Outdoors
UW-SP Fire Crew recruits trained in basic forest firefighting
Outdoors Reporter
Every fall and spring the University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point fire crew and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources offers training in basic forest firefighting. The instructor is Brad Kildow, Forest Ranger at Whiting, and the training begins in a classroom setting. The training is given so the DNR has a ready source of qualified forest firefighters and so the students have another set of skills for the natural resources job market.
Many students complete the 40 hour basic Forest Firefighter Type I course over the fall semester or for an intense couple of weeks and weekends in the spring.
The courses taught are L-180 (Human Factors on the Fireline), S-130 (Firefighter), and S-190 (Introduction to Wildland Fire Behavior). An online short course has to be completed independently, the I-100 (Incident Command System) course.
About halfway through the course, the students are run through an “indoor” training session that takes place…outdoors. A number of stations are set up around the Sundial or the Drefuss University Center. The stations are staffed by students that have completed the course in previous years, some having a season or two of forest firefighting experience. The novice firefighters learn about the various tools and water pumps used for forest firefighting. One of these tools is the classic Pulaski, a hoe with an axe on the back of it. Other firefighting tools are the giant fly swatter, McLeod, Combi tool, shovel, bladder bags and backpack water pumps.
A few weeks later the students are required to attend the Outdoor Training Session. This is an outdoor session that takes place on DNR property near Plover. Again veteran firefighting students staff various stations. The students are again split up into four-person squads that rotate through the training stations. They are run through exercises in orienteering, mop- up, fire gridding and fireline construction.
The UW-SP Fire Crew is the largest and most active student fire crew in the nation. Certified Crew members are outfitted the same as national fire crews with Nomex clothing (fire resistant), hardhats, fire tools, fire shelter and “web gear.” Web gear is a backpack for carrying fire fighting equipment and personal gear. All forest firefighters are required to carry a fire shelter with them at all times on a forest fire. The fire shelter looks like a round top “tent” made of what looks like aluminum foil, a fire and heat resistant material. It is used to attempt to save the lives of forest firefighters should they be overrun by a fire unexpectedly.
Because of the extensive training and experience the members get they are able to land summer forest firefighter positions throughout the United States. Some students even obtain permanent firefighter positions upon graduating from college and at least one former UW-SP Fire Crew member became a smokejumper. For more information about the UW-SP Fire Crew or how to get involved go to http://www.uwsp.edu/stuorg/fire.
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