When the call comes for an immediate-need strike team assignment, wildland firefighters respond within a moment's notice, sometimes only with their out-of-county bags. Also referred to as red bags, these bags are packed with essential survival items for a 14-day assignment. Depending on the operational assignment, these red bags are weighed and have flight limitations for helicopter crew shuttle operations.
Wildland firefighters must be very selective with what they can carry with them on an incident. Some of the essential items include their PPE; a portable Bendix-King radio; an incident response pocket guide (IRPG); meals-ready- to-eat; a basic first-aid kit that includes moleskin for blisters; several pairs of high-quality cotton socks; and a web gear harness complete with fire shelter. In addition to these items, every wildland firefighter is issued a hand tool to suppress a wildland fire, and this hand tool is their particular tool order on the handline.
When wildland firefighters disembark their apparatus, they leave the pavement behind and enter the fray, sometimes miles away from civilization. The only barrier that's between the fire's edge and civilization is the constructed handline. Their faces are dirty from breathing in smoke, and their packs are heavy, as they cut one lick at a time. They keep their head on a swivel and maintain their situational awareness. The wildland environment can be exceptionally dynamic because of an insidious coupling of topography, fuels and weather, which gives rise to rapid, and sometimes overwhelming, fire behavior.
Wildland firefighters are trained to be heads-up with micro-changes in weather conditions. Another item that they carry in their web gear harness is a belt weather kit. This kit enables them to sling the weather and measure both temperature and relative humidity. There is a distinct philosophy that's molded into wildland firefighters: be informed on the correlation between fire behavior and weather conditions. While they take one lick at a time on their constructed handline, wildland firefighters are empowered to communicate increases in wind speed and/or changes in wind direction.
With one foot in the black, these elite and highly trained firefighters combat the smoke and battle the flames to protect life and property, the latter increasingly more because of society's desire to live as close to nature as possible. Wildland firefighters can recite by memory their 10 standard fire orders and the 18 situations that shout, "Watch out!" Wildland firefighters also must keep their LCES (Lookouts, Communication, Escape Routes and Safety Zones) intact. LCES is crucial to safety in the wildland environment.
An emerging key to safety in the wildland environment is the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives (FLSI), which were developed by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) at the 2004 Firefighter Safety Summit. The initiatives were re-interpreted for the wildland community by respected wildland firefighter and Wildland Firefighter Foundation Board President Steve Gage in 2018 to clarify their relevance to wildland firefighters and provide additional safety resources to support the 10/18/LCES.
Put to practice
Wildland firefighters can use elements of the various initiatives as they prepare for and engage in combating wildland fire. The 16 FLSIs provide support to the wildland firefighter in nearly every aspect of the discipline, from supporting a culture of managed risks to encouraging homeowners who are in the interface to take a greater responsibility for their fire safety.
The IRPG that's carried by wildland firefighters establishes standards for wildland fire incidents. The IRPG also provides critical information on operational engagement and risk management. It provides a collection of best practices that have evolved within the wildland fire service, many of which were developed after a line-of-duty death. This is where a direct correlation can be drawn between the best practices identified in the IRPG and the 16 FLSIs that are defined by the NFFF.
When we compare the 16 FLSIs with the 10/18/LCES, we find mutual support and possibly even some "new" material to generate the impactful discussions that emerge from the experience of the wildland firefighter. Each FLSI can be a vehicle to create an opportunity for new conversation with fellow crew members. FLSI #1 Cultural Change is one example. The initiative states, "Define and advocate the need for a cultural change within the fire service relating to safety; incorporating leadership, management, supervision, accountability and personal responsibility." Multiple elements from this initiative can be used to launch conversation during a "6-minutes for safety" discussion or a tailboard safety huddle. Deeper discussions can be introduced during community meals and other gatherings.
How has cultural change affected you and/or your career as a wildland firefighter? The answers are many if you have even a few years on the fire line. Answers could include everything from how you wear your PPE to the way that you pack your out-of-county bags. Other possible topics of discussion could range from the type of socks that you wear (blister management and foot comfort) to how you were taught to sling the weather.
These discussions ultimately allow the opportunity to pass on information and subtly create a more positive safety culture for your fellow firefighters. Do you remember when a senior firefighter shared the contents of his/her red bag and how that individual packed everything to survive out on the line? Seemingly innocent discussions such as these exemplify how one can influence others to look at the wildland fire discipline with a more critical eye to safe and effective operations.
Bridging the gap
The NFFF is creating positive improvements by strengthening relationships within the wildland community and facilitating dialogue with interagency partners. Over the past three years, the NFFF held listening sessions in several locations, invited interagency partners to share their unique perspectives, rewrote curriculum to make it more relatable for wildland firefighters and collaborated with the Wildland Firefighter Foundation to take care of the families of wildland firefighters who were killed in the line of duty.
The NFFF has gleaned a unique perspective of wildland firefighters and listened to their experiences from out on the line. Through these listening sessions and interactions, the NFFF has harnessed some of its energy to better serve the wildland firefighter. The NFFF is committed to continuing and strengthening partnerships with the wildland community as it searches for new approaches to mitigate risk and to address the critical health and safety issues that affect wildland firefighters.
About the author
Christopher Baker is a volunteer advocate, Region IX advocate manager (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada) for the Everyone Goes Home Program® through the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. He serves as a volunteer member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) Safety, Health and Survival Section, serving in their staging area. Baker previously served as a member of the 2018 and 2019 Safety Stand Down committees. He is certified as a health and safety officer (HSO) through the Pro Board. Baker was a wildland firefighter with CAL FIRE.
This article is from the Firehouse Magazine 2020 Fire Service Health and Safety Report. Thank you, Firehouse Magazine, Editor-in-Chief Peter Matthews, for allowing me the opportunity to publish this article.