High Mobility The Interregional Fire Suppression Crew

The Interregional Fire Suppression CrewHigh MobilityThe Interregional FireSuppression CrewMartin E. AlexanderFrom Fire Management, Summer 1974 issueThe wildfire problem is of majorconcern to all western forestresource management agenciesand organizations. During theaverage year, some 12,000wildfires blacken 200 thousandacres of the 210 millionprotected acres of the NationalForest System. One of thelongtime objectives of the U.SForest Service has been toprovide highly trained, wellconditioned,versatilefiresuppression crews to critical firesituations. A fire suppressioncrew with high mobility that canreach a large project fire onshort notice and do an effectivejob during the first burningperiod, has always been thedream of fire control managers.The Interregional Fire Sup-pression Crews developed bythe U.S. Forest Service servethis purpose.Background and HistoryFormanyyears,forestprotection agencies relied onpick-up firefighters that werehired on an "as needed" basis.Men for these crews came fromevery walk of life; from skidrow bums to short order cooks.In most cases these men hadvery little fire suppressiontraining or experience. It wasnot until the advent of theCivilian Conservation Corps(CCC) in the 1930's and early40's that any semblance oforganized fire suppression crewswas achieved (1). The CCCcrews were used primarily forFire Managementconservation projects such astrailandcampgroundconstruction, but doubled as afirefighting force.The first organized U.S ForestService fire suppression crewwasthe"40-man"crewestablished in 1939 on anexperimental basis (2). The40-Man crew was located on theSiskiyou National Forest insouthwestern Oregon. The crewwas very effective in firesuppression in the Region 6National Forests. The Oregon"Red Hats," co-sponsored by theSchool of Forestry at OregonState College and various Stateagencies in 1940, was organizedalong the same lines as the40-Man crew (4). During theSummer 1974Page 1 of 7

The Interregional Fire Suppression Crewwar years programs like thesewerelargelydiscontinued.However, some of the principlesof training, organization, anduse were to be later adopted byother U.S. Forest Service firesuppression crews.In 1947, Region 5 of the U.S.Forest Service began to organize"Hot Shot" crews for use inCalifornia (5). They were welltrained, fast and hard hittinghandline crews. Such crews asthe El Cariso (ClevelandNational Forest) and Del Rosa(SanBernardinoNationalForest) Hot Shots provedthemselves more than onceunder difficult conditions in thebrush fields of southernCalifornia.During the 1950's most of thewestern U.S. Forest Serviceregionsmaintainedlargebrushcrews to do slash disposaland other timber sale work.There were also several hundredblister rust control crewmenorganized into 25-man firesuppression crews in regionswith blister rust infested stands.These crews provided trainedmanpower for use on largeproject fires. "The RedmondRaiders," a TSI crew stationedon the Deschutes NationalForest, was a good example.Becauseoftransportationproblems in dispatching thesecrews to other areas of the West,their most common use waslocal. With the termination ofthe blister rust program and thetransition to bulldozer slashpiling, such project crews wereno longer available.In the late 50's, fire controlpersonnel in Washington, D.C.felt fire suppression crews couldbe used more efficiently if menwere stationed near an airport. Itwas felt that a large airplaneimmediatelyavailabletotransport men was necessary tocarry out the concept of quickmobilization and dispatching.Such a plan became a realitywhen 5 IRFS crews wereorganized for the 1961 fireseason (3). The first IRFS crewswere located in the far West andNorthwest. By 1963, the numberof IRFS crews increased to 9.Through the years their value infire suppression became quiteapparent and allowed for anexpansion of the IRFS crewprogram. In 1970, 15 IRFScrews were available forsummer fire season. At presentthere are 19 IRFS crewsstationed in the western U.S.during the summerfire season (table 1).Recruitment and OrganizationMen for IRFS crews arerecruited predominantly fromthe western U.S. Most often theyare college students majoring insome phase of forestry. TheForest assigned an IRFS crew isresponsibleforscreening,recruiting, and hiring crewmenand overhead. Crew membersmust be at least 18 andpreferably not over 45, with theaverage age being 21. Theymust pass a yearly physicalexamination, be willing to fly,and be away from home base forextended periods of time.Employment is from aboutmid-June to early September.Some IRFS crews, specificallythe Region 5 crews, terminate inNovember. Most IRFS crewshave experienced fire fighters65 to 95 percent are former crewmembers.The crew headquarters havebeen strategically placed. Ideallythey are located near largeairports, which permits rapidtransport by aircraft to goingwildfires and high fire-dangerareas. Crew members are housedin some sort of barracks, varyingfrom reconditioned garages toFire Managementelaboratemitories.college-typedor-An IRFS crew is normallycomposed of 25 men, consistingof a foreman, assistant crewforeman (who may or may notbe one of the squad bosses), 3squad bosses, and 20- to 21crewmembers.Overheadpositions on IRFS crews areusually based on past fireexperience, training, and crewseniority. The IRFS crewforeman is responsible forsupervision of the crew, both onfire assignments and at homebase. Crew size and structurevary among the regions,depending upon the objectivesand the needs of the homeregion.Movement and use of thesecrews within their own regionsis coordinated by the regionalfire dispatchers. Requests forIRFS crews from other regionsare coordinated through theBoise Interagency Fire Center(BIFC) at Boise, Idaho. BIFCarranges for air transportationand maintains a national listingof available IRFS crews (6).BIFC provides logistic supportrather than serving as acommand center. This permits acentral office, which has firesuppressioncrewrequestscoming from all over the West,to analyze and estimate potentialsituations and assign prioritieswhen the demand for IRFScrews is greater than the supply.TrainingCrew members usually receive 2weeks of both formal classroominstruction and field training.Training is given in variousfacets of the fire suppressionjob. Training is intensivebecause without it crewmenwould be no better than pick-upfirefighters.Summer 1974Page 2 of 7

The Interregional Fire Suppression CrewClassroom training consists offilms, lectures, and programmedinstruction texts in rganization, fire behavior andweather, the 10 Standard Firefighting Orders, safety, first aid,retardant and aircraft management, radio communications,fire suppression principles forboth small and large fires, firecontrolattackmethods,woodsmanship, and thinkingand reasoning during emergencystressconditions.Fielddemonstrations are given invarious fireline constructionmethods (progressive, one-lick,etc.), care and use of hand tools,and specialized equipment suchas chain saws, portable andslip-on pumps, and drip torches.Physical conditioning is stressedduring the 2-week trainingperiod. It consists of calisthenics, hikes, obstacle courses, andoutdoorsports.Refreshertraining and conditioning arecontinued as needed.IRFS crews are often faced withlong working hours, little food,high air temperatures, and lowhumidities, all of which taketheir toll on crew members.Another fatigue factor is therequired traveling from one fireto another. It's not uncommon tofind IRFS crews that have beenaway from home base for 2 or 3weeks during a busy fire season.But despite the hazards andhardships, the safety recordamong IRFS crews is extremelygood.When not actively engaged intraining or suppression, the crewperforms district project worksuch as hazard reduction,maintenance and constructionjobs, fire proofing heavy useareas, slash disposal, timberstandimprovement,trailbuilding, and reconditioningfirefighting tools and equipment.These activities keep crewmembers in shape and provide aready work force for prioritydistrict work. The IRFS crewsare on a 24-hour alert, 7 days aweek. A sign-out roster systemis utilized by most crews todetermine where individual crewmembers may be reached at anyparticular time during off-dutyhours.Philosophy and Crew MoraleThe effectiveness of any firemanagement organization is nogreater than the morale of itspersonnel. Recognition of thishas fostered a high degree ofesprit de corps among IRFScrews that consider themselvesthe "best." It is customary toassign the IRFS crews control ofthe most difficult sectors ofproject fires. Crew moraleappears to soar the hotter thefireline gets.IRFS crew members developnicknames as the result ofincidents, individual characteristics, or backgrounds. Goodnatured kidding among fellowcrewmembersprevailsconstantly. Several IRFS crewshave developed shoulder patchesexemplifying their crew name orlocality.Crew morale is a necessarycomponent of an IRFS crew.Only through a sense of personalsatisfaction and pride can theindividuals obtain the desirerequired for successful action indifficult fire situations.MobilizationThe primary purpose of IRFScrews is to provide highlytrained and well-equipped reinforcement crews for large firesuppression. All 19 IRFS crewsare air-mobile and can be movedto any location in the westernU.S. in 6 to 8 hours after beingdispatched. Thus, approximatelyFire Management420 highly trained men can bemobilized very quickly for anylarge project fire or lightningbust.In one instance, 12 of the 15IRFS crews were used in the4,000 acre Pumpkin Creek fireon the Bighorn National Forestin 1970. IRFS crews are used indifferent types of wildland fuels,burning conditions and terrain from mopup in heavy WestCoast fuels to punching line insouthern California's Class 14brush type.IRFS crews are used for bothday and night duty. They aresometimes used as an initialattack force on their home forestand by nearby cooperatingagencies and organizations. Insuch cases they will travel to afire utilizing their own crewvehicles. At certain times andbecause of individual experience, the crew may be split upand used as smokechasersduring a large lightning bust.Individual crew members canalso be utilized as "straw"bosses for pick-up and districtcrews. Besides serving ashandline crew, they also fill inon fire control specialty jobssuch as helitack crewmen andmanagers, retardant mixmasters,and tank truck operators.Although IRFS crews are usedprimarily by the U.S. ForestService in all of the westernregions, 2 unusual fire assignments for IRFS crews were theRussian River fire and theChaldron fire. The first occurredin 1969 when 4 IRFS crewsfrom Region I were used on theRussian River fire on theChugach National Forest inAlaska upon personal writtencommunication from Philip W.Gum, R-10, Div. of Fire Mgmt.and Air Operations. The secondoccurred during the 1973 fireseason when three Region ISummer 1974Page 3 of 7