Becoming a Wildland Firefighter Is No Effortless Task

Wildland firefighter requires hard work, long hours of training, dedication and an earnest desire to help others. Wildland firefighting involves many skills. In short, some skills involved are: Managing, planning, monitoring, evaluation of activities that facilitate the protection of people, property, communities, societal infrastructure, and natural resources from detrimental effects of unwanted fires. Most importantly wildland firefighting requires the firefighter to maintain a clear and positive mindset in order to provide overall safety to the firefighter and his or her entire crew.

Throughout a wildland firefighter’s career, he or she is expected to understand and perform tasks pertaining to wildland firefighting in a professional and secure manner. Often under extreme and stressful circumstances, a wildland firefighter is required to fully apprehend his or her responsibilities vital to emergency and nonemergency scenarios in wildland firefighting, as well as executing the acquired knowledge and management skills needed to delegate his or her team in an effective and secure manner.

According to Wikipedia, “Wildfires can be characterized in terms of the cause of ignition, their physical properties, the combustible material present, and the effect of weather on the fire.

Wildfires can cause major damages to property and human life, though naturally occurring wildfires may have beneficial effects on native vegetation, animals, and ecosystems that have evolved with fire.” (Wildfire) Of the many tools used in wildland firefighting some important tools to emphasize on are the Standard Wildland Fire Orders and the Common Denominators. In short, the standard Wildland Fire Orders are general rules with a broad approach to safety.

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The Common Denominators are widely used today throughout the wildland fire service to manage risk. All things considered, having the proper knowledge in assessing these tactics and procedures will assist the firefighter and his or her team accurately and most importantly safely. In order to fight and prevent wildland fires safely, the firefighter must first acquire the proper knowledge to fully understand the standards and protocols in wildland firefighting.

The first set of standards to be knowledgeable in are the Standard Fire Wildland Fire Orders, which are a firefighters’ doctrine of safety measures that guide the firefighter in his or her firefighting efforts. In addition, they are functioning standards that must be adhered during suppression activities and re-evaluated throughout the day. There is a total of ten rules, which should be considered as valuable as LCES, Lookouts, communication, escape routes, and safety zones, and used in conjunction with LCES to determine if tactical actions are appropriate and safe.

According to National Wildfire Coordinating Group, “before fully engaging, the Standard Firefighting Orders must be fully considered, if a safety problem arises at any point during engagement, stop and re-evaluate the situation.” (Henington) As a result of these rules not being properly established or followed, multiple firefighters have tragically died. In essence, firefighters’ must always remember why the orders were created.

The Standard Wildland Fire Orders are listed as follows:

• Keep informed on fire weather conditions and forecasts.
• Know what your fire is doing at all times.
• Base all actions on current and expected fire behavior of the fire.
• Identify escape routes and safety zones and make them known.
• Post lookouts when there is possible danger.
• Be alert. Keep calm. Think clearly. Act decisively.
• Maintain prompt communications with your forces, your supervisor, and adjoining forces.
• Give clear instructions and be sure they are understood.
• Maintain control of your forces at all times.
• Fight fire aggressively, having provided for safety first!

Correspondingly, fire experts have studied, analyzed, and researched the factors that have contributed to fire fatalities. The second set of standards and protocols to be knowledgeable in are the four Common Denominators. The goal was to develop standard protocols for future firefighters to use to avoid during wildfire outcomes. In the 1970s, fire scientist Carl Wilson established the four common denominators, using historical data to compare fire behavior elements associated with firefighter deaths.

One negative factor caused by wildland fires is the ability to spread rapidly, especially in areas surrounded by available fuel. Each year wildfires become larger and more destructive. The fact that these fires happen all year, has become the norm. To safely extinguish fires, firefighters must first be aware of the possible dangers of wildland fires and establish ways to avoid fatalities caused by the dangers of these fires.

The first Common Denominator is identified as: “On relatively small fires or deceptively quiet areas of large fires. A few dangers of this denominator are that it lacks adequate working, communication and focus, and fire activity elevates to the third dimension. A few ways to avoid this denominator are: Monitor weather and fire behavior at all times, stay focused! Ensure the firefighter and his or her crew are alert, looking up, down and around at all times, and lastly, ensure communication measures are in place and working.

The second denominator is stated as, “in relatively light fuels, such as grass, herbs, and light brush.” The few dangers of this denominator are: Dry fuels are impacted by drying and daily temperature variations, wind has major influences on fire behavior in light fuels, and fire behavior can increase in a matter of seconds or minutes. A few ways to avoid this denominator are: On grass fires, attack the fire from the black, monitor weather and fire conditions, and treat every grass fire as if it has the potential to produce extensive flame lengths and produce high rates of spread.

The third denominator is stated as, “when there is an unexpected shift in wind direction or wind speed.” The few dangers of this denominator are: Wind has the greatest impact on fire behavior, and inactive fire behavior can suddenly become very active. A few ways to avoid this denominator are: Monitor wind speed and direction at all times, ensure you have adequate safety zones/make them known, and do not attack the fire at the head of in front of it.

And lastly, the fourth common denominator is stated as, “when fire responds to topographic conditions and runs uphill.” The few dangers of this denominator are: Fire spreads uphill faster than downhill, if firefighters are above the fire, they will be hampered by smoke, making visual identification of fire behavior almost impossible, and fire activity will increase during the burn period as wind and temperature increases. A few ways to avoid this denominator are: Do not be above a fire with fire below, and attack from the bottom of the slope or hill where you can escape quickly and will remain out of the worst smoke.

In addition to fire standards, dangers, and fatalities, climate change is another important factor that a firefighter must keep in mind when fighting wildland fires. Research from the “Center for Climate and Energy Solutions” states, “warmer temperatures and drier conditions can help them spread and make them harder to put out. Warmer, drier conditions also contribute to the spread of the mountain pine beetle and other insects that can weaken or kill trees, building up the fuels in a forest.” (Wildfires and Climate Change) Wildfire risk depends on a number of factors, including temperature, soil moisture, and the presence of trees, shrubs, and other potential fuel. All these factors have strong direct or indirect ties to climate variability and climate change.

In the video “Living with Wildfire in Santa Barbara,” the video explains adoption within wildfire areas stating, “while there are many ways to live safely in rural areas where wildfires are a threat, the most effective way to live safely in a fire-prone environment is to adapt to nature rather than attempting to force nature to adapt to us.” (Halsey) The environment plays an important role in our day-to-day lives and activities, even as it continues to change. From an economic perspective, it is important to adapt to nature for a variety of reasons, one most important reason is adapting to climate change. According to the “Adapting to Climate Change” article, adaptation can “involve gradual transformation with many small steps over time, or major transformation with rapid change.” (Australian Government) The article goes on to say, “climate change adaptation helps individuals, communities, organizations and natural systems to deal with those consequences of climate change that cannot be avoided. It involves taking practical actions to manage risks from climate impacts, protect communities and strengthen the resilience of the economy.” (Australian Government) With that being said, research and studies show that changes in climate, especially due to warming in the spring and summer, have led to hot, dry conditions that boost the increase in fire activity in some areas.

Understanding how the evolution of fire has occurred is crucial to understanding how to respond to fire today. The control of fire by early humans was a turning point in the cultural aspect of human evolution. Fire provided a source of warmth, protection, improvement on hunting and a method for cooking food. The modern-day Fire Brigade has evolved following many years of development and improvements since almost pre-history.

Fire is not going away anytime soon. Fire is a reaction, synthesizes its surroundings, takes its character from its context, and burns differently still through communities. Urban fires were once common phenomena. According to the Los Angeles Times, “Even though the current fire season has burned less acreage than in 2012 or 2015, it has claimed the highest number of fatalities… Few fires in California are without precedent. The state’s history is written in fire, each decade marked by losses of life and landscape that follow a cyclical pattern.” (Los Angeles Times) Before 2006, the agency had been the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, had a fire prevention mandate. But that mandate has lapsed as the agency has assumed a more defensive posture, fighting fires when they occur. The Los Angeles Times states, “Fire protection cannot be the sole responsibility of fire departments.

Homeowners and communities must assess ‘the ignition vulnerability of our houses,’ so that the firebrands, blown ahead of the flame front, fail to find flammable materials.” (Los Angeles Times) In the early 1990s, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection was facing increasing costs for wildfire suppression due to the influx of people building homes in what had previously been unpopulated wildlands. This area of mixed homes and wildlands is variously called the Wildland Urban Interface. Wildland urban intermix are areas where housing and vegetation intermingle; wildland urban interface are areas with housing in the vicinity of contiguous wildland vegetation. When houses are built close to forests or other types of natural vegetation, they pose two problems related to wildfires. First, there will be more wildfires due to human ignitions. Second, wildfires that occur will pose a greater risk to lives and homes, they will be hard to fight, and letting natural fires burn becomes impossible.

Now during a wildland fire, more and more CDF firefighting resources had to be used to defend homes and lives, which meant that it was taking increased time and resources to get fires under control. In 1993 the State of California was facing an extreme budget deficit. As a direct result, the formation of the “Fire Safe Advisory Council” was established as means to help support the department’s shrinking education budget by enlisting the monetary and in-kind support of the private sector. The former Fire Safe Advisory Council became known as the Fire Safe Council, with the mission to preserve California’s natural and man-made resources by mobilizing all Californians to make their homes, neighborhoods and communities fire safe. By the end of 1997, the organization had changed its name to the California Fire Safe Council to reflect the increasing number of local fire safe councils being created around the state.

As counties across California continue to be devastated by wildfires, the Camp Fire has become the most destructive in the state’s history based on the number of structures destroyed. The Camp Fire has destroyed more than 18,000 structures, most of them homes. The fire is also the deadliest in state history. Over the past decade, California has suffered drastically from wildfires. A few to mention are (most recent to older): Camp Fire (Nov. 2018), Woolsey fire (Nov. 2018), Carr Fire (Jul. 2018), Thomas Fire (Dec. 2017), Tubbs Fire (Oct. 2017). Californians are beginning to pick up the pieces after devastating wildfires of historic proportions. According to Eye Witness News, “nature provides the dangerous winds that have whipped the fires, and human-caused climate change over the long haul is killing and drying the shrubs and trees that provide the fuel.” (Eye Witness News). Wildfires have become more devastating because of the extreme weather swings from global warming.

Addressing the wildfire problem will require a revolution in land management and in people’s relationship with fire. When fire hits overgrown wildlands, it burns hotter and is much more likely to kill stands of trees and threaten property and people’s lives. But it also unleashes the carbon held by trees, other plants and soil. Forests store enormous amounts of carbon, more than double the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and continuously soak up more, blunting the impact of all the greenhouse gases released by burning fossil fuels in power plants and cars. In recent decades, the size of fires, their intensity and the length of the fire season have all grown dramatically. The more destructive a fire, the more carbon it releases. In fact, largely because of fires, California’s forests emitted more carbon than they soaked up between 2001 and 2010. Unless people reduce greenhouse gas emissions, climate change will significantly increase the frequency of wildfires.

According to NBC News, “creating solutions are complicated by the array of overseers of wildlands — a tangle of federal, state and local agencies and thousands of private owners. A permit to cut or burn any parcel might stall if public officials can’t answer concerns about air quality, water purity, wildlife preservation and cultural and historical preservation.” (NBC News) It is unclear just how far the money will go. California has set a goal even before the fund was allocated of treating 500,000 acres of wildland per year. Treatment refers to any slashing, burning, sawing or thinning of growth to make forests less susceptible to burning out of control.

Fire is a natural event in the California, occurring when the vegetation and weather are dry. Many scientists agree that periodic fire improves the health of forests, shrublands, and grasslands by stimulating fresh forage for wildlife, reducing pests, providing growing room for surviving plants, and stimulating seed growth. However, modern incursion into the wildlands has interfered with this natural process. We have changed the landscape, creating large areas where wildlands and homes are mixed together, and our activities have increased the number of fires. Today, whether wildland fires are started by lightning or by human actions, they are increasingly dangerous, costly, and damaging to the environment. Wildland fire has become a problem throughout the western United States, especially in California, as a result of past policy decisions. In order to avoid future wildland fires, Californians must find an effective approach to avoid any future dangers caused by such wildland fires. One option is to reduce fuel to make fires easier to manage and control. Reducing fuels lowers the probability of high-intensity wildfire, decreasing damage to air and water quality and improving wildlife habitat. Another option is to strengthen communities against wildland fire. Focusing our efforts on protecting human communities is a manageable way of dealing with the wildland fire problem right away.

To repeat, becoming a wildland firefighter is no effortless task. It requires hard work, long hours of training, dedication and an earnest desire to help others. Wildland firefighting involves many skills. A wildland firefighter is required to fully apprehend the history and dangers of wildland fires, the solutions to fighting these dangerous fires, and his or her responsibilities vital to emergency and nonemergency scenarios in wildland firefighting, as well as executing the acquired knowledge and management skills needed to delegate his or her team in an effective and secure manner.