2013 Smokechaser Closed Caption Final
This is a training film showing a forest smokechaser in action on a small fire.
The smokechaser, John, and his family, Josephine, and little Joan, live on Brundage lookout.
Joan makes friends with their wild neighbors of the forest, there are few visitors on the
lookout.
Josephine helps on the lookout when John is gone, takes over his lookout duties.
John works for the Southern Idaho Timber Protective Association, a cooperative private, state,
and federal forest protection unit.
He is looking for fires in the forest he protects.
Trees as far as the eye can see.
Trees that furnish lumber for our homes and industries.
Trees that protect the water supply for our cities and farms.
Trees which provide a home for game and wildlife.
Trees that must be protected from fire.
Johnís guarding an empire of trees.
There, in the distance, a tiny smoke!
In the center.
Itís hard to see.
Little smokes can be confused with other light objects.
John studies it carefully to be sure it is a smoke before reporting.
If reached quickly, small fires like this can be controlled by one man.
He travels this by car.
This, by trail.
And this, cross country.
Hereís the last water.
A copy of the report and field map, will help him search for the fire.
Backpack is ready, complete with rations, water bag, and the tools heíll need, by being
always ready, he can meet the standard getaway time of 5 minutes.
Josephine will be the eyes that watch over the forest while he is gone.
Sheíll report any other fires, and keep the dispatcher posted in case Johnís fire gets
out of hand.
The first 8 miles are by car.
The rest must be done the hard way.
He climbs into his pack, and takes to the trail.
Heíll fill his water bag when he gets to the creek.
He makes good time on the three miles of trail.
Letís see, this must be about the place to hit the brush.
The next 2 miles will seem like 20.
He fights the brush.
Watch out John, a sprained ankle here and the chances of doing your job are shot.
ITíS HOT!
And dry as a bone.
A fire in this fuel with a wind would really ramble.
Heís made the top, where he can check his position and the location of the fire.
He seeís landmarks spotted from the lookout.
Sheís downhill from here.
There it is, good woodsmanship pays off.
The fire is burning in heavy fuel spreading uphill.
The gulch below is a jungle of logs and brush.
A dead tree is afire, and throwing sparks.
Oh brother!
A lightning struck snag, fire clear to the top.
John starts around the fire to size it up, and plan his attack.
. This is a first of four progressive steps he will take.
1.
Scouting-thatís what heís doing now.
2.
Hot spotting dangerous leads.
3.
Building a permanent control line, and 4.
Mop-up, and putting out all fire.
Sheís really going to town.
This hotspot must be stopped,right now.
There, a few shovels of dirt now slows down Johnís scouting, but may save a real bust.
A steep slope, rolling hot stuff, a jungle below.
The answer, a good deep v trench with plenty of bank on the lower side.
Notice the firm grip on those tools.
And hereís old heartbreaker again, throwing sparks all over the hill-sheís got to come
down.
What a mess, trees thick as the hair on a dogs back, a dangerous spot for a blowup.
This ëill be a hot job.
Easy stuff, not going fast, plenty of time to take care of this.
This tough stump will need cooling down, more hard work.
Itís plenty fat, lots of pitch.
Scouting done, John places his pack in a safe opening, where it wonít burn up.
A modern touch, the orange cross shows smokejumpers no help is needed.
Now for the second step, hot spotting.
John takes his tools and water, and hits the worst leads he saw while scouting.
A spreading fire about to get into some windfall is cooled with dirt.
A quick trench is thrown along the hot edge.
This trench is down to mineral soil, and about one shovel wide, good enough for light fuel.
It did the job.
The dog haired thicket is starting to crown.
John got back just in time.
This pile of chunks has got to be cooled down and torn apart.
That snag is too hot to cut down now.
Dirt will cool it, so he can drop it later.
Now, to stop that roll.
Make that v-trench deep.
Cut off those roots so fire canít creep across.
Build a good high outer bank so chunks wonít bounce across.
Use good clean soil.
Keep the bank free from punk, and rotten wood.
His trench is catching the roll, itís plenty good enough.
Thereís a husky log thatíll roll down in those trees.
Thatís the stuff John, pull it around.
Now it wonít roll.
Remember, John figured to cool down the old stump.
He still hopes he wonít have to dig him out.
Thereís a lot of fire here, but still on the surface.
Thatís right, trim up this stuff inside, and get the limbs out of the fire.
Keep the fire on the ground.
For the present, hot spotting is done, rapid spreading leads are stopped.
Now for step three, building a permanent line.
John is slashing a clearing through the thicket.
The fire edge is mighty hot so he doesnít work too close, heíll need some time to finish
his line.
He gets rid of fuel by throwing it out as he cuts.
John figures the fire will stay on the ground, and not jump his clearing.
He is smart to locate his trench on the outer edge of the cleared line, to take full advantage
of the opening, and get away from heavy fuels.
Sheís burning clean, a nice quiet ground fire.
Old heartbreaker has cooled down a lot, he can cut it down now.
John uses his Pulaski as a plumb bob to see how she leans.
The hard hat came out of his pack, he wears it to keep from getting conked.
Johnís mighty interested in his own safety.
He clears a good getaway.
A wide bed is swamped for the snag to fall in.
Itís burning up high and he doesnít want a lot more ground fire.
Three foot through, sound as a dollar.
A hundred feet high.
Plenty of limbs, a real widow maker.
The undercut is started, so it and the back cut will be at the easiest height for chopping.
The undercut faces the direction of fall.
He keeps the bottom of the undercut level.
The sides are not cut ahead of the center, for this would allow the tree to twist, or
fall sideways.
He is careful to clean out the notch into a sharp v for a clean, straight break.
John starts his back cut a little above the undercut, to prevent the snag from splitting,
or kicking back.
He checks his corners to see that they are not cut ahead of the center.
TIMBER!
Down she goes.
A tough job.
He still isnít through with this snag, the fire must come out of the burning trunk.
Whatís this?
A spot outside his line.
These small spots are easy to miss.
Thatís why John gridirons the area where sparks might land.
He knows if he mixes, half and half with dirt, the fire will go out.
This shoestring trench stopped the spread,itís now widened for safety.
More line work.
The fire is pretty well stopped.
Letís take five, bring on the grub.
The last step of his job comes next, nothing left now but dirty mop up, lots of it.
Chipping, scraping, mixing.
Way down underneath those big logs, thatís where theyíre still hot.
And donít forget the old stump.
Even if he is inside the line, the cooling down paid off.
Letís chop those embers into a pit.
Hereís different trouble.
Fire deep in the roots of this punkie stump.
Itís gotta come out, every last bit of it.
All those chunks, all that punk, all those roots.
Is this that hot stump?
Was there ever a fire here?
Cool, even back in those root holes.
Nothing has been buried.
Itís been a tough day John, but more of the same tomorrow.
Slip on the coat.
Pull up the pack cover, and get some rest.
Not much excitement in mop up, just plenty of hard work.
Johnís been at it since daybreak.
Hereís a log that comes out of its hot bed into a cool pit, the hot side up.
Now he can get at it.
Look at that fire, still a long ways from out.
Dirt in the cracks, chopped in and mixed with the embers will put it out.
This log would burn for days if left alone, and be dangerous in a wind.
Some good hard work will put it out.
Chipping, chopping, and mixing.
This is repeated over and over in mopping up a fire, itís a sure way to put a fire
out.
The bare hand test proves whether or not the fire is out; where thereís heat, thereís
fire.
The cold oneís go into the boneyard, where they can be watched; the hot ones get the
dirt treatment.
The third day.
John still feels, checks, and digs, still a working job not a watching job.
Every part of the fire is checked, to see that itís out.
One more look at his old friend, the stump.
Heís surely cold now, but a check wonít hurt.
This spot fire might be hot yet.
No, itís ok.
The final going over, 24 hours since the last smoke.
And so, the fire is out.
A little one kept little.
A fire well scouted, hot spotted, held, and mopped up.