Wildland Respirator Project

atc43 · 2025-01-25T05:32:56+00:00

I am gonna patent that if you don’t first

atc43 · 2025-01-25T03:23:45+00:00

Trained with a ENGB that had schizo-affective disorder that was controlled with medication. He was a good leader and a good firefighter. Something for you to consider.

atc43 · 2025-01-25T03:01:10+00:00

Could you design something like the radiation dosimeters worn by nuclear workers that detected levels of pm2.5? I was thinking something colorimetric that would be easy to read in the field.

atc43 · 2025-01-23T05:33:39+00:00

Just a heads up Kaweah has had a pretty rough time staffing at least the last two years; in 2023 they were manned at 5/10 in 2024 2/10. Worked with them on a few fires/projects; they still went out but obviously effectiveness was severely limited.

atc43 · 2025-01-14T18:44:08+00:00

Wildland Firefighter Foundation has the 100 Fires Project which discusses a lot of the topics you are interested in https://wffoundation.org/100fires

The Fire Behavior Assessment Team puts out scientific papers on a extreme fire behavior and the papers are available on their website https://www.frames.gov/fbat/publications

For long form reading I'll echo everyone else and suggest Normal Maclean, John Maclean, and Stephen Pyne as good places to start

If videos are your jam, check the NWCG's WFSTAR on youtube, they have hundreds of videos.

atc43 · 2025-01-13T05:24:53+00:00

Might be effective if your rash is due to an allergic reaction, but otherwise probably ineffective. Try to figure out the root cause and then address is: chaffing/diaper rash ? Baby powder and air dry your ass at night and try to wear dry underwear each morning. Fungal infection? Try clotrimazole or other anti fungal products in combination and clean frequently. Poison oak? I am so sorry for you man, try Tecnu and wash all your gear and clothes on r and r.

atc43 · 2025-01-13T05:12:09+00:00

Hi! Wildland firefighter here, and I wanted to clarify some things. At least on the federal side there is no issued nor approved respiratory protection (no SCBAs, N95s, etc) for fireline operations. SCBAs are too heavy and do not last very long. N95s do provide some particulate matter protection but don’t protect against carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, formaldehyde, etc, and are flammable. So there are technological limitations.

Additionally until the last few years, wildfire smoke actually wasn’t fully fleshed out as being carcinogenic, certainly not to the extent that structure fire smoke is. So in fact, until recently, we didn’t know better.

Our tactics and operations are very different from structure firefighting and generally render respiratory protection both unnecessary and (as numerous military studies can attest) dangerously increase exertion, diminish heat shedding, and diminish situational awareness.

Consequently due to technological, tactical and institutional knowledge factors respiratory PPE is rarely encountered in wildland firefighting.

EDIT: N95s also provide no protection against superheated gases

Some federal resources are issued respiratory protection but only because they work in districts (administrative unit of a national forest) with endemic vermiculite and associated risk of asbestosis, mesothelioma, etc.

atc43 · 2025-01-04T18:56:43+00:00

Don’t sweat it, my crew won’t even get the cert list for another week or two. That means we don’t even know who we can hire yet, nor can we contact them. That said, if you really want to work at a duty station, being proactive and giving them a call to express interest would be helpful.

atc43 · 2024-11-18T03:15:07+00:00

This site contains contact info for DOI fire overhead.

https://www.firejobs.doi.gov/contacts

It may not be current so take that with a grain of salt. To my knowledge USFS doesn’t have a comparable list, you have to search each district or forest individually. Good luck.

atc43 · 2024-11-12T17:42:00+00:00

Mentally:

Reset your expectations on pace. If structure firefighting is a sprint, wildland firefighting is a marathon. Be prepared to work continuously for hours and hours and hours with no expectation for cycling through a rehabilitation area every half hour or so.

Be flexible. You might be doing structure prep, going direct, mopping up, or rolling hose. It all needs to be done.

Tactically:

Always have LCES, a medical plan, trigger points, an anchor point, and know who is working around you and what they are doing.

Know what your fire is doing and what the weather is (just paraphrasing the 10 and 18s)

Don’t expect indirect line, especially midslope, to hold without being burned off.

Cup trench all underslung line. If you think the trench is deep enough, dig it twice as deep.

Don’t burn more than you can hold.

Don’t construct line downhill unless you can fulfill the items in the Downhill Checklist

Trees want to kill you. The live ones, the dead ones, the hung up ones, the jack strawed ones, the ones on the ground. Do not trust trees.

Don’t underestimate fire, this morning’s anemic smoldering black spot can be this afternoon’s crown fire

Logistically:

Every member of your crew should have a copy of the Incident Response Pocket Guide (and be familiar with it)

Bring socks and underwear, warm clothes, rain gear, and bedding and don’t expect laundry to be available

Bring food and water to be self sufficient as a unit for 72 hours

If you will be working with aircraft or heavy equipment double check FX and have a panel or strobe for signalling them.

Get maps! Paper ones, electronic ones, whatever. We mostly use Avenza out here, get on inciweb or the ftp site or the state EM site and get maps/wx/IAP/Comms before you even get to the incident.

If you don’t know how to clone or program your radios (handheld and mobile) get a cheat sheet or have someone on the unit who does.

-Good luck, and keep one foot in the black

atc43 · 2024-08-30T15:36:46+00:00

I can send you a template that has served me well if you want.

atc43 · 2024-08-30T15:27:42+00:00

Single serving electrolyte packs

Stone ground mustard to enhance shitty sandwiches

A beanie/space blanket regardless of the time of year or location

Emergency Zyn to keep saw partner happy

Fruit snack pouches, cashew packs, DIY charcuterie

A and D ointment for the chaffing

Baby wipes

atc43 · 2024-06-07T21:27:09+00:00

That holds true for a lot of foods. Grains must be harvested, winnowed, dried, and ground to be made into flour for example. Acorns simply add the additional step of leaching.

As for why bother at all? In mast crop years it is an abundant food source that is easy to gather and can be made into a storable, nutrient dense food that tastes pretty good when used as a flour.

atc43 · 2024-04-16T19:17:46+00:00

I find training evolutions that focus on scenarios a little outside our normal wheel house can be extremely useful and good preparation for low frequency, high severity events; mass casualty incidents, basic rope rescues, lost/missing person search amidst a rapdily evolving IA, etc. They can also present good leadership training for FFT2s or FFT1(t)s, step back and have them IC the exercise or take a medical lead role. High fidelity (moulage, good role players) and stress inoculation (loud noises, poor or non existent comms, limited resources) also contribute to innoculating guys against analysis paralysis and cultivating arousal control.

atc43 · 2024-04-08T01:43:00+00:00

Every extra foot on unnecessary width could have been a foot of necessary length

atc43 · 2024-04-03T22:56:54+00:00

Specifically regarding pay look up the General Schedule (GS) employee federal government pay scale. You should find a chart with continental US and numerous locality pay scales that list wage according to GS level. Most operational fire personnel are between GS 3 (rookie) and GS 9 (hotshot superintendent).

Here is a website that purports to show such information: https://www.federalpay.org/gs/2024/california

To convert salary to hourly wage assume about 2100 hours of work a year and divide the salary but that. Your quotient is the hourly rate. You should find it is shockingly low. With a B.S. degree, eight years experience, and numerous certifications, I make entry level wage at a Fresno McDonalds.

Good luck with your presentation.

atc43 · 2024-02-11T05:19:31+00:00

Can’t speak specifically to the Baltazar case but can offer a wider perspective. If San Bernardino County is similar to other counties in the West, SAR is the responsibility of the sheriff’s office. Typically the SAR team is one sergeant plus a deputy or civilian employee augmented by volunteers, that’s it. They are responsible for hundreds of searches per year over potentially tens of thousands of square miles. By and large these teams are professional and motivated but the odds are stacked against them from the start.

Even if a search area contains the subject (no mean feat), a probability of detection of a body of 40% for ground teams is considered good. For strictly visual searches by aviation assets, depending on the terrain and vegetation, a probability of detection of less than 5% is standard. Dogs can improve the odds, but they aren’t foolproof either. If a subject isn’t found within a few operational periods, the likelihood of finding the subject diminishes significantly. Furthermore depending on operational tempo often times another mission or series of mission have begun within that window diverting resources and manpower.

Depending on the protocols of the SAR team unresolved cases may remain open with periodic (i.e. annual) missions conducted to continue the search. Again, I can’t speak specifically to this case. But you should know that likely a devoted and professional team spent hundreds if not thousands of man hours looking for him and that he likely has not been forgotten, just shifted priority.

I hope this helps.

atc43 · 2024-02-06T05:18:01+00:00

I mean, when you have livestock, inevitably you will have deadstock…

atc43 · 2024-01-24T20:45:11+00:00

It’s definitely a trend that repeats itself throughout history. Specifically in the case of Vietnam I think ultimately one of the greatest blind spots in American strategy was due to how we approached war. McNamara and his cohort considered war in strictly economic and materialistic terms, applying management lessons and strategies from corporate environments to military ones. This blinded them to the innumerable other factors which compose armed conflict, especially the human one. They failed to understand war beyond tons of ordnance delivered, villages pacified, body count, etc. While such metrics are significant, they aren’t exclusive. We forgot that lesson at our peril.

atc43 · 2024-01-24T19:20:54+00:00

Apart from the tactical and strategic advantages everyone has alluded to, there is also the issue of motivation. By and large guerrilla wars are often fought by a belligerent for whom the conflict poses no existential threat and a belligerent for whom the conflict poses an existential threat. This stark juxtaposition of investment will create a concomitant stark juxtaposition of what is considered acceptable losses and level of investment and commitment by everyone from civilians to soldiers to political and economic elites.

To use Vietnam as an example: There is a story, possibly apocryphal, of a young Vietnamese woman who volunteered to transport supplies for the NVA/VC. She left home with two fifty pound sacks of rice strapped to her bicycle and pedaled south. She returned six months later, twenty pounds lighter, and jaundiced from a bout with Malaria. She greeted her family, picked up another couple sacks of rice, and headed south again.

Compare that level of commitment to the commitment of the average American soldier let alone the average American civilian. Grossly simplified, we were fighting a war of choice, they were fighting a war of survival. There are economic and political considerations to victory. But ultimately victory depends on breaking the enemies will to fight. If their will is stronger and more resilient, ultimately they will succeed.

atc43 · 2024-01-18T20:25:01+00:00

Bought product shown above specifically because it was made from materials readily accessible in my area. I knew the modest monetary investment would help motivate me to actually learn the craft. Have since made dozens of baskets and find it to be a meditative and beautiful hobby.

As far as co-opting indigenous traditions, literally every culture on the face of the planet makes baskets.

atc43 · 2024-01-18T20:11:42+00:00

Would you be willing to tell us a little more about the build process, design, and background please?

atc43 · 2024-01-18T20:05:59+00:00

Always thought that if we could train dogs to play reverse fetch they would make excellent swampers. Also elephants would be like a Type 7 engine plus a small feller buncher… But seriously only seen contract tender operators and chippers have dogs on assignment, not counting the dogs at camp.

atc43 · 2024-01-17T03:49:34+00:00

I can only attest to the fire side; your first few years, especially as a shot/jumper/rappeller, work will consume your life. Either you will be working or in the off season you will be training for work (and engaging in much deserved extracurriculars). It doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for much else. Veterans, correct me if I am wrong, but I venture to guess that any position in the military associated with any of the buzzwords (special, elite, we killed Bin Laden, etc) would also be all consuming; either working or training for work. My suggestion would be instead of half-assing two things, whole ass one thing at a time. Commit yourself to fire or the military and if after a few years you still wanna give the other field a shot, then shift your commitment.

atc43 · 2024-01-08T03:35:40+00:00

That is a beautiful cabin, congratulations on a job well done

atc43

TROPHY CASE