There’s just something about fire.People toss around words like ‘pyromania’ – and to be sure, there are dangerous extremes to this – but I think everyone feels a certain amount of fascination towards fire. You finish setting the backfires and flanking fires, fighting to keep the flames controlled every step of the way, and then you round the corner, start your headfires, and just stand back for a second as a wall of flames rushes to engulf a hundred and fifty acres of prairie, and think ‘wow.’
We’ve all been there.
I’ve assisted in three burns (one of these split into two days) since the last time I wrote, and each has been completely different from the one before. Our last burn, done on ground dampened from rain the night before, and finished right before a thunderstorm came in to put out all the remaining fires, went smooth as silk. Our first burn, and the first half of the second, were done on a day that was considerably warmer and drier (though still within the margin allowable for safety). These were slightly more challenging.
In each burn, the crew was split into two 5-
person squads, each taking one side of the fire. Up first was the igniter, using a drip torch to set the fires, followed by first water, using a flapper (like a mud flap on a stick) and a backpack water tank to make sure the flames didn’t creep across the fireline, followed by several other draggers (on foot or ATV) to monitor and control the fires further back on the line.All of these jobs would be much easier to handle if it weren’t for the fire. It’s hard to appreciate, if you’ve never been near a large fire, just how hot it can get. We’re covered from head to toe in protective gear, and we’re staying away from the
hottest flames for the most part (don’t worry, Mom), but there still come moments when you have to reignite your drip torch from the hottest part of the fire, or beat down a creeping flame, or even just stand on the line, ready to act if necessary, breathing smoke the whole time, and – well, believe me, we’re earning every one of those ten dollars an hour. On our first day, we were getting spot fires constantly, there was a long stretch of hot flashy fuels right by the line, and we ended out having to spray the whole line ahead of us with water, just to keep it manageable.
The second day was a lot easier, except that, because we needed to wait for the winds to die down before starting the burn, we ended out working until 10:30 at night. This was pretty easy for our squad, though visually much more impressive than a day burn (we had tourists coming to watch from miles around), but the other squad ran into a few difficulties and asked us to help by sending over a couple of people and an ATV. Which promptly died, just before it reached them. (We were still able to help them without it, fortunately).
That same day, we also had a truck get stuck in mud so badly that another truck couldn't pull it out, and we needed to bring in a tractor. And an ATV burst into flames. (It just had some grass in its axel catch fire – we put it out with a fire extinguisher).Other than that, things have been slow here.
It’s raining.
I’m eating ramen.
I hope you're all doing well.
(Thanks to Neal and Nick for taking these photos).
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