Wildland Fire Chainsaws, or The Classes

Wildland Fire Chainsaws, or The Classes

Tactics: Survival

I.

Oddly enough, the U.S. Government doesn’t just release its citizens onto fires wily nily. Far from it: they make you take a week long class first. Pass the class, pass the pack test (officially known as the “arduous fitness test”), complete two online tutorials about the Incident Command System, and you’re golden: you’re holding your own bit of slightly heavier stock paper—you’re holding a red card.

A red card gets you on the fire line but not much else. Fire operates on a qualification system: the more quals, the higher the pay grade, the higher the pay grade, the better the position, the better the position, the happier the firefighter. New firefighters (“rookies”) and firefighters moving into higher positions are given a certain amount of extra hours (seasonals cannot accede a certain number of hours; once you hit your quota, you’re fired) to attend classes. Not that book learning counts out in-the-field experience. To get most quals, you’ve got to open a trainee task book, which requires not only the corresponding class but also serving on one or more fires as a trainee.

Example: You want to be a squad boss. Swell. Act as a squaddie trainee under a qualified squad boss trainer, get all the tasks in your hand book signed off (did this with their squad, communicated that, etc.), take the class and great scott, you’ve done it!

I like it. It’s a good system. Fire can be dangerous, and if you’ve got someone telling you what to do, you’d really like that person to know their shit. 

The courses Kings Peak put me in were typical rookie classes: things like Pumps and Water, Fire Chainsaws, First Aid. Most of them took place in Vernal, or rather Urinal, the town a local gas station attendant referred to as the “Armpit of Utah.” I personally was most taken with the large “I HEART DRILLING” sign on the main street of town. Our sister module, Chepeta, was based out of Vernal, as was our Fire Dispatch Center. It was a couple hours drive from Stockmore—one of the most desolate, oil-rigged, we-have-been-forsaken-now drives. And I was lucky enough to get to do it not just once but a whole host of times.

These classes gave me a sketch of the basics; actually working on fires got me thinking a lot more clearly about how everything worked. Our permanents, Jack, Lee and Lynn, did good on the teaching: here’s how it works, let’s do it together, oh look, now you’re on your own. And then you’re running a chainsaw / standing on a lookout tower / leading the line digging / slinging, computing and reading weather over the radio / submitting the daily spot weather forecast / leading the transect / filling out the crew’s TCR time sheets / mapping the fire line with a GPS…

Frightening? Occasionally yes.

Interesting? Always.

II.

S-130/S-190/L-180: Introduction to Basic Wildland Firefighting/Introduction to Fire Behavior/Something About Leadership

Location: Ames, IA

Duration: 3/5/12 - 3/8/12

High: Not failing the pack test (3 miles with a 45lbs pack in under 45 minutes)

Low: Have you been to Ames?

Driving Test for U.S. Government Vehicle and Trailer License

Location: Duchesne, UT

Duration: 5/31/12

High: Passing

Low: Requiring vigorous hand gesturing from Mason to back up the trailer in an altogether straight-back direction

U.S. Government All-Terrain-Vehicle Operator License

Location: BLM wasteland outside of Vernal, UT

Duration: 5/30/12

High: Not separating the instructor from any of his limbs

Low: Immense difficulties with ATV helmet (and subsequent sore ears)

First Aid and CPR Certification

Location: Vernal, UT

Duration: 6/12/12

High: Remaining mostly cognizant throughout

Low: Multiple failed attempts to adequately depress the chest of the brand-spanking-new CPR dummy

S-211: Portable Pumps and Water Use

Location: Vernal, UT / Duchesne, UT

Duration: 6/18/12 - 6/19/12

High: Learning the earplugs-as-on-the-spot-water-tank-patch-job trick (used no less than three times on honest to goodness fires)

Low: Opening a gated wye to accidentally spray a pile of cow feces, the water then rebounding with stunning accuracy into the crotch of our instructor

S-212: Wildland Fire Chainsaws

Location: Vernal, UT

Duration: 6/13/12 - 6/16/12

High: Taking the chain off the bar. Taking the bar off the saw. Taking the plate off the powerhead. Seeing how it all fit together, then putting it all back together again. Pure magic.

Low: The slight feeling of regret that sport felling is now seriously frowned upon 

Lingo

Permanents: Firefighters hired to work beyond the immediate fire season; they are officially absorbed into the government apparatus, which means a 20-year retirement package, paper work and job security.
Line digging: Creating a fuel break (using chainsaws and tools) by removing standing fuels and scrapping down to pure mineral soil; when the fire reaches the line, it cannot move beyond it because there is nothing left to burn.

Slinging weather: Holding onto the chain attached to the sling psychrometer (what look like two thermometers attached to a small plate; one has a metal nub—to determine the dry bulb—the other a cloth nub which can be wetted—to determine the wet bulb), you flail it around in the air in a shaded spot, determining from the reading the wet and dry bulb. These numbers are then used to determine the temperature, relative humidity (RH) and dew point (DP), which are useful in telling how dry fuels are and how wet the air is. The person slinging weather also reports on cloud coverage, fire activity and general weather behavior; weather is typically read over the radio every hour while firefighters are on the line.

Spot weather forecast: While on a fire, the National Weather Service (NWS) will provide daily spot weather forecasts for fire crews; these are weather predictions for the specific fire area. To gauge accuracy and adjust further forecasts accordingly, the weather recorded during the day (actual temperatures, winds, etc.) by firefighters is reported back to the NWS and compared to their forecast for the day; everyday someone is responsible for reporting these numbers back to the NWS.

Transect: Spacing individuals at a set distance (50 feet, 100 feet, etc.) from one another and moving across an area in a grid pattern; the person at the end of the transect controls the speed and orientation of the transect (“holding for heat,” “pivoting off the inside,” “stay behind the person on your left”). Instructions are communicated down the line, one person to the next (which, at 10 feet spacing, is fairly obnoxious). Frequently used to double-check a mopped up section for any lingering heat.

TCRs: A daily record of hours worked on a fire; includes incident’s fire code, hazard pay / travel pay designation, crew name; means everyone gets paid!

Photos 1. Lee, who is a C sawyer (A=beginners, B=skilled, C=masterful), cuts a cat-faced tree with some help from Dillon on the Church Camp Fire 2. Acting as lookout-in-training on the Porcupine Complex Fires 3. Lee getting an old pump running on the Moose Creek Fire 4. Mason and me, the Kings Peak rookies, wielding the pole saws