Firefighting, in a forest, 1950s era tech, support services?

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rosehips

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Hi guys.
I'm working on a story in a fantasy setting (so there's some leeway with realism) where a group of college-aged students in a search and rescue training program are going to assist professional firefighters with an out of control forest fire. I'm doing some reading but one thing that complicates my research is that the tech level needs to not exceed 1959, which is hard to filter for. I also am having trouble finding out what sorts of jobs these students would likely do. They aren't professionals and have only trained in firefighting maybe for like, a week, so they wouldn't be expected to do the main firefighting at all. The idea is that they have been sent to help and observe, to learn on the ground. Of course things are going to go wrong and they're going to end up in dangerous situations eventually.
The fantasy culture in the world I'm building tends to put people into more dangerous situations than we would see in the real world as part of their training, so I can push it a little with the kinds of jobs these students might do.
This nation of the fantasy world is full of a variety of shapeshifters. There are magic users but they aren't really present in this setting, although there could be some minor magical aspects to the tech.
So, to sum this up into questions:
  • Does anyone know of ways that forest firefighting has significantly changed since 1959?
  • What kinds of jobs would students sent to assist professional firefighters do, that might bring them a little closer to danger than, say, just cooking and cleaning for them?
  • Any other ideas and thoughts? You guys always give me such great advice.
Thanks in advance for any input.

ETA: I'm reading about fire breaks. I was thinking maybe the students can be set to the task of making more, or widening existing ones. Thoughts? Also, how do firefighters create escape routes?
 
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jclarkdawe

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The main difference in modern forest fire fighting is air support and chemicals in your water. They probably had water packs back then, but I'd ignore them. The main tools -- ax, rake, shovel -- have been used for centuries in pretty much the same way.

Experienced firefighter establishes the fire line/break. After that, it's very simple and not much skill is needed. You rake, shovel, and chop out a break as wide as you can (depending upon the fire) where little or nothing can burn. The whole idea is to create a gap and it works reasonably well.

What is the concern is if the fire jumps the line. You station people to watch for this and attempt to put out anything that tries to get going on the wrong side of the line. An experienced officer watches bigger sectors to call retreats if needed.

I'd have your students working the line. I can teach what to do in less than five minutes and use someone who knows what they're doing to keep track of them.

Fire fighters always plan the way out. We don't usually create escape routes, but we sure know what's the best way out of a situation.

Jim Clark-Dawe
 

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Thanks, Jim.

So I'm going to have them doing the labor on the fire break.

I have one student, who is a bad guy, trying to sabotage things. Let's call him Dave. He wants to make the group look incompetent (he's working for an enemy of the head of the program). There's another student, let's call him Bob, who has a phobia of fire and who is barely keeping his composure (the search and rescue program he's in does a lot of different specializations and he was hoping to avoid fire entirely, but no luck). So I was planning to have Dave use Bob's phobia against him somehow, maybe to get him to panic and bolt instead of stay and do what he's supposed to with the fire break. Dave doesn't want to be discovered, though, because he plans to sabotage future tasks the group is given.

My current idea is to have Dave convince Bob (in a roundabout, manipulative way) to leave his task and go up to the top of a ridge to see how far away the fire is. But it sounds like it might not be out of the question for working the line to include putting out actual fire if it tries to cross the line. Can you help me imagine how Dave might screw Bob up when he's trying to do this?

Dave doesn't want to hurt or kill anyone, and his character is going to have a redemption arc, so I don't want him to do anything unforgivable. He would have to believe that what he gets Bob to do isn't fatally dangerous (even if it accidentally does go in that direction). I'd also like to have it turn out that with the help of friends in the group, Bob overcomes the situation in a way Dave didn't expect. Dave comes from a background of toxic competition and backstabbing and he doesn't expect people to work together and help each other. The situation can get super dire, but it would be great if teamwork and friendship saved the day, much to Dave's surprise, if you see what I mean.

Would a situation arise where a firefighter would be okay if he was calm, but not okay if he was panicked?
How about a situation where alone, one could not succeed, but with the help of others, one could?
 

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There are two pieces of research I would urge you to read.

The first is "Young Men and Fire," by Norman Maclean. Maclean spend over a decade researching the Man Gultch tragedy that killed a dozen smoke jumpers in 1949. It just dove tails exactly with what you're looking for and it just a brilliant read.

The other is "No Exit," an fantastic piece of deep dive journalism by Sean Flynn in GQ. He dove into the 2013 Yarnell fire that claimed over a dozen hot shots from one town, and is the largest loss single loss of fire fighters since 9/11/2001. It's a quick, well-written story and it's free. I read over it while writing this and Flynn's writing just destroys the page.


There's also Firechases on Netflix, which also exists.
 

jclarkdawe

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Is this in mountainous terrain? Here's something that might work.

Team leader realizes that Bob is about as useful as a tit on a bull on the fire line. So team leader decides to use Bob to go back and forth to the supply point to carry in water and food. He tells Bob to back down the valley they came in, going around the mountain to their side. Team leader does this for two reasons. One is it's a lot more work to climb a mountain, even if the trail is a lot shorter. Second is that fire climbs. If the fire gets going on the mountain, it can climb faster than a man can walk, and if the wind is right, faster than a man can run. (You'll notice that in the Yarnell fire, if I remember right.)

Dave, knowing that mountain climbing is tough work, but not knowing the fire risk, convinces Bob to take the shortcut over the mountain. Bob has no clue that mountain climbing is tough work and listens to Dave. Fire jumps the line and starts up the mountain.

Bob goes as fast as he can trying to get ahead of the fire, but is rapidly losing. Panicked, not paying attention to where he's going, he falls into a crevice. You might want to give him some injuries, like a broken leg, from the fall. But the fire leaps the crevice, leaving Bob unburned, although with a very squishy pair of pants. (This has been known to happen.)

Team leader, realizing what has happened, follows the fire up the mountain, and they discover Bob. Bob's mates get the fun of carrying him down (really good reason to give him a broken leg).

Training is all about learning what to do and controlling panic. Panicked people aren't thinking. Panicked people die.

Fire fighting is a team sport. You can't even control a fire hose by yourself.

Jim Clark-Dawe
 

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Thank you Larson and Jim! I'm going to seek out that book, Larson. It sounds great, and just what I need to get a better sense for this story. I'll read the story this morning.

Jim, thank you so much for the scenario! Sounds like a great fit for what I'm after.
 
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