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Show ,"' ' ' - I ft A .' v V- , 7v'r K --- 77 - -; '7if;77 - ' '"' , , ,1,4 fl '777--. -.-'47' '"-'V' ;i 7:i 77lH . , fvM7--'f --7.?7 77 i 44-4Aj4,, ; vJwu'Ai'lipK fffffff 7 4itA;-fA 1 ::4 f , 7 -A ' '7' '' 4':''' "' ' ,' '' " '7 ' '"' "i-fH'rf" " ' " ' ''"' 'I'"'' ""Mtiu'- Fire fighters work to extinguish hot spots remaining after fire set near Tropic Reservoir. Three fires were contained and Three "get blistered, red eyed, and smoke filled lungs" fires were beaten into submission by tired neophyte firefighters with aid of a few seasoned fire caters on the east fork road northeast of Tropic Reservoir Friday. Dixie Forest Public relations officer Bevan Killpack said, "Not only was this a 'real' fire, it was dangerous and these people did a good job for their first time out." The fires, however, had been deliberately de-liberately set as a training exercise to culminate three days of intensive study and training for Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service and National Park Service employees, employ-ees, many of them seasonal workers who probably can look forward to fighting the real thing some during their course of employment. The three set-fires were identified, identi-fied, manned, and extinguished by new seasonal agency personnel working along with seasoned firefighters. fire-fighters. The exercise began Wednesday, June 8 with two days of classroom study and ended Friday with the "burn" which took place approximately approxi-mately three miles northeast of Tropic Reservoir on the Powell District of the Dixie National Forest. For-est. The Forest Service was responsible for this year's fire school, with the BLM and NPS rotating ro-tating turns in the next two years. then mopped up to bring intense three-day forest fire schooling school-ing session to close. Area Firefighters Complete Exercise Powell District fire liaison officer offi-cer Kim Soper said that Friday's fires were set to simulate actual fires as closely as possible. The fire fighters were brought to a base camp and bedded down. In the morning Soper had one fire set and the camp was notified. Twenty men were sent out with several experienced experi-enced firemen and were aided by three fire trucks and equipment. As soon as the first fire was engaged, en-gaged, a second was set and the same procedure followed. When this fire was engaged, the third was set and the crews were all at work, with the fire officers evaluating the performance of the men. As the fires progressed, some of the fighters were attempting to -contain the flames while others cleared areas of fuel to prevent the flames from spreading. Several fire fighters were cutting down trees with chain saws while the trees were still blazing. Soper said this was a dangerous but necessary job to learn. He said that often in a regular lightning or man-set blaze, men have been hurt or killed by this procedure, and that learning how to perform this function at a school could prevent serious problems prob-lems later. He said the fuel or detritus on the ground around the area had to be (See FIREFIGHTERS Page 4) FIREFIGHTERS " Continued From Page 1-A back fired (a controlled burn to eliminate an explosive eruption of fire when reached by the main flames) or cleaned out since this fuel is very often the main reason for a fire's spread. He said there are many reasons for a fire's spread, but keeping the fuel down is a way to prevent many fires. The men also concentrate on "hot spots." These spots are in trees, in dense clumps of weeds, and can occur when oil, grease or other flammable substance has been left on or buried. These spots can seem to be virtually out and then burst back into flame when a wind comes up, often hours after an area has been called safe. This is why a clean-up crew is often necessary. He said that these experienced men can often spot a passed over "hot spot", be observing just a very faint wisp of smoke, detect a very faint glow, smell a buried fire, feel a warmth that shouldn't be there, or sometimes an intuitive discovery of a fire. They were taught to be aware of their fellow workers, to be aware of dangerous spots and warn others. They are cautioned to stay fairly near one another as much as possible. possi-ble. Leaders are trained to be very aware of the whereabouts of their "chicks." There were five Emergency Medical Technicians on the fire scene in case help was needed. At the end of the exercise, the fire fighters received a helicopter safety course in entering, disembarking, and working near the rotors of the craft. Hugh Thompson, forest supervisor super-visor of Dixie National Forest, said that he was very pleased and satisfied satis-fied with the performance of all the personnel involved. He said the Forest Service is working hard to achieve a standard of excellence in protecting one of the nation's most valuable resources, its forests. Ranger Rollo Brunson, Cedar City, was the Incident Commander and also expressed his thanks to all for a well performed demonstration of skill. Garfield County people involved in the school were Escalante residents resi-dents Don Mosier, Gilbert Becenti, Wayne Reynolds, Dave Dallison, Layne Liston, Linda Carr, Clint Porter, and Merrill Rust. From Tropic were Thomas Richards, Richard Ott, Jared Barton, Robert Keene, and Tyce Palmer. Taking part from Henrieville was Daniel Rose. Residents of Cannonville participating partic-ipating were William Stock and Richard Leavitt. Ranger Ken Kerr was the only participant from Bryce Canyon National Park. Panguitch participants were Kim Soper, David Harris, and Janel Ross. Agencies participating were Cedar City Bureau of Land Management, Man-agement, Bryce Canyon National Park, North Kaibab National Forest, For-est, Arizona Strip Bureau of Land Management, and the Dixie National Na-tional Forest. |
