Faculty Advisor

Ed Weber

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Summer 2025

Keywords

Internship

Abstract

I got the opportunity to work in a 20 man crew on a fire incident, the Burdoin Fire, in southern Washington. We worked with other contractors and federal agencies to use our best efforts to protect as many structures as possible, and minimize the acreage burned from the wildfire- started from a train spark in the Columbia river gorge. We did our best to maintain safety and professionalism in a setting where we work long, flexible hours while keeping up with our understanding of fire weather and behavior. And, keeping up with situational awareness while completing fuel reduction tasks, prescribed burn operations, and direct hotline containment throughout our 2 week assignment. This was complimented by learning a variety of techniques and tools that help in this profession, such as reading a weather kit forecast, mitigating safety risks, reading offline maps, and using our radios to communicate with other resources on the fire. Here I document what led me to choose this internship and what I was able to take from my time at western into the firefighting world. I talk about the good and the bad of wildland fire, as well as the many things I learned while I was out. Lastly, I talk about how this allows me to gain experience in real world scenarios, as well as build connections to people that have worked in the broad field of environmental science, forestry, and pyrogeography.

Type

Text

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

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