7/10/2019

We went to the fire management area and met with Brad D. and Bob S. Brad over viewed the different levels in AFMO – fields, linguistics, and operations, they each have their part to do in their department. There are over 100 workers and in the summertime another 100+ volunteers. They have a 20 strong Hotshot crew that go all over the U.S. and into Canada, they are currently in Alaska. The fire management work with 9 different tribes on projects in the forest. Bob explained that the workers start at 8 with an hour of PT, though when they know that they are going out they will skip PT so that they are not exhausted. Their longest shift lasted about 46 hours in one of the worst fires they have seen in 1996. We asked about how they can tell how fires are started as they are mostly started by lighting. They explained that after they determine the area that the fire had started they close it off then bring in trained investigators to look over the area. They will look at the grass and how it burned, if there are any remains of fire crackers, they will go in with metal detectors and see if there are and staples from matchboxes, and they do this to narrow down the area till they are sure how the fire started. They talked about prescribed fire burning and how it’s good for the environment. They took us down to two different spots to show us four different ways they are trying to get the forests under control. The first was the control, they left that part of the forest as it was so that they could see the difference in how the forest looks, how new growth behaves and how the different animals react to the change in environment. The second they showed us was where they thinned the forest, thinning is where they cut down certain trees that are too close to each other so that they don’t have to compete over resources, they also cut they tree limbs that are under 6 feet as they are starters for a crowning burn which is the most dangerous type of tree fire.  The third forest they showed us was thinned and all the ground brush was mowed down this area looked really well with lots of new growth coming in. The fourth site they showed us was where they thinned and did a prescribed burn, brad had done this with only a small lighter and it was surprising to see how large the area was burned with only that one lighter. I wouldn’t say that the area looked pretty as it had burned trees and ground but it is a natural part of the ecosystem to have fires going through and all that burnt looking stuff will be gone with time. This is probably a problem for most people as they want things to be done quickly but a trees life can be centuries old and what we think is a long time in nothing in Tree years. After this they took all of us to He He Long House to have lunch by the river, while I was sitting on the steps a chipmunk kept peeking out at me from under the steps probably because it could smell the food I had. And when I left it came out to see if it could scavenged any scraps I had left (I left it some lettuce). After that I went to sit by the river and was able to see a snake in the water. It was yellow and cute and I could see its tong flicking out as it searched for a place to bury itself in the mud. When we went back to the fire management palace we were able to set up camp for the night here which we were all very grateful for especially as they let us use their showers. I saw many of the firefighters coming in off shift they were dirty and tired looking and over all I was very impressed by them. They work hard at their job and we are lucky to have them there. I even saw a few female firefighters which shouldn’t be so surprising but I have personally only ever seen one other female firefighter so I was glad that there was woman in what is mostly considered a male dominate job field. I also felt a little bad as it felt like we were intruding in on their space by being there.