(upbeat music)
- Wildfires interrupt missions, the smoke,
the heat the danger, mission start a fire.
We're there to put it out
or if we can grow it to prevent a future wildfire.
So there's less mission downtime, lost time, money,
time, effort just makes the war fighter
that much more prepared and ready.
(jet plane engine roaring)
Yeah, my name is Brent Williams.
I'm the module lead for the Eglin Wildlands Support Module,
as part of the Air Force Wildland Fire Branch.
The primary mission on an Air Force Base at Fort
is the military mission,
testing and training for the war fighter.
And so unlike land management agencies
whose primary mission is land management, land management
among the military installation is necessary, but secondary.
- So the role of Wildland Fire Management
on military installations is one for mission support.
We burn primarily around ranges
that have a high chance of catching fire
when they do different missions.
And so that supports their ability to continue the mission.
If a fire does start, we are able to continue,
we let them continue using the range without us
having to go out there immediately shut down the mission.
The mission tempo here is heavy.
We went from somewhere around 5,000 missions,
just as small as five years ago.
We're now up over 20,000.
- Very strong, a prescribed fire mission.
We attempt to burn 90,000 acres per year
to achieve about a three-year
fire return interval on average,
that takes about 90-100 burn days per year.
Then additionally we respond to 50-75 wildfires per year.
Yeah, there's some unique challenges working
around military facilities and it's important
that offsite resources incoming realize
that they may be required to interface
with a number of military units.
It could be the installation fire department.
It could be Explosive Ordnance Disposal Units
(upbeat music)
- So coming into an installation as an outside resource
is make sure you get a good briefing
and make sure you have good points of contact
especially with security forces,
and those are charged with security of the base.
When in doubt, always ask questions.
- Things that a new firefighter needs to ask being in brief
coming to one of our installations.
They need to ask about safety, what are the safety concerns?
Where can I operate safely on a fire?
We like to provide maps.
So, you know our firefighters know
where they can and can't be
and the rules of engagement or anything from firing,
holding, mop-up definitely a UXO brief.
We require not a seven minute video that everyone
that comes on the installation needs to watch.
Need to asked about comm,
communications is a little different
on military installations.
Radio frequency management
and authorization is tightly controlled.
So only approved frequencies can be used,
and at Eglin specifically we have a dual comm systems.
So getting some familiarity with our UHF land mobile radios.
Unique safety issues we have have on military installations
whether that's unexploded ordinance,
whether it's training objectives, things like foxholes,
concertina wire, barbed wire,
simulators that could flare up,
troop movement and movement of large vehicles.
There's a lot of heavy equipment
moving around on military lands.
So being aware and heads up of that additional safety risk.
- Ask in the briefings, ask anything that you need to know.
Don't be afraid to ask.
There is no dumb questions
especially in the firefighting world
or Wildland fire and working around installations
where you've got other hazards on top of it,
such as the unexploded ordinances,
closed area missions, stuff like that,
so the one thing I would say is,
if it's a question to you and it isn't covered
in your in briefing please feel free to ask it.
(upbeat music)
- UXO and wildland fire operations is a significant concern
for fighting fire or lighting fire
on department of defense lands,
both because they may or may not be visible.
They may be sub-surface
which could be an issue for ground disturbance.
If you're establishing a firebreak
and then surface UXO is obviously an issue.
If it's got a live warhead or live round,
a lot of those are triggered by heat.
And so, knowing where these areas are
that have not been cleared
by our Explosive Ordinance Disposal Units,
getting briefings from
Explosive Ordinance Disposal Units, and training.
We do a lot of training on identifying UXO,
knowing where we can and can't be on the installation.
So some of the unique dangers or hazardous fuels
that could be encountered on a military installation
include a lot of the incendiary devices,
whether it's for us a lot of times training rounds,
blank grounds but there are live rounds and simulators.
There's white phosphorous.
There's some areas that may have a depleted uranium.
Need to get a good briefing on where you're going,
what you're doing to avoid UXO or give us a good buffer
in case the unexpected happens.
And we get a detonation during fire operations.
- So you need to be careful about where you're driving,
where you're walking, is the area a no suppression area
where we cannot suppress fire at all.
Is it an area with restricted suppression,
where you can do a limited type of suppression
with maybe water.
So that's a challenge when we have wildfires
especially because then you have to,
or the firefighters have to come in and devise a plan
to stop the fire or contain the fire,
two roads or certain areas that are not UXO.
- A lot of the risk will be mitigated
with your inboarding and your briefing.
There'll be certain areas
where you may not be able to actually physically go
because the risk is too great.
So it's important to get briefed on those,
and then when there's a minimal UXO risk,
where you're allowed to access that area,
it's just important to remember
if you didn't bring it out there, don't pick it up.
(upbeat music)
- So some of the unique heavy equipment and vehicles
you could run into on a military installation
include Humvees, armored personnel carriers,
large transports, obviously tanks, not as much on Eglin
but other installations.
And so, large vehicles that take up a lot of the roadway.
So as we, as you pass these vehicles,
it's recommended to pull off to the side of the road,
or at least get one tire in the median
or the shoulder in order to just give them wide berth.
A Humvees is a lot wider than your typical vehicle
and they take up a lot of the road.
So that's one thing is while you're passing to and from
a burn site, and sometimes they show up
on the boundaries of a burn unit or a wildfire
just not knowing where that you're there.
So just be aware you may run into any of these things
at any given time.
They're also loud and noisy.
So if you're working with them around them
for significant periods of time,
you wanna wear ear protection obviously.
They kick up a lot of dust,
so just breathing that dust can be a hazard,
as well as visibility.
They may not hear or see that you're there,
so just giving them wide berth and flagging them down
at least letting them know, hey, I'm here,
And a safe passage
- When working around heavy equipment
especially non-wildland fire related equipment
such as tanks or a light armored vehicles.
It's important to remember,
you may not have communications with them
and they may not understand what you're trying to do,
and you probably don't understand what they're trying to do.
So probably best course of action is to steer clear.
(upbeat music)
- There are a number of unique challenges and differences
you'll find with radio communications on military lands.
Military uses a large number of frequencies across the base.
They've got like a said 6-50 missions going on daily,
each with their own
unique assigned and approved frequencies.
So frequency management is key on a military installation.
So we have a prior approved frequencies
that, those are the only frequencies
we can use in our fire operations.
So we asked crews that are incoming
to not use squirrel nets, to not use crew nets channels,
to clone to our radio channels
and only use those approved frequencies.
The other thing you may find at least
on a lot of air force bases
is a UHF land mobile radio trunking system.
It's a little different than your VHF frequencies,
UHF land mobile radios.
Typically there'll be checked out to you separately.
So you'll have a, that dual comm system,
and that's the radio system that all the units on base use.
Whether it's security forces, fire department,
mission control and range control.
They all work off that common land mobile radio system.
So it's real important that you receive
a briefing on that system and how to use it
and not transmitting any sensitive information
over those comm systems is very important as well.
- New and visiting firefighters should definitely
be paying attention to the communication side of things.
Make sure that you have redundant communication systems
in place because there are some RF generating equipment
that you may come across and your radios may not work.
- Inquire about the radio frequencies.
Make sure that, if you're going to somewhere
that you operate on their frequencies.
Working on military lands is a real unique thing,
it's probably good when you're communicating
over the radio, what not.
Just give some discretion to the mission that's going on.
Be leery of what you put over that radio is being monitored.
(upbeat music)