What it takes to be a wildland firefighter in Oregon

Dressed in their recognizable yellow and green uniforms, stained by dirt, sweat dripping down their brows and smoke burning their eyes and lungs, nearly 170 newly certified wildland firefighters experienced their first live fire this summer as they gathered for five days of training in Oregon.

The live fire event, held June 28 just outside of Sweet Home, marked the culmination of the 2024 Mid-Willamette Valley Interagency Wildland Fire School, a yearly training program set up to prepare firefighters for fire season, which officially began this year for Oregon on July 3.

The trainees fought to suppress and mop up a carefully set series of burn piles of dried grass and wood intended to mimic an actual wildfire.

"It's good to see actual fire and understand how it moves," said Eli Holt, 20, a first-year firefighter with the Oregon Department of Forestry in Lane County. "It was hard but again, it was really fun and good to get that experience before we actually get out on a real fire."

The program helps prepare new firefighters to battle fires in Oregon's forests and along its rural-urban boundaries. Students are employed by one of the participating agencies, including ODF, the US Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and university programs. These agencies fully fund the course. Supervisors must approve students to attend.

"I've seen Oregon be devastated by wildfires every year since I was a little kid, so I figured I'd help to stop it," Holt said. "This week's been really fun. I got to bond a lot with my team and meet a lot of interesting people and I learned a lot of different safety techniques and ways to stay safe on a fire, so I feel a lot better now than I did going into it."

Camping, learning about Oregon wildfires

Starting Monday, June 24, agencies and their trainees descended on Sweet Home High School to get a taste of life in a real fire camp where trainees slept in tents and ate their meals in groups.

"Working together in a collaborative training setting improves communications and builds effective relationships for all agencies to draw on during fire season," said Craig Pettinger, District Forester for ODF South Cascade District.

The live fire training is as close as it gets to a real-life wildfire. On June 28, four buses full of students were delivered to a rural hillside two miles northeast of Sweet Home. The site is owned by Cascade Timber Consulting, a local forest landowner that provides a new field site for live fire training every year.

The students were split up into nearly a dozen crews, each in charge of putting out a large burn pile along the hillside. While on-site, the trainees report to their crew bosses, who then report to division supervisors, which helps keep order during a real fire.

Sean Whalan just started his 9th season as a firefighter with ODF. At the live fire training, he worked as the Maple Crew boss.

"We're out here to introduce new firefighters to the job and skills. They've been sitting in the classroom all week, learning. This just caps it all off for them," Whalan said. "We've got a very broad group of people with varying experiences from folks who have never done this to folks who have been doing this for 15 years out here."

In the classroom, trainees learned about fire behavior, suppression tactics, weather impacts, mapping, compass use, teamwork, leadership, safety, use of engines, tools and hose lays, and fire investigation. The majority of the trainees earned their Firefighter 2 certification, qualifying them for an entry-level position. This certification meets a national standard.

"The school has been a lot of PowerPoints, sitting in the classroom learning and trying to pick the brains of more experienced people who are our instructors and then coming out in the field and actually getting our hands on it, which is super useful to me and most of our co-workers," said Tommy Gilmore, 31, a first-year firefighter with the ODF.

Gilmore is a Portland teacher who considers himself a service-oriented person. He joined ODF because he needed a change and liked the physicality of being a firefighter.

"Living in Portland, it's a big change," Gilmore said. "We came out here for the first couple of days just learning about the different tools, learning about the pumps, learning about the hoses, learning how to use the emergency fire shelters, and then yesterday we were digging the hand lines. Now they lit it on fire and so today we're coming out and actually seeing how well our work yesterday held up."

The live fire exercise also allowed firefighters to work in smoke, hike through uneven terrain, navigate hazards like bee and wasp nests, and work closely with crew members to dig a fire line.

"Safety is paramount in every aspect of wildland firefighting, and it begins with our training exercises," said Pettinger, who emphasized the safety principles of fire training, including the importance of protective gear, safe use of tools, and hazard awareness.

Whalan explained how trainees are supposed to tackle the large burn piles.

"So right now, we're going around and checking our lines," Whalan said. "Next step, we're going to start cooling down the heat so we can start pulling the pile apart and really just getting in there with hand tools, our gloved hands and just grind it to death with dirt and to remove that component from the fire triangle to take that heat away from it."

Comradery and careers in wildland firefighting

After a week of learning at the Fire School, Gilmore said he looks forward to learning more about Oregon's forests, mountains, agencies, and how it all fits together.

Cassandra Brooks, 23, just started her third year as a wildland firefighter. She first began her career with a contracting company but got hired to work with ODF in 2023. Brooks said she didn't see herself working long-term as a wildland firefighter but ended up falling in love with the job.

"I joined just because I heard it was great money over the summer and I wanted to fund tattoo school but then I fell in love with it and ditched that idea," Brooks said. "I know that media can make fire look really scary or people don't understand the methods of how we go about it, but it really is to everyone's best benefit, and we really do care. So, I hope that firefighters put everybody's hearts at peace, and they feel comforted knowing that we're around."

As a wildland firefighter, Brooks is hoping to expand her skills in saw work and felling. She also wants to encourage other women to pursue careers in firefighting.

"And any ladies that want to get out there, do it, send it," Brooks said. "If you're athletic and you have a good attitude or you have some grit, I'd say it's hard but it's not the hardest thing ever and I think the people make it worth it, what we do makes it worth it. "

Holt was inspired by a friend to work with ODF this Summer.

"I joined because I had a friend who did fire last summer and loved it and said it was one of the most rewarding experiences of his life and I wanted to do the same thing," Holt said. "I came in just for the experience but I'm loving it so much right now that I can definitely see myself making a career out of this. My crew, I've only known them for two weeks now and I feel like I've known them for my entire life."

Outside of firefighting, Holt studies environmental engineering at Oregon State University . He said working with ODF this summer will benefit his studies.

"My degree is focused a lot on renewable energy and wastewater treatment, and I think getting this type of hands-on experience and seeing the way the environment interacts with a man-made environment is going to be really vital," he said.

National Wildland Firefighter Day and Week of Remembrance

The National Interagency Fire Center established National Wildland Firefighter Day on July 2, 2022, to recognize the dedication and sacrifices of wildland firefighters, including federal, state, local, Tribal, military, rural, contract, and support personnel.

The day also occurs during the Week of Remembrance, which is held annually between June 30 to July 6 and serves as an opportunity for agencies to renew their commitment to wildland firefighter safety as the nation remembers those who have fallen in the line of duty.

"I love the work. It's a bit of excitement, there's a lot of reward. There's a sense of comradery with my brothers and sisters," Whalan said. "There's a sense of accomplishment and I really enjoy public service. I enjoy going toward things that most people flee from. "

Haleigh Kochanski is a breaking news and public safety reporter for The Register-Guard. You may reach her at HKochanski@gannett.com .

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: What it takes to be a wildland firefighter in Oregon