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Crews prepare for fire season
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| H&N photo by Todd E. Swenson Russ Smith, 29, leads a line of Winema Hot Shots personnel up Tomahawk Ski area near Rocky Point. The wildland firefighting crew was practicing making fire lines on Friday. They are an elite U.S. Forest Service crew based in Klamath Falls and working at fire sites throughout the Pacific Northwest. |
May 5, 2007
Fire danger in the Winema National Forest was low Friday, but that didn't stop a team of elite firefighters from practicing skills they'll use in drier weather.
The 20-member Winema Hotshot crew spent part of the morning cutting a fire line far up a forested slope about three miles south of Rocky Point and practicing chain saw technique. From a parking lot off Highway 140, they looked like tiny yellow dots on the hillside at Tomahawk Ski Bowl.
One of the dots, Dave Smallman of Klamath Falls, is beginning his fourth year as a Hotshot and his 11th year on a fire crew. He said half the Hotshot crew consists of local residents who are employed fulltime, and the other half is hired for seasonal duty.
The latter members come from Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, Vermont and Washington.
The team has been together since April 15.
They do daily physical training, work on technical skills, and talk about what Smallman calls “simulations” - what might happen during a wildfire and how to respond.
For example, they are well versed in how to respond if a spot fire starts burning outside the fire line.
“We definitely see a lot of fire,” Smallman said. “We're up close to it, but we know how to handle it. We try not to put ourselves in danger.”
Firefighter safety is always paramount, he said.
They're an interagency crew, which means they agree to help on state land or federal land under the jurisdiction of agencies other than their sponsoring U.S. Forest Service.
“A lot of times they're not even here when we have a fire because they've been sent somewhere nationally,” said Forest Service spokeswoman Erica Hupp.
The crew has little down time, even when there's no fire. They help other agencies with forest management practices such as thinning, fire fuel reduction, or prescribed burns. Smallman said a prescribed burn near Crater Lake National Park is likely on schedule for Monday, if weather cooperates.
They do daily physical training, work on technical skills, and talk about what Smallman calls “simulations” - what might happen during a wildfire and how to respond.
For example, they are well versed in how to respond if a spot fire starts burning outside the fire line.
“We definitely see a lot of fire,” Smallman said. “We're up close to it, but we know how to handle it. We try not to put ourselves in danger.”
Firefighter safety is always paramount, he said.
They're an interagency crew, which means they agree to help on state land or federal land under the jurisdiction of agencies other than their sponsoring U.S. Forest Service.
“A lot of times they're not even here when we have a fire because they've been sent somewhere nationally,” said Forest Service spokeswoman Erica Hupp.
The crew has little down time, even when there's no fire. They help other agencies with forest management practices such as thinning, fire fuel reduction, or prescribed burns.
Smallman said a prescribed burn near Crater Lake National Park is likely on schedule for Monday, if weather cooperates.
- Steve Kadel
Fire danger in the Winema National Forest was low Friday, but that didn't stop a team of elite firefighters from practicing skills they'll use in drier weather.
The 20-member Winema Hotshot crew spent part of the morning cutting a fire line far up a forested slope about three miles south of Rocky Point and practicing chain saw technique. From a parking lot off Highway 140, they looked like tiny yellow dots on the hillside at Tomahawk Ski Bowl.
One of the dots, Dave Smallman of Klamath Falls, is beginning his fourth year as a Hotshot and his 11th year on a fire crew. He said half the Hotshot crew consists of local residents who are employed fulltime, and the other half is hired for seasonal duty.
The latter members come from Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, Vermont and Washington.
The team has been together since April 15.
They do daily physical training, work on technical skills, and talk about what Smallman calls “simulations” - what might happen during a wildfire and how to respond.
For example, they are well versed in how to respond if a spot fire starts burning outside the fire line.
“We definitely see a lot of fire,” Smallman said. “We're up close to it, but we know how to handle it. We try not to put ourselves in danger.”
Firefighter safety is always paramount, he said.
They're an interagency crew, which means they agree to help on state land or federal land under the jurisdiction of agencies other than their sponsoring U.S. Forest Service.
“A lot of times they're not even here when we have a fire because they've been sent somewhere nationally,” said Forest Service spokeswoman Erica Hupp.
The crew has little down time, even when there's no fire. They help other agencies with forest management practices such as thinning, fire fuel reduction, or prescribed burns. Smallman said a prescribed burn near Crater Lake National Park is likely on schedule for Monday, if weather cooperates.
They do daily physical training, work on technical skills, and talk about what Smallman calls “simulations” - what might happen during a wildfire and how to respond.
For example, they are well versed in how to respond if a spot fire starts burning outside the fire line.
“We definitely see a lot of fire,” Smallman said. “We're up close to it, but we know how to handle it. We try not to put ourselves in danger.”
Firefighter safety is always paramount, he said.
They're an interagency crew, which means they agree to help on state land or federal land under the jurisdiction of agencies other than their sponsoring U.S. Forest Service.
“A lot of times they're not even here when we have a fire because they've been sent somewhere nationally,” said Forest Service spokeswoman Erica Hupp.
The crew has little down time, even when there's no fire. They help other agencies with forest management practices such as thinning, fire fuel reduction, or prescribed burns.
Smallman said a prescribed burn near Crater Lake National Park is likely on schedule for Monday, if weather cooperates.
- Steve Kadel
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