When wildfires broke out in the mountains of Fresno County late last month, much of California was on the cusp of a heat wave that was poised to break records in intensity and duration. Over the next week and a half, the Basin Fire grew to more than 14,000 acres, with temperatures in the area reaching 112 degrees and at least nine firefighters being treated for heat illnesses. Four people were transported to local hospitals, including three airlifted from the line of fire.
As the heatwave continues, the incident management team overseeing the fires has established a task force to deal with extreme conditions. They provide firefighters with electrolytes to add to their drinking water and cooling towels to put around their necks.
On July 5, they built five generator-powered, air-conditioned yurts, three on the fire line and two at the incident command post, to be used as emergency cooling stations, perhaps the first of its kind in the state.
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“I’ve been doing this for over 35 years, and I can tell you, I’ve never seen it done before,” said Mike Lindbery, Basin Fire public information officer with the U.S. Forest Service. “That kind of heat caused this group, which was basically here to solve a problem, to start looking at different aspects of solving the problem.”
There is considerable concern about how extreme heat increases wildfire risk and exacerbates their behavior, leading to longer, more destructive fire seasons. But perhaps just as troubling are the challenges the heat poses to the health of firefighters themselves, who already perform strenuous tasks carrying heavy equipment on their backs in harsh terrain.
Daniel Foley, 27, a first-year Forest Service firefighter assigned to the Bligh Ranger District of the Fremont-Weima National Forest in Oregon, completes a physical fitness test on Tuesday He later collapsed and died in a local hospital. It’s unclear whether heat is a factor. The area is under a heat warning, with afternoon temperatures in the 80s to mid-90s depending on elevation, according to the National Weather Service.
“This is by far the hottest year I can remember,” said Mike Noel, assistant director for risk management for the Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Region. He has been a wildland firefighter for 38 years. “There have been multiple heat-related injuries across all facilities this year.”
Earlier this month, the team overseeing the Basin Fire in Fresno County built air-conditioned yurts to serve as emergency cooling stations for firefighters.
(California Complex Incident Management Team 11)
He said heat-related illnesses have increased among California firefighters over the past ten days or so as temperatures have warmed. On Thursday alone, seven firefighters assigned to Santa Barbara County Lake Fire Rescue were treated for such illnesses, he said.
At least four firefighters developed heat-related illnesses while fighting the Thompson Fire in Butte County on July 2; and the Sharp Fire in Ventura County on July 3, according to public information officials working on those fires. At least one firefighter suffered from heatstroke.
“The entire West is experiencing extreme heat and the entire fire department is likely to be affected,” said Timothy Ingalsbee, a former wildland firefighter and executive director of the nonprofit Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology.
Wildland firefighters wear about 50 pounds of personal protective equipment, including helmets, goggles and personal bags containing water and equipment, said David Acuna, communications battalion chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s southern region.
They may also carry a 25-pound hose bag, as well as hand tools such as a chain saw or nozzle. They often must hike to remote areas and then perform physical labor once there, including digging fire lines, laying hoses, and moving vegetation over exposed mineral soil to stop fires from spreading—all while they inhale smoke When done, dust and debris.
“It can be claustrophobic at times because you can’t seem to escape the heat and smoke,” Acuna said.
He said Cal Fire firefighters typically work 24-hour shifts and then take 24 hours off to rest and refuel. During these 24 hours, it is difficult to rest. “It would be nice if we could take a quick nap in the engine, but most of the time we’re going to stay busy,” he said.
Rest breaks were once openly frowned upon — “It was a tough, macho culture,” said Riva Duncan, a former wildland firefighter and vice president of Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, a group of retired and an advocacy group of current federal firefighters.
But for many, a wake-up call came in 2011, when Caleb Hamm, a 23-year-old Bureau of Land Management firefighter, died of exertional heatstroke during a fire in Texas. Becomes the second federal wildland firefighter reported to have died. A widely circulated report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made recommendations to better protect firefighters.
Duncan said the incident raised awareness among supervisors, crew leaders and captains about the early symptoms of heat stroke and encouraged firefighters to speak up if they are not feeling well. She said many crews now have first responders who carry extra electrolytes and cooling blankets and are trained to spot early warning signs of heat stroke, including cramps, weakness, nausea and fatigue.
On July 5, in Mariposa, California, firefighters walked along a hillside with the scorched ground behind them.
(Noah Berger/AP)
Still, climate change is leading to changing baselines for what firefighters may encounter, including more intense and longer-lasting heat waves.
“We’re not even halfway through July,” Duncan said. “These extreme heat conditions start early.”
“People need to understand that fire behaves differently than before,” she added. “It’s not easy to put them out because they’re burning under different conditions than they were 10, 15 years ago.”
As of Friday, there have been 3,630 wildfires burning 228,756 acres in California, compared with the five-year average of 3,743 fires burning 111,813 acres, Acuna said.
“The fires are much more aggressive,” he said. He attributes that to heat and dryness, as well as an abundance of grasses and other fuels that were exacerbated by two wet winters and largely offset by two mild fire seasons. was not affected.
The Reading Masters are an elite group of Forest Service firefighters who are used to dealing with the heat of the summer. But even by their standards, this season has been terrible. They recently fought fires in the Tahoe and Modoc National Forests, where temperatures reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Fires are always hot, but so far this year, we’ve definitely been dealing with temperatures over 100 degrees and higher,” said Chief Dan Mallia.
Forest Service firefighters typically work shifts of up to 16 hours, followed by an eight-hour break, often sleeping outside. Although Malia said resting may be difficult depending on the intensity of the fire, he encouraged members to stay hydrated, eat well and seek shade when possible.
He pointed out that workers train to adapt to high temperatures, but it is difficult to fully prepare for such extreme conditions.
“At the end of the day, when you walk out of a fire, it’s going to be different,” he said. “There’s a lot going on as far as work goes, stress, smoke, heat, fires — all of those things are definitely intensifying.”
Complicating matters further, wildland firefighters are often sent to work in unfamiliar areas, said Max Alonzo, national business representative for the National Union of Federal Employees and a former wildland firefighter who worked for the company , which would make them feel the effects of extreme heat more strongly.
“I see people really struggling with a different climate and a different terrain that they’re not used to, they’re not used to the altitude, they’re not used to the weather,” he said. “We are a national resource, so they will flow across the country.”
He said agencies can do more to proactively protect firefighters from the heat, including establishing cooling zones on fire lines. While he applauds the use of yurts to fight the Basin Fire, he said it’s not normal practice. The normal thing is, “Hey, make sure you tell people to stay hydrated,” he said.
He said more could be done with backup crews to pull firefighters out of the line of fire and allow them to calm down before sending them back.
Cal Fire has made adjustments to its personal protective equipment in response to rising temperatures, including switching to single-layer pants and removing colored ink from field jackets and singlets in response to evidence that this will increase the number of people wearing the gear. Firefighter’s body temperature levels.
Federal agencies and many state and city departments are also beginning to use drones to scout ahead of fires or start counterproductive fires, taking the burden off firefighters who would otherwise have to go on foot.
Malia said wildland firefighters in hot climates sometimes practice dual-mode work — working hard in the morning, then retreating during the heat of the day and going out again at night when the weather cools down.
Still, some say more changes may be needed as the planet continues to warm. This could include sending more firefighters to incident scenes so they can spread the workload more evenly, or placing more emphasis on nighttime operations.
Duncan said the conditions also point to an increasing caution in managing fires in some remote areas for the sake of ecological benefits, more like controlled burns rather than trying to extinguish them immediately. It’s good for the environment and protects firefighters’ physical health by allowing them to focus on fires that threaten people or structures, she said. She noted that the idea remains politically unpopular.
Ingelsby said it’s also becoming increasingly important to control fires in the spring and fall to reduce the amount of fuel on the ground during the summer.
“Overall, we have to be proactive in managing fires during the cooler times of the year, rather than putting out all fires during the hottest times of the year, when we fail and we are beyond our capacity to work in these areas. Human physical ability.
One thing seems certain: These conditions are unlikely to improve.
“I got a desperate call this morning from a member asking, ‘When is this going to end?'” he said Wednesday. “The heat isn’t over yet. Whatever it is, we have to adapt to the new normal.”
