About 160 firefighters from several agencies spent last week in a local fire school culminating in hands-on firefighting in the Ames Creek area on Friday.
The even provides training in preparation for the upcoming fire season for crews from Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF), the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management, Starker Forests, Finley Wildlife Refuge and rural fire departments.
This was the sixth year the ODF school was located in Sweet Home and the third year it included multiple agencies. Fire camp was hosted by Foster School. Cascade Timber Consulting hosted the live fire exercise on Friday.
Throughout the week, beginning firefighters attended courses in basic fire behavior, map and compass use, air operations and firefighter survival. On Friday, they received hands-on training in the use of engines, portable pumps, chainsaws and hand tools putting out and mopping up real fires.
In addition to fighting fire in their own districts, the crews may also be asked to travel to other parts of Oregon or to other states as the fire season progresses.
Safety has always been a key emphasis in this training, Tom Berglund of the ODF said. Even more safety information was included in the program this year with a course in entrapment avoidance. The material was based on the 30-Mile Fire in Washington, which killed four firefighters last year.
On Friday, students practiced deploying their emergency shelters in high wind conditions, typical in firefighting because fires create their own wind.
The shelters are deployed because “you’re ending up in a spot where you’re in danger of being overrun by a fire,” Berglund said. That usually happens because a mistake has been made. Firefighters must plan ahead, preparing areas to deploy their shelters when the wind shifts or something happens and the fire becomes dangers.
The shelters protect individuals from radiant heat but not from direct flames, Berglund said. “Where we lose firefighters is when the decision is not made soon enough to deploy in safe areas.”
There were a couple of shelter deployments on fires out of state this year, Berglund said. “You try never to get in a situation where you have to deploy.”
Communication is key to making sure that doesn’t happen, he said. That means having people watching the weather and the fire then letting others know what’s going on.
In any case, firefighting is a risky business, and sometimes firefighters need to deploy their shelters, he said. For that reason, the firefighters train intesively in their use.
The new course focused on “how to avoid being entrapped to the point where you’ve got to have your fire shelter deployed,” Berglund said.
Other activities Friday including practice dry mopping a fire.
Firefighters were required to get a fire under control without water, Doug Firoved of ODF’s Western Lane District said. They use tools to scrape embers off of wood mixing them with dirt to smother them.
Whether they need to use the skill on fires depends on where it is, Firoved said. In Eastern Oregon, firefighters must combat a fire without water more often.
“Sometimes water resources are several hours away,” Firoved said. He has been on fires where 200 gallons must last a whole shift.
It also happens on the west side of the mountains on remote lightning fires where firefighters must hike to the fire.
The fire school had about 110 students who were fighting fires for the first time. Others were returning to reach a second level and taking intermediate courses.
“We want them to be able to handle this stuff as if it were second nature,” Berglund said.
Many, possibly most, of the students are college students, Marvin Vetter of the ODF said. They know they can make good money, and if they do a good job, they’ll be able to return the next summer, providing summer work all the way through college.
Veterans help coach and lead first-time firefighters, Vetter said. They will lead crews and engines following their training.