To Smolder, Burn Slow

Ask any wildland firefighter about the most difficult part of their job, and they’re likely to tell you about the boredom. Watching, waiting, and preparing occupies much of our time. The reason for this is simple: fires don’t tell you when they plan to start. They don’t tell you when and if they plan to blow up into a firestorm, or sputter out for no obvious reason. Because of this unpredictability, we end up a superstitious bunch, correlating our behaviors to fire activity like pagan priests reading an animal’s viscera. If you don’t lace up your boots, we’ll get a fire call; if you work out until your muscles cramp, we might get a fire call; if you dehydrate yourself with coffee and soda, we’ll definitely get a fire call. When we do finally receive a dispatch order, it’s typically in the afternoon, after the midday heat dries out the fuels (some things remain predictable). Then we have a brisk walk out to the helicopter