Starting controlled fires in Kafue National Park

Managing wildland fire is pretty much the same anywhere in the world. You need to think carefully about when and where to apply it and how to starve the fire of fuel in places you don’t want it. There are several ways to do it—but you need to know how.

As a U.S. Forest Service fire applications specialist, managing wildfire, monitoring ecosystem response and teaching others how to do so has been Tonja Opperman’s job for years. She is so good at it that recently the Forest Service International Programs invited her to teach fire monitoring in Zambia’s Kafue National Park. Read more »

Wildland firefighter trainees windup a fire hose.

With fires raging across the Western states dramatic images of wildland firefighters attempting to contain the flames are a regular visual in newspapers and on TV and computer devices across the country. These striking visuals rouse the fighter in some of us and we might ask: Can I fight a wildfire?

The answer is you can—if you meet certain criteria. Both federal and state agencies have varying requirements to award what is referred to as a Wildfire Qualification Card. Like a driver’s license, this card says you’re certified to fight wildland fires. So how do you get one? Aside from hours of online testing, you’ll have to enroll in a week long fire training-type boot camp where you’ll take more tests and be given a large spiral bound book called the Fireland Handbook. Read more »

CNN news and weather anchor Rob Marciano highlights multi-agency partnerships and the benefits of prescribed fire during a visit to Bristol, Fla., hosted by The Nature Conservancy on Tuesday, June 19, 2012. Prescribed fire is integral in improving forest health and is one of the most effective tools used

This summer’s wildland fires in the West have galvanized the nation’s attention and mobilized arsenals of fire-fighting support to bring those fires under control. But there is another type of fire known as prescribed fire which helps make forests and grasslands healthier and protects communities and natural resources including access to clean, abundant water. Read more »

Prescribed burn at the Tahoe National Forest. (Photo: Steve McKelvey, U.S. Forest Service

There’s hot debate over whether or not to conduct prescribed burning and mechanical thinning (the manual removal of trees) in our nation’s forests. Supporters of these fuels reduction methods, which remove highly flammable undergrowth, argue that they help lower the severity of wildfires. Meanwhile, opponents say that the treatments can hurt the environment.  Read more »

A Modular Airborne Firefighting unit is loaded aboard a North Carolina Air National Guard C-130. US Air Force photo.

Flying C-130 Hercules aircraft and equipped with roll-on Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) which dispense retardant, U.S. Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard crews have been training around the country to help suppress wildfires this season. Read more »

A boot camp participant learns how to use a fire hose.

The first weekend of the first ever Women in Wildland Fire Boot Camp exceeded the expectations of boot camp organizer, Bequi Livingston.

“The first session of our boot camp programs were beyond incredible and certainly one of the highlights of my career. I think that we have certainly developed a model for future use that is very successful and provides so much ownership at the field level,” Livingston said. Read more »