Students get lessons in fighting forest fires
On the last day of class, students in Charles M. Ruffner's three-day S-130 course got answers to all their burning questions.
Ruffner, a fire ecologist, taught "Introduction to Wildland Firefighting" at the Touch of Nature Environmental Center Feb. 21-23. A pass in the course plus demonstrated ability to carry a 45-pound pack three miles in less than 45 minutes will earn each student a "red card," entry-level membership in the army of heroes known as firefighters.
"It's literally a small card in red ink that verifies the holder has completed basic requirements for Firefighter Type II and can serve on a hand crew," Ruffner said.
"They're like grunts in the military. They're not sawyers or fellers or pumpers -- they're just people with an ax and a rake working right on the fire line. But they're important. Most of the firefighters working on those big fires out West are hand crews."
The would-be firefighters spent two days in class learning, among other things, how fire behaves, how weather affects it and how firefighting teams work. Instructors also introduced scouting, patrolling, fire control and suppression.
Students learned how to wield the ax and rake, light the drip torches, lay the hose and, most important, survive a fire. To pass the course, they had to be able to set up and get into their fire shelters in less than 45 seconds.
"The biggest thing we stress is safety -- people can die in fires," said Ruffner.
- K.C. Jaehnig
March 6, 2002
"We concluded with a small burn in an area a little bit smaller than your back yard but big enough for them to see how the (firefighting) tools are used, how communications are managed, how mop-up takes place," said Ruffner, an assistant professor of forestry.
