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Show Viewpoints The A-13 Park Record. Wed/Thurs/Fri, December 2-4, 2020 editorial Vaccines are coming, but final days of pandemic not yet here T perspectiVe It’s time Congress comes to the aid of wildland firefighters HARRISON RAINE Writers on the Range By mid-September, there was no one left to call. The West, with its thousands of federal, state, and local fire engines and crews, had been tapped out. Wildfires across the West had consumed the labor of all available wildland firefighters, and though there were fewer fires burning, those fires were larger and more difficult to contain. They consumed 13 million acres — an area almost the size of West Virginia. In the midst of the 2020 wildfire season, John Phipps, the Forest Service’s deputy chief, told Congress that this “was an extraordinary year and it broke the system. The system was not designed to handle this.” Draining the national wildland firefighting pool was why my fire crew and I had to work longer and harder than usual on the Idaho-Oregon border. We were fighting the Woodhead fire, which had peaked at 85,000 acres and threatened to burn the developed areas around the towns of Cambridge and Council, Idaho. With only three crews to try to contain a fire that required probably ten crews, it meant day and night shifts for 14 days. Each crew found itself with miles of fire line to construct and hold. With not enough person-power, we were always trying to do more with less, and it was no comfort to know that what we faced was not unique. Across the nation, the large fires meant working in hazardous conditions that called for far more workers than were available. For those of us on the line, it came down to little sleep and a heavy workload, combined with insufficient calories and emotional and physical exhaustion. Fighting wildfires week after week takes a toll on the body. Smoke contains carcinogens, and firefighters spend days exerting themselves immersed in air thick with ash. We all figure that the long-term health effects cannot be good. One of my co-workers confessed that he goes to sleep “with pain in my knees and hands,” and added, “I wake up with pain in my lungs and head.” Over a six-to-eight month fire season, minor injuries can be- The Park Record Staff PUBLISHER ....................... Andy Bernhard Editor ................................... Bubba Brown Staff Writers ......................Jay Hamburger Scott Iwasaki Alexander Cramer Contributing ............................. Tom Clyde Writers Teri Orr Amy Roberts Tom Kelly Joe Lair Engagement Editor............. Jeff Dempsey Photographer .........................Tanzi Propst Circulation Manager ............. Lacy Brundy Distribution........................... Henry Knight ADVERTISING Advertising Director ........... Valerie Spung Advertising Assistant ...... Jessica Burlacu Advertising Sales ................... Jodi Hecker Joe Siemon Director of Digital Marketing .. Tina Wismer Digital Sales Executive ............... Erik Jones Production Director ..................Ben Olson Production ......................... Louise Mohorn come chronic pain. Wildland firefighters are also vulnerable to suicide due to job-related stress and the lack of resources outside of the fire season. Long assignments put a strain on firefighters’ families and can damage relationships. A 2018 psychological study, conducted by Florida State University, reported that 55% of wildland firefighters experienced “clinically significant suicidal symptoms,” compared to 32% for structural firefighters. Wildland firefighters who work for federal agencies, such as the Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management, are classified as “Range” Technicians” or “Forestry Technicians” — a title more suitable for golf course workers than people wearing heavy packs and working a fire line. Calling them “technicians” negates the skills, knowledge and experience necessary to work with wildfire. Most firefighters sign contracts as seasonal “1039s,” agreeing to work 1,039 base hours for $12-$16 an hour. This is one hour short of being defined as a temporary worker who is eligible for benefits such as retirement and year-round health care. Overtime work is what allows “technicians” to pay the bills, but once they reach 1,039 base hours some firefighters are laid off even while the fire season continues and their regions continue to burn. There is a remedy in sight: the Wildland Firefighter Recognition Act, which formally identifies wildland firefighters as exactly that, tossing out the technician term and recognizing the “unusual physical hardship of the position.” Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines introduced the bill last year, and recently, California Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa introduced the bill in the House. Co-sponsored by California Democratic Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, the bill currently sits with the House Oversight and Reform Committee. This is a nonpartisan bill that deserves support from every Westerner. We all know fires will continue to burn throughout the West, but right now many of the men and women who fight those fires on our behalf are suffering from burnout. Addressing wildfires as a national priority starts with recognition of the profession fighting them. Harrison Raine is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, a nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. He started fighting wildfires in 2016 and is a recent graduate of Colorado College. Letters Policy The Park Record welcomes letters to the editor on any subject. We ask that the letters adhere to the following guidelines. They must include the home (street) address and telephone number of the author. No letter will be published under an assumed name. Letters must not contain libelous material. Letters should be no longer than about 300 words (about 600 words for guest editorials) and should, if possible, be typed. We reserve the right to edit letters if they are too long or if they contain statements that are unnecessarily offensive or obscene. Writers are limited to one letter every seven days. Letters thanking event sponsors can list no more than 6 individuals and/or businesses. Send your letter to: editor@parkrecord.com he end of the pandemic, though not yet within reach, is on the horizon. The news in recent weeks of the apparently successful vaccines created by Pfizer and Moderna was perhaps the most encouraging development since the pandemic began. In the wake of the announcements, state officials offered clarity on when Utahns might expect to get a vaccination and when, at long last, things may return to some semblance of normal. The long and short of it: Officials anticipate that there will be enough doses for the bulk of Utahns to receive vaccinations in the late spring or summer, with health care workers and high-risk people getting them sooner. When enough Utahns are vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, we can start putting the pandemic behind us. Summit County residents — along with everyone else — now have a turning point to look forward to, a beacon of hope that will help get us through what seems certain to be a challenging winter. As encouraging as the vaccine outlook is, however, it is not a signal to abandon the measures that have helped us weather the pandemic thus far. Rather, it should be motivation to soldier on, even as we long ago grew tired of the way COVID has changed our lives. Coronavirus cases in Utah and Summit County remain elevated, and hospitalizations continue to stretch hospitals thin. Health officials expect another surge in the coming days after people gathered with friends and loved ones outside of their households for Thanksgiving, underscoring the reality that we remain in the worst phase of the pandemic so far. In Summit County, the deaths of four residents from COVID-19 in recent weeks — after just one fatality in the pandemic’s first several months — has brought the danger of the coronavirus into sharper focus than ever before. County Health Director Rich Bullough has said the tragic increase in fatalities is a result of how quickly the virus is spreading. Far from being time to let down our guards, we remain entrenched in the fight against the pandemic. That will continue to be the case until we reach herd immunity through broad vaccination. If we squint, we can see that day on the horizon. We’ll finally be able to take off our masks, gather with others at a concert at the Egyptian Theatre or a football game at Dozier Field and revel in the human connection we’ve all missed so much. With the finish line in sight, don’t let up. Instead, let’s push through and do our part to make sure as many people as possible reach it alongside us. guest editorial We need a bold idea to inspire action on climate. How about a citywide contest? KYLE HAAS Kamas Growing up in Park City, I was continuously inspired by the progressive, environmentally conscious community. Now here I sit, two weeks from graduating with a degree in energy engineering from UC Berkeley. Splitting time between Utah and California states, I’ve noticed a trend (likely universal across the U.S.) poignantly expressed here at home. Most people, if pulled off the street and questioned, would say they care passionately about the environment: They may be avid recyclers, think about fuel economy when buying a new car, shop local or organic foods, or perhaps even limit how much meat they consume. However, when pressed about how they take environmentalism into their workspace or social circle, they may not have as much to show: Well-to-do folks will likely express pride at their new Teslas or office’s conversion to LEDs, but how often do we see inspirational environmental leadership in our friend group or company? Why don’t we talk or act about climate change like an overseas war? With very dangerous and wide-reaching consequences if we lose the fight against climate change (especially as Utah’s tourism is heavily dependent on snow sports), shouldn’t we be the most active and inspirational populace we can be? In other words, we as a citizen base are more likely to be personally focused but not socially motivated to mitigate climate change. The reason, I believe, is because of the nature of climate change. Discussed on global scales and without media glamour, it is quite easy to believe that the most effective solutions will be accomplished by international, federal and state governments through policy and time. Rarely do people think these solutions can be accomplished by taking individual or local collective action. I believe this is a cultural problem. While the Park City government has long been pushing a wonderfully needed city plan to become carbon neutral by 2030 (including a very helpful “For Home” and “For Business” step-by-step guide on how to take advantage of existing rebates, subsides and permitting programs), there’s much more we can do. Instituting a municipal composting or biogas production system and requiring any new home built to incorporate rooftop solar (similar to common natural gas building restrictions) would be great steps for the city, but these types of changes do not inspire cultural change. Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway and the first insulin pump, recognized a similar cultural issue as it related to young minds in STEM. Speaking to one of my courses as a guest lecturer, he explained how he felt it was downright silly that education (and society as a whole) spends so much energy on sports when the foundational values people use to validate sports’ emphasis in society (teamwork, ambition, exercise, etc.) could just as well be instilled from more societally productive arenas. Instead, Dean wanted to harness our innate human desire to compete in a manner that would help change the culture around science and technology for young minds. Dean envisioned STEM students seeing themselves as super athletes training for a Super Bowl. Thus, Dean launched the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology) Robotics Competition 30 years ago, now engaging almost 680,000 students across 3,700 nationwide competitions, cumulating in a championship. Thus, I believe there’s a potential solution similar to Dean’s: making carbon reduction a competition. Park City is home to entrepreneurs and thought leaders behind companies creating billions of dollars’ worth of value to society. We have the economic and political capital to trigger Pangea-sized avalanches worth of meaningful regenerative change. I propose a citywide competition to inspire us to greatness. Instead of points, the winner each year would be the business, institution or perhaps neighborhood with the most amount of reduced carbon emissions normalized by the groups’ total carbon emissions and size in dollar amounts. In this way, any size of business or group with assets local or international would have the same relative standard for competition. The winner would be honored and celebrated by the community, perhaps even enjoying a special float at the Fourth of July parade. Sure, celebrating the Climate Kings and Queens may elicit some laughs at first, but believe me, our children and snowpack will thank us faster than we want or expect. letters to the editor A little effort goes a long way Did you know that if you are shopping online this year you can double the benefit of your efforts by simply using Amazon Smile instead of just Amazon? At no additional cost to you, a portion of your purchase can be returned to benefit Paws for Life Utah, a local animal rescue organization. So far this year PFLU has received nearly $3,000 from this program to help defray the cost of helping our animal kinship. All you have to do is go to smileamazon.com, register Paws for Life Utah as your charity and then shop as usual. It is easy and seamless. Please remember every time you go to Amazon to shop, you must go through smileamazon.com. Shopping this way makes me feel less guilty about buying that one gift for me and it brings a big smile to my face knowing I’m helping out our furry friends at the same time. This little effort goes a long way! Pat Vaughn Midway Anarchy, as usual Seriously shocked was my first reaction to the arrest of a man at the Salt Lake City airport for refusing to wear a mask. Actual enforcement of public health orders is so rare in Utah that this affair stands out even more than Trump’s waistline. But on reflection, it makes sense. Commercial airports are not really part of their communities, or even their states and nations. When you cross the airport threshold you enter some kind law enforcement twilight zone where no nonsense — zero — is tolerated in defense of public safety. Ironic, given that airports and airliners are already one of the safest places you can be, pandemic or not. So don’t read too much into this. Anarchy as usual will continue in the Beehive State, most clearly as regards pandemic regulations, but also in realms like conservation and discrimination, where our population of law enforcement drones traditionally ignores the laws it does not like. Tom Horton Prospector |