John Brewer on How Firefighters Control and Extinguish Wildfires

Americans know how to roll, drop, and stop. Some know how to operate a fire extinguisher, and some even use a fire suppression blanket. However, many people don’t have a good idea about how fires are extinguished beyond that.

Although it’s not always easy to put out a , firefighters have the necessary skills to do so. These include using various strategies to suppress the flames.

Burning Out

Firefighters must create a fuel-free barrier around their control lines by digging a small ditch and removing plants from the area. One way to do this is by burning the brush near the line using small fire tools.

Control Line

A control line is a boundary firefighters use to control the movement of the fire and where it can go. For instance, a river or a rocky ridge can be a natural line of control.

Fire lines are defined as a barrier scraped down from a height into mineral soil. A scratch line is created by firefighters in a hurry, while wet lines are areas treated with water or flame retardant. When a fire is considered to be “X percent contained,” this usually means that a portion of the fire’s perimeter has a control or fire line.

Unfortunately, fires can jump the barrier, so even a fully contained fire can start up again.

Backburn

A backburn is performed using a technique that’s a bit more sophisticated. After establishing a control line, firefighters start a controlled flare-up inside the containment line. Then, they push the new flare-up back toward the main fire.

Hot Spotting

Hot spotting refers to the additional attention firefighters pay to the most dangerous and active parts of a fire. They usually size up these areas to try and prevent them from spreading. Sometimes, this can involve adding more manpower to extinguish hot spot fires.

When a wildfire is too small to be put out using a direct attack method, firefighters usually start attacking it from behind. They will spray the flames with a fire suppression blanket around the perimeter.

Cold Trailing

While attacking a fire from the front, other firefighters may be called in to perform cold trailing, which involves going through the area scorched by the wildfire. Their goal is to make sure that no hot or glowing ashes remain.

Unlike hot spotting, knock down is all about action. This strategy is carried out when firefighters determine that a particular part of the fire needs to be suppressed. In this method, firefighters use a combination of water, dirt, and retardant to diminish the size and intensity of the fire in that area.

Aerial Attack

If there’s a significant amount of water available, helicopters and planes can scoop it up and drop it on the fire. The water is usually mixed with foam retardant, which helps prevent the spread of the flames.

Originally published at https://johnbrewerlaw.org on January 5, 2023.