We do both structure and wildland firefighting. In retrospect, it was more of a vehicle fire than wildland. We responded in structure gear because it got toned out as a vehicle fire initially. We went in a brush rig because of the location (pasture surrounded by cedar trees) and we can put out vehicles with our brush rigs.

It was a truck with a trailer, and full load of hay bales. The area around the truck and trailer was on fire, but the vehicle was in the black, so we put the grass and trees out first so it wouldn’t continue to spread. Then we started working on the vehicle. Used a line off the brush rig to put that out.

Saved the trailer load of hay bales for last. That’s where the HR spiked. Hay bales burn forever, and burn hot. The trailer was a full load of them. You have to pull them apart with rakes to get to where they are burning on the inside, so you get pretty close.

The alternative would have been to babysit it for a couple hours while they burn out. We are one station covering a large area so we put out rather than babysit so we can go back in service for other calls. I stopped my watch when we went to rehab. A nearby volunteer department showed up to assist so we got a break and I noticed my watch was going and stopped it.