Lewis and Clark National Forest

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As residents and visitors enjoy summer, fire management organizations want the public to easily know what fire restrictions and closures may be in place. A new public web site, www.firerestrictions.org, has been created to communicate wildland fire restriction and closure information in the Northern Rockies during the 2008 wildland fire season. The Northern Rockies includes Montana, Idaho, North Dakota and Northwest South Dakota.

As weather continues to become warmer and dryer, we urge individuals to be fire safe as they work and recreate outdoors.

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The National Interagency Fire Center

The National Interagency Fire Center is hosting the National Fire News Page web site, a new service to provide the public access to current wildland fires by state, daily stats, year-to-date information, averages and more. The site is structured in an easy-to-navigate style, with national, state and incident (individual fire) level pages. This is a national support center for wildland firefighting.

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Please see our News Releases and Special Orders page for more links to current fire information.

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The Lewis & Clark Hotshots is an established interagency hotshot crew located in Great Falls, Montana. The crew quarters are located in the Supervisor’s Office in a newly-remodeled living and training facility. The primary mission of this crew is to provide a safe, organized, mobile, and highly skilled hand crew for all phases of wildland fire. A secondary mission of this National resource is to provide concentrated and focused fire management training opportunities for student trainees, Montana Indian Firefighters, new employees and recent appointees to the Forest Service and Department of Interior land management agencies. Eight to ten trainees are sought from the varied and diverse professions of our agencies. The main purpose for involving trainees on this hotshot crew is found in FSM 5130.3, which states, "Every Forest Service employee has a responsibility to support and participate in wildfire suppression activities as the situation demands." FSM 5130.42 (1) states further, "Line officers shall ensure that employees under their supervision are appropriately trained and made available as needed to support fire suppression." We believe this philosophy is also supported by the other fire management agencies. We want to inspire a passion for fire management with our non-fire personnel.

L&C NF Interagency Hotshot Crew Recruitment - Post 12/10/04

The detailers will be offered (depending on the severity and opportunities the fire season presents) on-the-job training experience on a highly organized suppression crew for wildland fire assignments. The detailers will also be involved in classroom instruction and fieldwork in fire suppression, prescribed fire management, and fire use. All members of the program will participate in an active physical fitness program including running, hiking, stretching, and weight training. The primary objective is to provide the trainees a wide exposure to the fire environment. Considerable experience with large fire operations is typical for an interagency hotshot crew. The mission of a hotshot crew ensures a diverse exposure to many fuel types, fire behavior conditions, organizational structures, job assignments, and functions. Interagency hotshot crews respond to fire and emergency assignments on a national basis. These assignments are normally performed under adverse environmental and/or very hazardous fire conditions. MORE

Hotshots Crews on the Fire Season - Pictures: