Mike Teske had just come home on Sunday (June 30) when a friend who also works for the B.C. Forest Service told him the news: 19 young, elite firefighters in Arizona had died when a wind-whipped wildland fire suddenly turned and engulfed them.
Teske, who heads up a three-person B.C. Forest Service initial attack crew based in Squamish, on Tuesday (July 2) said it was a sobering thing to hear, just as the weather was heating up here.
My first reaction was sympathy for the families and friends of those who lost their lives, said Teske, whose job involves being dropped at the front lines of a developing fire, evaluating the situation and determining the sort of equipment and resources needed to fight it.
The tragedy near Prescott, Ariz., was the largest single-incident loss of life among those who fight wildland fires in the United States in 80 years.
Though the size of the ill-fated Granite Mountain Hotshots team differs from that of his own, the job they do is quite similar, Teske said. The conditions are also quite different here in B.C., but anywhere you go, it's risky business, Teske said.
Firefighting is a dangerous activity, he said. We do accept a certain level of risk when we sign on to a position like this. However, we do a lot of training and exercise vey stringent safety standards we train as much as possible in the classroom and in the field to minimize the risk.
Russ Inouye, chief of the Squamish Fire Rescue Service, said there's little question that conditions are different for those working in places like Arizona than they are for B.C. firefighters.
When you have five per cent humidity and 40-plus degrees for a month, it can be pretty explosive, he said.
Still, Inouye added, Those guys who work regularly on putting out wildland fires have a real sense of brotherhood for each other.
Teske agreed.
The wildfire fighting community is definitely a very tight community, and we do work sometimes with the American crews and share information, and we share the same job, he said.
Added Inouye, At the end of the day, these tragedies should remind us how committed these guys are to protecting their communities.
After several days of 30-plus degree weather in the Sea to Sky, the fire hazard rating on Tuesday was listed as moderate. For up-to-date information, visit bcwildfire.ca/weather/maps/danger_rating.htm
