#Wildland Firefighting

[thatdisasterauthor]

@teagantheamazing Hope you don't mind, but I wanted to pull this reply out to talk about a little more in depth, because I think it is important that people understand this as we move forward.

Also, I am speaking as a private citizen here, not as an employee of the Forest Service.

In the United States, wildland fire response is handled at three basic levels: Federal, State, and Local.

Federally, it is further broken down into the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service. (Some parks have their own fire crews as well, but that varies from park to park, and they're usually still technically Forest Service.) There's really not a ton of difference between the two aside from whose name is on your paycheck. Pay is the same across each, structure is the same across each, training is the same across each. Federal crews and resources are, generally, the main and biggest responders to wildfires because wildfires tend to happen primarily on federal lands.

At the state and local level things vary a lot from state to state. You can have things like the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control in Colorado and Cal Fire in California, and you can have local structure departments that also have wildland divisions and/or training. Some of the local departments will be volunteer. State and local responders also work closely with federal responders, but how much and for how long varies from fire to fire.

Then, on top of all of that, you have private/contract crews. They are what it says on the tin: private crews of firefighters. Some of these crews are great! Very professional, very skilled. Others are...ah...not.

Now, what I am concerned about specifically as we head into this new administration is what is going to happen at the federal level. As I mentioned in the original post, the Forest Service is already struggling. It has ALWAYS been struggling. Without giving you a whole huge history lesson, the Forest Service was founded in the early 1900s by Teddy Roosevelt to protect public lands and preserve them for future use. People threw a FIT about it, specifically people who wanted to basically strip mine the forests for every single available resource. Taft was elected after Roosevelt and basically started undoing everything his predecessor had done. The budget for the Forest Service was destroyed, protections were rolled back. The only reason the Forest Service survived was because in 1910 there was a MASSIVE fire. It was, at the time, unprecedented and the Forest Service was able to use it to lobby for better funding going forward. But the same cycle has repeated ever since. An administration that doesn't value conservation will come in, shred the budget, there will be deadly consequences that make the next administration pad the budget some, and then it will start again.

It's a lot like people who stop taking their medicine because they think they're cured since they feel better, but they only feel better because they were taking their medicine.

So what happens now? Well, it's already happening and it happened under Biden, and will only get worse under Trump. To keep it simple, there are two kinds of federal employment: seasonal, and year-round. Most of the federal Forest Service jobs are seasonal, because the work is seasonal. This includes firefighters, but it also includes things like park rangers and trail maintenance crews. From late spring to early fall there are tooooons of people working. Then, the rest of the year, its a skeleton crew of year-rounders doing mostly maintenance work, controlled burns, paperwork, stuff like that.

Now, with all of that said, here is where we stand at this specific moment: the decision has already been made that the Forest Service will not be hiring seasonal workers outside of firefighting next year. This means no seasonal park rangers, no seasonal maintenance people, none of that. This means next year parks are going to be a MESS. Bathrooms will not be cleaned regularly, campgrounds will not be maintained, trails will not be maintained, and a ton of other stuff. The year-rounder skeleton crew will be all we've got. And, crucially, there will be less professionals monitoring the woods looking for new fires. Rangers, even ones not working directly on fire stuff, are a crucial level of protection for spotting and reporting fires.

Secondary to that is the pay issue. Even if you're a year-rounder, the pay is abysmal. Your average out the gate, newbie wildland firefighter is going to make around $17/hr base pay if they work for a federal agency. Now, there's a ton of random stuff that can bump that pay up even without the retention bonus we're currently getting. You get a night differential and a Sunday differential for starters, and hazard pay when you are actively working a fire, plus there's ALWAYS overtime, sometimes an insane amount of it. Then there's per diem if you are traveling for a fire, and that can be a nice little bump too. But the point/problem is that the pay is VERY unpredictable. You can have a massively busy season and be swimming in money, or you can have a slow as fuck season and end up scrapping by because the base pay isn't enough. The Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act is supposed to fix this by bumping up the base pay, but that can has been kicked back and forth in the government for yeeeears now.

Now, as you mentioned, people CAN transfer their federal qualifications for fire to state and private crews. It generally pays better if you do. But we do not want to privatize fire response. Given the size of this country, given the spread of the population within it, we have to have a federal firefighting force. Leaving it to the states and private companies will not be enough.

That is where we are starting the new administration: abysmal pay, failing departments, and slimmed back hiring. Given Trump's repeated insistence on slimming down the government, on withholding aid in blue states, on getting rid of things like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (which is also crucial for firefighting), and other things in that vein, I think we are staring down the barrel of a very, very dangerous time.

So, some action items if you want to help:

Call your local representatives and insist they pass the Wildland Firefighter Protection Act NOW, before the new administration comes in. The new administration could still screw it up, but we've gotta at least try.

Be patient and understanding with Park Rangers in the coming years. They are doing their best with what they've got.

Take responsibility for your use of public lands. Clean up after yourself, pick up litter when you see it, and donate if there is a way for you to do so.

Educate yourself and your community on wildland fire even if you don't think you are in a wildland fire prone area. Learn about and implement defensible space around your homes and communities. I'll be doing a lot of education around this going forward, so if you have questions or want help please ask me!

[fruityforestry]

Knee high White's handmade lineman boots at work.

[ranger-tater]

Plenty of women getting into the fire service, and protecting the environment as wildland fire fighters so I dunno wtf that creature is on about. Maybe if more feminists get into wildland firefighting it’ll actually be a better paying job. 20 an hour to just be in California isn’t worth it, let alone actually protecting it.

Also wildland firefighting is just outright so hot (ha!)

[botanyshitposts]

since the beginning of this blog people have asked me. how do i get a job in botany. and i am here to say i do not know because the only jobs i have ever had have been in agriculture, the section of applied botany other than natural resources that makes stable 9 to 5 money long term. my career path is more winding than i wanted it to be...... my motivations complex..... i want to go to plant grad school some day for plant evolutionary biology my deepest most heartfelt love but at the same time manual labor entices me with a deep urgency right now at age 25.... ive been hitting the gym for the past 2 months daily for the arduous pack test because i NEED to toil or i WILL perish and i also find helping people rewarding and these things come in direct conflict with what i thought was a pretty straightforward academia storyline. i can carry 20 pounds 3 miles in under 45 minutes now which doesnt sound like a lot but in my defense i didnt play sports in high school. just got my healthcare CPR certification and im starting EMT classes soon tbh

[enjoythesilentworld]

kindling

It still smelled of ash in the tent. Simon’s heart began to pound in his chest, and suddenly Wille was not close enough. Simon needed him, needed him closer, needed to feel he was there, and real, and still breathing.

Or, While everything around them burns, Simon and Wille find comfort in each other.

† For Kinktober: Staying Quiet, Intercrural, Semi-public Sex † @youngroyals-events

read here on ao3 (E, 3k)

[corvidist]

And his name that sat on him was death, and hell followed with him

[thatdisasterauthor]

I've been watching the flight paths of the slurry bombers over the stone canyon fire (they go right over my house to and from their refills so they're hard for me to miss) but I noticed a few smaller planes just flying in low circles or radials over the fire. Do you know if these planes are dropping smoke jumpers or are they just doing recon work and relaying info to the bombers?

Also there seems to be a lot more focus on stone cyn than Alexander mtn fire but I assume that's bc of how close it is to Lyons.

Alright, let's talk firefighting aircraft!

First up, we've got Air Attack. These are usually smaller, fixed wing planes. They're generally the first to go out and get eyes on a fire, and they serve as a sort of controller of the airspace once more aircraft come on scene. They can also help with things like mapping fires.

Then we've got MMA or Multi-Mission-Aircraft. Like the name suggests, they do a lot of things. Lightning detection flights are a big one, aka going out and looking for new fire starts after lightning goes through. Colorado has two of these that are just ours! They're PC-12 turbo props based out of Centennial. Aside from lightning detection, they can help with recon.

Next up we've got the tanker planes, of which there are three categories: SEATS, LATS, and VLATS. SEATS are Single Engine Air Tankers. Basically little crop duster planes, but instead of crop dusting they are dropping retardant or water. Honestly, they don't get enough love compared to the bigger tankers, but they're my favorite! They're just neat little guys. LATS are Large Air Tankers, and they're the ones you'll see most often. Big Bois, but not the biggest! The biggest are the VLATS or Very Large Air Tankers. There aren't a ton out there, so their use is limited.

Tankers also sometimes require lead planes, which are smaller aircraft that will lead them in and help them make their drop. Just depends on the circumstances and what exactly is being used.

On to helicopters! For Helicopters we've got Type 3, Type 2, and Type 1. Type 1s are the biggest, type 3 are the smallest. Type 1s and 2s can do bucket work or carry water in a tank. All three types can also be used to ferry cargo and personnel to and and from a fire.

Then there's the smokejumper planes. Another one that's what it says on the tin: its the plane the jumpers use to go to a fire. They're usually fixed wing planes with a jump door at the back. The plane can also do other work on a fire such as serving as Air Attack once the jumpers have jumped, helping monitor it, etc..

Last but not least we've got the scoopers! I guess technically these go with the tankers, but shh. Rather than getting filled up at an airport, these planes skim across the surface of lakes to literally scoop up water they can then go drop on a fire! Another very neat little plane.

I think that's everything!

As for what's going on on the front range, I haven't been following those ones too too closely, but yeah, the proximity to Lyons is probably playing a role in what is going where. It could also be that the terrain of one is friendlier to ground resources, while the other isn't, so the air resources are being directed to the one that's harder to get to by ground, but I don't know.

Lastly, here's a SEAT on one of our fires we had on the western slope earlier this year:

Look at that neat little guy! Look at him go! I love him.

[next-hero-in-line]

Hey I know this is weird but I woke up from a sleep deprivation nap the other day and my first thought was

"woah what if twilight and time were firefighters they've got the build for it" but in your artstyle

but when I tried to imagine it in my sleepy haze All I could imagine was just two translucent deep sea creatures

Visual representation^^

I love that thought- and I might draw it but also I’m obsessed with these little amebas you’ve drawn.

Literally made my day LOOK AT THEM 💕💕💕

[galaxyies]

.

[larryshapiro]

wildfire on the Yakima Indian Reservation

[paitatertot]

THE INDIGENOUS REPRESENTATION IN STATION 19 & THE WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING

[blueskyscribe]

Another banger tweet from the the Washington Department of Natural Resources

[quaranmine]

I don't have time to write it out now but I realized last night that I may have taken it a little bit for granted if my readers truly know what a hot shot crew is or not lmao so I may make a post on that with some articles/videos to throw in my masterpost

[thatdisasterauthor]

I got to tour two LATs at work today, including sitting in the cockpit. It was great fun. And they gave me goodies! :D

[alectoperdita]

Hi

For the wip game

What about the ski lodge au ? Thank you

💜

From WIP Game

Ski Lodge AU is a collaborative AU between @wahwahwashbear and myself. He posed the idea of ski patroller Joey who is forced to babysit Seto and his rich frienemies on their annual ski trip where they rent out a luxury chalet and do over-the-top shit like heli skiing. Joey and Seto start to grow close and fall for each other over the course of the trip.

Here's a snippet. I didn't get very far tbh.

---

"Seto Kaiba—"

Joey couldn't help but perk at the name. Somehow, the tech CEO was the most tolerable of the bunch? He wasn't exactly friendly, but he didn't go out of his way to antagonize ski patrol or other resort staff like his peers. As far as pretty faces went, Joey knew which one he rather be stuck babysitting all day.

"His brother, Mokuba Kaiba's also coming. And rounding out the group this year is Jagger Princeton."

Joey pulled a face. An elbow ribbed him and he looked to his left to find his buddy, Tristan, mirroring his expression. Who the hell named their kid Jagger, they both silently asked each other.

Taylor continued, "They're requesting the same arrangement as previous years. Two on-call patrol members to accompany their group for the duration of their stay. But given that they will be heliskiing, at least one person has to be a Senior Patroller, preferably with backcountry experience."

Again, Tristan elbowed him. There were only four Senior Patrollers in their chapter, Joey included. And of the four, he had the most wilderness survival skills under his belt.

"Pay's time and a half for the two weeks since it includes Christmas. Room is available at the chalet if you don't want to commute each day, but you'll be sharing with each other. Any questions?"

A tentative hand rose above the group. It was one of the newbies, straight out of college. "Isn't that like special treatment? I mean, we're here for everyone's safety, not just theirs, right? It doesn't seem fair to monopolize two of us for the eight of them."

"Since when do rules apply to the rich and obnoxious?" snorted Tristan.

Taylor was far more diplomatic in his response. That was why he was Patrol Director. "Yes, this is not how we usually operate. But we can't do our job effectively if we don't maintain our partnerships with the mountain's resorts. The management that owns the Sunridge chalet has kindly requested this accommodation." He paused for a second before adding, "And the guests have promised a generous donation to our chapter as thanks."

There it was. Money spoke at the end of the day.

[maingel]

listen man. wildland firefighters are objectively hot