In the world of fighting fires, there are many different firefighters and many different fires. One special kind of fire is a forest or wildland fire; it doesn’t ravage a home or a city but spreads through nature, leaving nothing but ash and cinders in its path. Read on to learn how wildland firefighters put out these forest fires.
The Difference Between Forest Fire and Other Fires
The best way to understand how wildland firefighters put out forest fires is to first understand how they differ from your average fire. Traditional firefighters exist to take care of fires that are happening in homes, apartments, businesses, and office buildings, and they take care of them in a few different ways. They try to stop the spread, get people out of the fire, and then douse the buildings with water and flame suppressants to put the fires out.
Wildland and forest fires operate much differently since there are little-to-no buildings, just wildlands. In this case, wildland firefighters will first assess the fire, determining if it will grow and spread or naturally fizzle out. From that point forward, if the fire is determined to be a risk, they focus more on suppression rather than putting out the fire.
Special Equipment
When wildland firefighters determine that a fire will rage on and they must suppress it, they turn to all of their specialized equipment. The first step is to suffocate the fire, removing fuel and oxygen. Firefighters will use dirt, water, and retardants to do this, but if the firefighters aren’t maintaining a clean fire hose nozzle, suppressing the fire becomes quite difficult. When these firefighters aren’t fighting wildland fires or scouting for fires, they are taking care of their equipment to ensure they work as expected when in a wildfire situation.
These firefighters must remove oxygen from the fire and its path, and they do this in multiple ways. A hose and other fire retardants are one step, but the firefighters will also use rakes and shovels to kick up dirt. They’ll use heavy water pumps, fire engines, and bulldozers if the wildfire is much larger. They’ll even bring helicopters to drop water and retardant on the fires and surrounding spaces.
Indirect Attacks
A preparatory suppression tactic is a big part of suppressing wildfires, as prepping the land where a wildfire is spreading is the first step in fighting it. This tactic is also called an indirect attack. Some indirect attacks wildland firefighters use are:
- Firelines
- Backburning
- Wetting unburned fuels
- Creating control lines
Firefighters will attack the fire from specific sides, so it only spreads to these prepped areas. This strategy can seem like a lot, but it is the most effective way to minimize the damage of forest fires and cut out extraneous variables. However, factors such as wind and changing weather always play a role and can quickly derail these plans.
It takes a lot for wildland firefighters to put out forest fires, which is why it takes a lot to become a wildland firefighter. You’re working in extreme conditions, and your job is crucial because, without it, there’d be fewer and fewer forests and natural spaces every day. Without these wildland firefighters, the world would look a lot less pretty.
