learned.
Direct link to video (part 1) by WranglerStar
Direct link to video (part 2) by WranglerStar
There are a few different types of handcrews that fight wildland fires: Type 1 Interagency Hotshot Crews (IC), Type 1, Type 2 Initial Attack (IA), a very brief description of these crews may be found in Chapter 30 of the Interagency Mobilization Guide. There is a Type 3, I do not mention them here because I am not quite sure what they do and have not been able (so far) to find a good reference
A good chart explaining what each of these crews do may found in the Wildland Fire Incident Management on page 129. According to the aforementioned chart a Type 2 IA crew is usually a crew of 20 with a crew boss, broken into three squads. There are three Sawyers, probably one to each squad. They are a national resource. The crew does fireline construction and can perform burnout operations.
Enjoy this video, under eight minutes shot from a helmet camera giving us a small peak of what it is like to be on a Type 2 IA handcrew.
Direct link to video uploaded by Matthew McKirdy
