Dan just told us about a book written by a former wildland firefighter who is about to become an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Social Studies at Harvard University. The author’s name is Matthew Desmond and the title of the book is On the Fireline: Living and Dying with Wildland Firefighters.
Desmond writes about his impression that wildland firefighters do not think their job is dangerous. They think they can control their exposure to risk by being smart and maintaining situational awareness.
Below is an excerpt from an article about the book that is written by Lisa Wade, an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Occidental College, who uses the book in her Sociology 101 classes “with great success”.
Desmond, who put himself through college fighting fires in Arizona, returned to his old job as a graduate student in order to study his fellow firefighters. When he asked them why they were willing to put their lives at risk to fight fires, the firefighters responded, “Risk? What risk?”
It turned out that the firefighters didn’t think that their work was dangerous. How is this possible?
Desmond explains that most of the firefighters were working-class men from the country who had been working with nature all of their lives. They raised cattle and rode horses; they cut down trees, chopped firewood, and built fences; they hunted and fished as often as they could. They were at home in nature. They felt that they knew nature. And they had been manipulating nature all their lives. Desmond wrote: “…my crewmembers are much more than confident on the fireline. They are comfortable.”
To these men, fire was just another part of nature. They believed that if you understood the forest, respected fire, and paid attention, then you could keep yourself safe. Period. Fire wasn’t dangerous. One of the firefighters put it like this:
“Cause, personally, I don’t consider my life in danger. I think that the people I work with and with the knowledge I know, my life isn’t in danger. . . . If you know, as a firefighter, how to act on a fire, how to approach it, this and that, I mean you’re, yeah, fire can hurt you. But if you know, if you can soak up the stuff that has been taught to you, it’s not a dangerous job.”
When these men were called “heroes,” they laughed. Desmond wrote: “The thought of dying on the fireline is so distant from firefighters’ imaginations that they find the idea comedic.”
When I was a full time wildland firefighter my co-workers never talked about fatalities of firefighters in general terms — even when I was on the El Cariso Hot Shots which in the previous 11 years had lost 15 members on the Decker and Loop fires. Sure, we talked about safety — often — frequently — every day. When there was a fatality or a near miss on a fire we’d discuss it, assign blame, learn from it, and determine that we would avoid a similar occurrence.
We thought that as long as we had our sh*t together, stayed in good physical condition, knew where the fire was and where it WOULD BE, that we would be fine. For one thing, we had the advantage of remembering history and vowing not to repeat it. That is, learning from the hundreds of fatal and near-miss incidents that have been documented, a few of which are on our Documents page. Many, many more are at the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center site.
The book is now on the Amazon.com/Wildfire Today book page.
Thanks Dan
Bill,
I read this book shortly after I left an AmeriCorps program that had us working withthe US Forest Serviceas wildland firefighters (I was feeling nostalgic and missed my time in CO with my team and crew). I enjoyed Desmond’s analysis of life as a wildland firefighter. If I recall correctly, he also had a chapter that discussed female firefighters and the dynamic between the sexes in the field. All very interesting!
I have kids who started their dream in a fire cadet program their junior year of high school. They both graduated from HS as volunteer firefighters, EMT’S and trained for WFF. My son is now a part time FF-EMT and works on with an IMT, my daughter is a volunteer FF-EMT and works as a seasonal wildland FF. This is how they pay for college. When I first came upon this photo I thought it was her, but it was not. My daughter has been helping fight the Wallow fire for 2 weeks and we just heard her assignment is done. I can finally sleep well! As a “firefighters mom” I do believe these jobs are extremely dangerous! When I hear of sad news I can’t help but think of my kids and the loss those families must be facing. When I talk with my kids about the dangers, the first thing they mention is situational awareness along with much more hoping to ease my concerns. They also remind me that they could be driving down the road on a normal day and it could be their last day. They love what they do and I support them 100%. I find myself searching the internet to learn as much as I can about the wildland fire they are helping battle and do hope to come a cross a photo that will show them living their dreams. I am still a green firefighter mom as you can see; I hope it gets easier. =) Thanks for this post I am excited to explore your site & read some of the books you mention. To all Firefighters..Thank you for what you do!
Any firefighting is dangerous! It really doesn’t matter whether it is a car fire, a natural cover fire, a kitchen oven fire, a “room and contents fire”, a… However, firefighters (including myself) really do believe that proper training, situational awareness, good WORKING equipment and teamwork will allow us to come home safely. However, we also realize that sometimes bad things happen to nice folks regardless of everything we try to do and prepare for.
Bill,
Ive recently come across your blog in the past couple of weeks. My husband is currently on the Wallow Fire and Ive found your site a great place to get updates that I might not get from him or the news. As a wife, I definitely think his job is dangerous. They say with all fire fighters, that theyre always the ones running towards the fire while everyone else runs away from it. Even though we all see that it is a dangerous job…For them, maybe they dont see it as dangerous because its something that they love & want to do, no matter how dangerous it could be.
Thank you for all the great posts!
Bill I love this book it is the walking talking version of what a lot of wildland firefighters believe. Most of them I have met in my 30+ years in the fire service structure and wildland I find in general most firefighters prefer wildland. Most have a conception that they are less dangerous and this is so far from the truth. One wind shift, one person not paying attention of direction of travel, darkness, super dry conditions and is spells a formula for disaster that these specialists are trained to cope with. I’m sorry but as long as mother nature is in charge yes my vote is it is VERY dangerous. And all the shake and bake bags (fire shelters) wont keep you alive.