Wildfire training
With fire season approaching, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Services are making sure new employees are trained about essential skills needed to work effectively and safely before they are sent out to battle wildland fires.
Trainees are first taught in a classroom about fire suppression tactics, weather, safety, leadership, preparedness, risk management and incident command. Then they put their skills to the test.
They also have to pass an exam in order to become fireline qualified.
Each year, hundreds of new wildland firefighters join the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.
On Thursday, 40 new firefighters who are attending Basic Fire School at Eastern Idaho Technical College in Idaho Falls went out to Tex Creek to practice spot fire suppression.
Spot Fire is the condition in which a fire ignites outside the perimeter of the main fire, caused by flying sparks or embers.
These embers can be very dangerous because they can cause the fire to spread.
BLM trainee Lila Scott just started training two weeks ago said she’s been in the classroom learning about weather and safety.
“We have to wear gloves the entire time, helmet, fire resistant clothing, and we always have escape routes and safety zones. We learn a lot about communication and radio skills. Basically, making sure that there’s a big picture view the entire time,” Scott said.
She also said learning about the weather is crucial.
“We have to know everything that the weather is going to do because it can change the course of the fire, and affect how and what we are going to do in order to stop it and stay safe.”
Scott said she is looking forward to putting her skills to the test when a real fire occurs.
Fire Operations Supervisor Brian O’Donnell said the fundamentals are necessary for successful and safe fire operations.
“We are going through the fundamentals of where people should be lined out. We have hand tools that we are using,” O’Donnell said.
He also said this year Eastern Idaho has had less rain, and warmer temperatures have dried out a lot of grasslands.
“We have a large grass crop, second grass crop and sometimes third grass crop. We probably will have dry grass come this Fourth of July. Usually, we are still green until the Fourth of July,” O’Donnell said.
According to WiseFire.com many embers burn up completely before landing, but larger embers of slow-burning fuels can keep burning for up to six minutes and travel thousands of feet.
