Firefighters prepare for a rough summerNorth Idaho Wildfire Training Zone
<p>Bob Ramont, with the U.S. Forest Service Moose Creek Ranger District, looks over his shoulder while managing a series of controlled burns during Guard School, a multiagency wildfire training event Thursday at Camp Lutherhaven. The event, hosted by North Idaho Wildfire Training Zone, included firefighters of various skill levels from the U.S. Forest Service, Idaho Department of Lands, Bureau of Land Management and the Coeur d’Alene and Nez Perce tribes.</p>
<p>Tony Smith, with the Priest Lake Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service, works with fellow firefighters to dig a fire line during a training exercise.</p>
<p>As smoke fills a nearby treed area, wildfire trainees gather near a controlled burn to coordinate a strategy during Guard School.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - The North Idaho Wildfire Training Zone hosted a weeklong wildlands fire training course at Camp Lutherhaven this week. More than 300 firefighters attended the annual Guard School event.
"This is definitely a record year for us," said Shoshana Cooper, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service.
The Forest Service teamed up with the Idaho Department of Lands, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and the Nez Perce Tribe to train new and seasoned firefighters in a number of firefighting techniques designed to keep them safe in a forest fire situation.
Jeremiah Miller, who led one of eight teams that rotated from station to station around the fire camp, summarized it in a debriefing during a simulated evacuation of a fire line they were digging.
His primary message was to stay alert for dangerous situations and to speak up when something just doesn't feel right.
"You have to try and recognize bad situations as they are unfolding," he told the new firefighters. "We are out there to do a job and get it done and that makes it easy to tune things out."
He said the tendency of new firefighters is to discount their concerns because they are new to job, but Miller said that can be dangerous for the entire crew.
The crew bosses training the firefighters initially downplayed alerts over the radio calling for the evacuation to see if any of the new guys would speak up.
"If you see something say something," Miller told the crew. "If something doesn't feel right, don't discount those feelings just because you are new."
Guard School is a required training to teach and educate new wildland firefighters. The classes are designed to provide real-world skills required for suppressing fire in the forests and grasslands.
During the weeklong training, new firefighters learn the basics of fire behavior and fire suppression techniques in a simulated learning environment. Guard School is designed to mimic a real fire camp - students experience camp chow, sleeping outdoors, crew cohesion and suppressing an actual fire.
On Thursday trainers created eight slash piles they set on fire above the main Lutherhaven camp and each of the eight fire crews took a shot at spotting the fire and marching in to attack the flames.
It was the culmination of the event and firefighters spent Friday taking tests on the training.
Incident Commander Ken Homik, from the IDL Bonners Ferry office, said organizing the training takes a lot of cooperation and collaboration between the agencies hosting the event. He said the primary focus is safety and giving the new firefighters a basic idea of what they will face during a wildland fire.
"I remember being the guy that was sitting out there in awe of the guys who had 20 years of doing this," Homik said, adding he has been fighting fires for 21 years now.
Cooper said anyone interested in becoming a wildland firefighter should watch the website "USA Jobs." The positions are usually posted early in the year and applicants are selected from the online pool.
She said the large turnout for this year's Guard School was due to the fact that Forest Service started the hiring process early in the year. Wildland firefighters can expect to make roughly between $12 and $14 an hour to start and the jobs are seasonal, but Cooper said they also earn a lot of overtime pay.