Was just woken at 11:30 our mountain is burning and has gotten worse.
So, as you may remember I had a chance to move back to my home state and lateral over to the BIA here in Oklahoma. We are a 10 person hand crew. We have heavy equipment division with 5 guys and some tracked equipment from 2 skid steers w/ forestry mulcher, a dozer, track hoe, and transports.
I’m not trying to one-up your prescribed fire but adding to it for those unaccustomed with wild fire. We did a 3,000 acre project over 3 days on Chickasaw tribal land. Using a river, ranch roads, and dozer line as containment lines. Plains fires burn the grass very fast but it hits the timber and slows down but a lot of times they just become burning islands in a see of burned prairie grass. It’s fast and loose compared to how we did prescribed fire in CA but we can get mega production. All the areas we burn in only have volunteers and we give a courtesy call before ignition. If there is an escape it’s on us so we are as cautious as possible.
I think a lot of the frustration from folks who know the industry comes from the fact that this fire was mismanaged and then people start complaining about not getting help.
Imagine being in a boat. It gets a hole in it, you do nothing or half *** the response, and then when the boat is almost completely sunk you start complaining that the harbor master didn’t send you a Coast Guard response.
Who’s at fault? In this situation, I conclude, there is a lack of training, professionalism, and that thing inside you that makes you want to climb up a mountain and start fighting fire with fire. @mbaird mentioned “Hotshots”, they are like the Special Forces of firefighters, per Outdoor Life magazine :wtf:. Personally I think that’s goofy given my previous job in Naval Special Warfare but it really is the best way to put it in laymen’s terms. While Interagency Hotshots are Type 1 crews and primarily needed in in the west but there are two T1 crews that are in the East and still has their seasonal fire personnel. Unicoy Hotshots out of TN and Midewin Hotshots out of IL. These are crews that primarily do prescribed fire and have an early season after snow melt and beginning again at the tail end of the western fire season. In their home regions it greens up and we don’t get summer fires so no need. They should be on right now.
The fire officials who are in charge in PA probably could have made a call early on and got them. Do they even have communication with NIFC???
Glad the anxiety over this is over in OMM’s town but they seriously need to lean on the Gov. to at least deploy PANG troops to the west to get NWCG red card certification and training.
In reality you shouldn’t have to rely on NG for fire suppression. Every state in the country NEEDS a Type 2 hand crew at the very minimum.
@mbaird Family Day-2019 or ‘20
So, as you may remember I had a chance to move back to my home state and lateral over to the BIA here in Oklahoma. We are a 10 person hand crew. We have heavy equipment division with 5 guys and some tracked equipment from 2 skid steers w/ forestry mulcher, a dozer, track hoe, and transports.
I’m not trying to one-up your prescribed fire but adding to it for those unaccustomed with wild fire. We did a 3,000 acre project over 3 days on Chickasaw tribal land. Using a river, ranch roads, and dozer line as containment lines. Plains fires burn the grass very fast but it hits the timber and slows down but a lot of times they just become burning islands in a see of burned prairie grass. It’s fast and loose compared to how we did prescribed fire in CA but we can get mega production. All the areas we burn in only have volunteers and we give a courtesy call before ignition. If there is an escape it’s on us so we are as cautious as possible.
I think a lot of the frustration from folks who know the industry comes from the fact that this fire was mismanaged and then people start complaining about not getting help.
Imagine being in a boat. It gets a hole in it, you do nothing or half *** the response, and then when the boat is almost completely sunk you start complaining that the harbor master didn’t send you a Coast Guard response.
Who’s at fault? In this situation, I conclude, there is a lack of training, professionalism, and that thing inside you that makes you want to climb up a mountain and start fighting fire with fire. @mbaird mentioned “Hotshots”, they are like the Special Forces of firefighters, per Outdoor Life magazine :wtf:. Personally I think that’s goofy given my previous job in Naval Special Warfare but it really is the best way to put it in laymen’s terms. While Interagency Hotshots are Type 1 crews and primarily needed in in the west but there are two T1 crews that are in the East and still has their seasonal fire personnel. Unicoy Hotshots out of TN and Midewin Hotshots out of IL. These are crews that primarily do prescribed fire and have an early season after snow melt and beginning again at the tail end of the western fire season. In their home regions it greens up and we don’t get summer fires so no need. They should be on right now.
The fire officials who are in charge in PA probably could have made a call early on and got them. Do they even have communication with NIFC???
Glad the anxiety over this is over in OMM’s town but they seriously need to lean on the Gov. to at least deploy PANG troops to the west to get NWCG red card certification and training.
In reality you shouldn’t have to rely on NG for fire suppression. Every state in the country NEEDS a Type 2 hand crew at the very minimum.
@mbaird Family Day-2019 or ‘20