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Rookies train for the upcoming fire season

By Lailani Upham

Evan Day, Assistant Helicopter Manager with the U.S. Forest Service speaks to fire fighter rookies in Ronan during last week’s training. Day’s main concern is helicopter safety and he covered briefing on the aircraft, loading and unloading people and gear, bucket operations, personnel protective equipment needed to work with the helicopter and safety around the helicopter. The aircraft is a Bell Helicopter 206L4 - Longranger with 650 horsepower, capability to fly at 6,000 feet. The Bell 206L4 is used as a tool to tote 108 gallon water containers to extinguish fires. Containers can weigh up to 864 pounds. (Lailani Upham photo)

RONAN — As folks passed by highway 93 last week along the north end of Ronan, they may have caught a curious glimpse of a helicopter with a crowd of men and women surrounding it.

The aircraft, Bell Helicopter 260L4, also identified as a ‘longranger,’ is a piece of equipment used by the U.S. Forestry Service to drench out wild land fires.

CSKT Tribal Forestry Division of Fire Department was in training mode for the new season of rookies. It is a paid five-day training with four classroom days and one field day.

Jim Clairmont, CSKT Division of Fire Director, said that this year the bunch is slightly bigger than previous years. It’s always a good thing since the fire season is already in full effect he said.

Numbers this year may be up because of the economy crunch with many searching for jobs.

Rookie Thomas Harwood takes a shot at stretching out the 100-foot water hose during the water use pump training in a field in Ronan along highway 93 in Ronan, Wednesday afternoon. Laying hose line requires 100-foot hoses to be linked by a y-shaped connector, the main hose is one and half inches, which meets two additional hoses to fork out into one inch hose to give more water pressure to douse the fires. The trainees were working in five to six member squads, connecting all hoses to water pump engine. The task takes an average of approximately 30 - 50 seconds. (Lailani Upham photo)

CSKT Tribal Forestry Division of Fire and the U.S. Forestry Service have joined in a contract with the Lolo National Forest from June 15 to September 15 for helicopter operations during the summer fire season.

“Right now, the southwest has lots of big fires going on now,” said Clairmont.

After training, the certified rookies are on-call for a whole year.

Clairmont stated that during the weeklong training, one day is designated for a Standard for Survival class that all fire fighters must receive each year to retain certification.

Clairmont mentioned the yearly recertification began as a requirement after the 1994 Storm King Mountain fire in Colorado that claimed 14 lives.

Rookies can be called out on a fire the next day to any place in the United States.

Although most but not all rookies will be called out, Shay Piedalue, a Wildlife Tech trainee for the National Bison Range, says the training is for her job, to help in the field during prescribed burnings.

Brandon Thompson, a rookie from Plains said he is training to be a fire fighter this summer in order to pay for college and to keep in shape. Thompson plays baseball for Bellevue University in Bellevue, Nebraska.

A total of 110 rookies took the training this year.