Smoke Gets In Your Lungs, by The Flappers

I pour my hot cinnamon tea with honey into the thermos – it is the last of my “gear” for the day.  I drive out to meet with the rest of the crew.  There is a definite morning chill as we gather at the parking area and I put on my extra clothing including a full Nomex suit, waterproof boots, and gloves to ward off the chill in my fingers.  I place the helmet, face shield, ear protection and burn gloves in the carryall along with loppers and saws.  Other crew members will bring along shovels and rakes, and a couple will carry torches and water packs.  The crew is finally ready to head out to the burn site!

Prescribed fire is a tool used by stewards and land managers.  Many of the ecosystems in our area require periodic fire to remain healthy.  Fires help speed up the process of releasing nutrients from dead plant material, returning them to the soil and making them available to new plants.  Fire improves habitat for threatened and endangered species by removing invasive and non-native understory plants.  Clearing areas promotes the growth of native plants which provide food for animals dependent on these plants.   Fire also helps to greatly reduce pest insects and diseases.

Where periodic fire has not occurred or has been suppressed for many years, there is often an accumulation of layers of leaf litter and fallen wood.  Unplanned wildfire quickly consumes excessive fuels, resulting in hot, raging fire.  When fire occurs more often, less fuel is available for smaller, less damaging burns.  Native plants, adapted to a slow-burning fire, are easily killed by hot fires.  Reducing fuel loads in areas adjacent to human communities is also desirable to control damage in urban environments. 

The burn boss gathers everyone together, and we all have the equipment for our specific assignments.  The dripper will accompany the burn boss, carrying the drip torch and laying down lines of mixed diesel and gas fire to begin burning each section.  Flappers, like me, are responsible for seeing that the fire does not cross the section lines.  My tool is a shovel or rake or large square piece of heavy rubber on a long handle – a flapper – for stomping out burning foliage.  Some of us also carry water backpacks with a manual pump handle and a nozzle on a short hose.  Filled with up to 15 gallons of water, these can be quite weighty pieces of gear.  There is always the water tank driver.  Responsible for placing the tractor driven tank near where the leading flames will try to cross the section boundary, he can spray large amounts of water to catch and kill any big flame as it comes near. 

A black zone is established first.  On the downwind sides and end of the section, 6-foot wide zones of burned vegetation will be back burned with a line of fire laid out and allowed to burn slowly against the wind until the black zone is ready.  Then the flappers will take up their positions, a few in the black zone and the rest along the sides of the section.  The dripper will follow the burn boss laying down lines of fire burning blocks of vegetation.  As fire gets close to me, I can feel the heat and I try to stay out of the smoke while I smack and rake and spray out the flames to keep the fire contained.  The wind shifts suddenly, and tears run down my cheeks as I inhale more smoke than air.  As more black zones are established around the section, we will get to the last burn, the fun burn.  A line of fire laid at the headwind side roars through the remaining fuel load in the section.  The wind lifts out the smoke and pushes the fire sounding like a freight train coming at you before it puffs out in the wind upon hitting the black, with no more fuel available.

The crew is back together afterwards, and there are smiles all around.  The burn went according to plan, the fire a thrilling memory as the smell of smoky clothes lingers as a reminder.  The black area will soon be wet and frozen.  Nutrients from the ash of burned plants leech back into the soil and are available in the spring when new vegetation begins to grow.  Many invasive species have been killed by the fire or damaged to the point of not being able to survive the cold and freeze, coming soon.  My crew members and I will cherish a hot shower, a warm meal and sound sleep tonight.