“Wildfires are occurring all over the place, and you never really hear about them,” said Jeremy Kolaks, a fuels technician for Hoosier National Forest. If the fires get big enough, firefighters must have what Kolaks calls an “extended attack,” and the fires begin to appear on the news.
That’s when Kolaks said fires become projects. He said they can “go from something that would’ve been contained with 20 people (to) thousands of people.”
“Even with there being lots of resources ... out West as a whole ... you just kind of run out of qualified trained people to do it,” Kolaks said. “If you think about the number of fire departments that are volunteer departments, they haven’t found a way to leave their real jobs ... they would have to take a vacation or work out a deal with their boss.”
Indiana’s fire season is in the spring and fall, Kolaks said, which leaves more time for firefighters in Indiana to help wherever they’re needed.
“We look at the positions that are needed every day, and we see who is qualified,” Hoosier National Forest Public Affairs Officer Judi Perez said.
Available firefighters are assigned and bags are packed, but traveling west isn’t exactly a California getaway.
“Getting acclimated is a challenge, especially if they’re going to a place where there’s high elevation,” Perez said.
Fire engine operator Paul Fountain said there are currently about nine firefighters from Hoosier National Forest out west. He said these firefighters go from working nine-hour shifts in Indiana to 12-15 hours a day for 14 days straight in the west, but Fountain said working extra hours and fighting fires on a new sleep schedule is no big deal.
“(It’s) kind of second nature,” Fountain said. “You kind of flow right into it.”
Of course, along with the new time zone and extra work comes the ultimate challenge: the fire.
Fountain said one of their goals is to eliminate fuels like brush and limbs.
“The environment of the fire is dynamic; it changes constantly,” Fountain said. “You have to be on your toes ... you have to muddle through it and just fly by the seat of your pants. Things change so rapidly.”
It’s also not as simple as a hose and a helmet. Kolaks said firefighters have to keep track of things like fuel, vehicles, food and shelter.
“There’s a lot more that goes with it than putting the fire out,” Kolaks said.
While some of our firefighters may be out west, that doesn’t stop the fires in Indiana.
As fall approaches and western wildfires keep blazing, Indiana may have a strain on resources. Perez said fall and the beginning of hunting season means less rain and more campfires.
She said they’d have to use whoever is left or bring in firefighters from other locations, and they may even have to institute a fire ban restricting all campfires.
For now, Fountain said Hoosier National Forest employees will be out west for about three or four more weeks helping fellow firefighters and finishing in time to help at home.
