Yellowstone National Park - Fire Suppression Tactics (U.S. National Park Service)

Fire Suppression, when the only way you want the fire is OUT.

Many Yellowstone Park visitors and other interested parties often ask,"How do you put a forest fire out?" The answer is both simple and complex. All fires that are suppressed are treated similarly if firefighter and public safety are truly the primary objectives. All actions come back to the fire triangle that's taught in elementary school. To put out a fire heat, fuel or oxygen must be removed.Generally heat and fuel are the components most vulnerable to the firefighters actions.

A good firefighter fights fire in three dimensions simultaneously. The objective is to work around the fire removing fuels that could allow the fire to spread while controlling the shower of embers carried on the wind. This attack on the aerial component creates a third dimension. So instead of thinking of the fire ground as a tabletop or chessboard, the fire environment is a dome, or three-dimensional battleground.

The first step in fire suppression is detection of the fire followed by the logistical exercise of delivering firefighters, engines, helicopters or other suppression resources to the fire. Upon arrival the leader, termed an Incident Commander (IC) executes a sizeup of the fire. This is essentially an intelligence gathering phase where the fuels, terrain, weather and other fire behavior characteristics are noted and used to determine tactics.

Next the IC will submit a report to Fire Dispatch and order resources applicable to the current and expected fire situation. They may also direct initial attack firefighters to establish a helispot or drop point to facilitate logistics depending upon fire size. All fires are managed by the Incident Command System. Management positions are added and taken away as dictated by the needs of the fire situation.

Like all fire organizations Yellowstone Park is a party to a variety of interagency agreements that ensures that firefighters from outside the park can be called upon as needed. The resources could be from other federal agencies, surrounding states, or local county resources. In addition contractors may be dispatched to help, and in extreme cases the military can become involved.

The next big step is to establish an anchor point. This is generally located near the fire origin or other safe point where firefighters can begin working with good protection from the fire hooking back around them. They will also take the opportunity to designate a safety zone and mark an escape route to it. The safety zone is often that area the fire has already burned. Lookouts are posted to protect firefighters from unexpected fire behavior and weather reports are communicated so that there are no surprises.

While the firefighters are working up the sides or flanks of the fire from the anchor point a variety of other activities could be occurring. Retardant and/or bucket drops may be delivered to the edge of the fire to cool it enough for firefighters to get next to it to remove fuels with hand tools. Water sources will be sought so that portable pumps and hose can be brought into action as another cooling agent. Sawyers may begin falling dead or burning trees to control the ember shower and enhance firefighter safety. Roads will be assessed to determine their value as future access points to the fire ground. Dip sites will be sought to support the helicopter bucket operations and if need be, a helibase and fire camp established.

Eventually the firefighters do prevail. Often a break in the weather is the factor that allows the workers to encircle and control the fire. Once the fire is "contained" the hard, dirty work of mop up goes into full swing. Each ember will be painstakingly sought and put out. The entire fire perimeter, and sometimes the entire fire is felt with bare hands to be sure there is no longer any heat left to allow the fire to escape.

Just as resources were pumped into the control effort they are now released as it is determined that they are no longer needed. Eventually the fire will be put into the patrol phase and the fire report completed. The firefighters will refurbish their gear and ready themselves for the next call.