Innovation night

On November 15, 2022, our class attended Shirly's fire ecology and Dued fire presentation. It was at Filed House, room 210. Shirly has attended a 2-week long firefighting course out in Arizona. She shared with us what she learned about forest fires.

She introduced wildfire: "A wildfire is a natural or anthropogenic fire that burns in forests, mountains, and urban interface area" (Shirly).

Then she described some of the tools we use to fight a fire and different types of the crew who risk their lives to save ours. Those crews include:

1. 1. 1. Hand crews

Construct fire lines using hand tools, and they mop/clean up burned areas.

Shirly describes this to be one of the most dangerous things to do," Actually, it is one of the most dangerous things to do is mop up, cause you've been working 16 hours a day for the past two weeks every day doing manual labor. Tree falls and kills you"(Shirly).

1. 1. 2. Shot Crews

Twenty militarized elite members are used to fight against high-priority fires.

1. 1. 3. Helitack crews

They fly on choppers to seek rescue and pour water into the fire.

1. 1. 4. Smokejumper Crews

Travel around the country to provide some highly-trained, experienced firefighters.

1. 1. 5. Engine Crews

Uses a truck with some equipment that can help. Etc: water form...

1. 1. 6. Fuels Crews

Prescribed burns on off-season

1. 1. 7. Tankers

Fly planes and spray fire retardant

1. 1. 8. Dozer Crews

Dozer operator as well as a guide.

Here are some picture in order:

All photos produced by Shirly

The other thing that Shirley talked about was The Dude Fire. It happened in the 90s in Arizona when the average temperature was higher than usual. This fire caused six inmates to die due to preventable causes. The biggest reason was poor communication, safety zone was available close to the inmates, but no one told them that there was a safety zone, and no one told them the safety rules.

It was exciting to attend this presentation. It gave me a better understand of what firefighters do when they encounter wildfires. I don't know any firefighters (except for Shirly), so no one has taught me about it. Also, I just found out that we had this different crew of people for different purposes. Like Helitack crew help to rescue people, and we have tankers. So it is excellent to learn about how these life-saving firefighters work.