US wildfire kills 19 firefighters

[frau kaleun]

Ditto what Steve and everyone else said. Saw this on the news at noontime today and was just aghast at the loss of life. It's a dangerous profession and you know sooner or later there is going to be a fatality but 19 at one time in one fire is almost beyond comprehension. My heart goes out to their friends, families, and coworkers.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by fireftr18

Jim, thank you for starting the thread.

No problem...I only wish the storyline was of an opposite dynamic/outcome.

[Gargamel]

I've trained with the type of shelters they had to use.

It is no more than a tin foil tarp that you pull over your head.

During drills it was scary to to think that I'd have to survive, trusting just that flimsy material to let the fire burn right over me while keeping me alive.

But if the fire stays overhead too long..... well, think baked potato.

I can't even imagine having to deploy one in the field. The fear that had to go through them as they pulled that shelter over top of themselves.


RIP.





On a side note, I truly believe fire prevention measures are what have caused the recent increase in severity of wild fires over the past decades. Years of snuffing out small fires before they can, meagerly, consume fuel over a decent area, has caused a generous buildup of fuel available so when a small fire does erupt, it quickly blossoms into an uncontrollable inferno.

The demand for hotshot and volunteer crews to fight these constant mega-fires has reduced the availability of these crews to start controlled burns in order to reduce the natural fuel buildup.

It has also hurt the ecology in the sense that over time, a lot of plants learned to release their seeds only when they reached a certain temperature. This allowed the new growth to quickly reach for the sky, as there was no overhead canopy to stunt them. Without these smaller fires, most occurring naturally, the local ecologies have been stunted. The bigger fires consume not only the parent trees, but the seeds too, which normally survive smaller fires.

Yes, sure climate change may play a factor in this, but it's the prevalence of copious amounts of fuel that are causing the fires to rage on, not the weather.

I once had a Chief who wondered why we fought the fires at all. His point of view (sarcastically), was there is a finite amount of fuel on the planet, eventually the fire will burn itself out.

[Mork_417]

Very sad indeed. Rest In Peace, and Thank You.

[fireftr18]

Originally Posted by Gargamel

I've trained with the type of shelters they had to use.

It is no more than a tin foil tarp that you pull over your head.

During drills it was scary to to think that I'd have to survive, trusting just that flimsy material to let the fire burn right over me while keeping me alive.

But if the fire stays overhead too long..... well, think baked potato.

I can't even imagine having to deploy one in the field. The fear that had to go through them as they pulled that shelter over top of themselves.


RIP.





On a side note, I truly believe fire prevention measures are what have caused the recent increase in severity of wild fires over the past decades. Years of snuffing out small fires before they can, meagerly, consume fuel over a decent area, has caused a generous buildup of fuel available so when a small fire does erupt, it quickly blossoms into an uncontrollable inferno.

The demand for hotshot and volunteer crews to fight these constant mega-fires has reduced the availability of these crews to start controlled burns in order to reduce the natural fuel buildup.

It has also hurt the ecology in the sense that over time, a lot of plants learned to release their seeds only when they reached a certain temperature. This allowed the new growth to quickly reach for the sky, as there was no overhead canopy to stunt them. Without these smaller fires, most occurring naturally, the local ecologies have been stunted. The bigger fires consume not only the parent trees, but the seeds too, which normally survive smaller fires.

Yes, sure climate change may play a factor in this, but it's the prevalence of copious amounts of fuel that are causing the fires to rage on, not the weather.

I once had a Chief who wondered why we fought the fires at all. His point of view (sarcastically), was there is a finite amount of fuel on the planet, eventually the fire will burn itself out.

I agree with you on both parts.
We trained with the tents too. Our concern wasn't with the heat because we were confident that we were protected enough. Our concern was with air. Fire around us consuming the available oxygen. What are we going to breath?
Your concern about a large amount of deadwood on the ground has been a concern for 30 years that I know of. There is a lot of evidence that what you said is true (I don't remember the source). The problem is that civilization has encroached on wildlands so much that there is a difficult decision on whether to fight a forest fire or not.