November 4, 2021 • 48 mins
We interviewed August Isernhagen, Division Chief of Wildland Fuels with Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue, about his career as a wildland firefighter. Isernhagen shares some highlights and challenges he's experienced along the way, as well as some tips for residents, if they ever come in contact with wildland firefighters. "Approach them as a trained professional. This is what they chose to do as their trade and show them that respect, in their expertise, for what they know," said Isernhagen.
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Episode Transcript
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Megan Kay (00:19):
Welcome to the living with fire Podcast, where we
share stories and resources tohelp you live more safely with
wildfire.
Megan Kay, your host andoutreach coordinator for the
living of fire program andjoined today by my boss Jimmy
Roice-Gomes. Hi, Jamie. Hi,Megan and our student worker
(00:42):
content creator Jordan Buxton.
Hello. Jordan is joining ustoday. He was part of the
interview and had some greatquestions I wanted to get his
take on the interview as well.
This episode, we sat down withAugust Iserhagen, who is a
deputy chief of wildland fuelsat the Truckee Meadows fire and
(01:03):
rescue. It was a greatinterview, he talks all about
wildland firefighting from hisperspective and gave us a lot to
think about when it comes to thejob of wildland firefighting and
how we interact interact withwildland firefighters and what
we as residents and homeownerscan do to make their job a
little easier and keep themsafe. So let's, I kind of want
(01:26):
to hear you guy's thoughts onthe interview and let's start
with whoever wants to go first.
Jamie?
Jamie Roice-Gomes (01:33):
okay, I thought it was a great
interview. I like how he gavesome insight perspectives to
wildland firefighting. Most ofthe public doesn't realize some
of this stuff. So prettyfascinating.
Jordan Buxton (01:46):
I agree with that wholeheartedly. I think that
Auggie did a really good orAugust,
Megan Kay (01:52):
he goes by Auggie.
Jordan Buxton (01:53):
I think that he gave a really good perspective
on not only the seasonalwildland firefighter perspective
of you know, he only fightsfires, but the career wildland
perspective. As someone whoworked through the ranks and you
know, has fought in fires foralmost the last two decades, I
(02:16):
think that he had uniqueinsights, especially as someone
who, as he kind of put it wouldrather still be, you know, in
the pits fighting with the guys.
Megan Kay (02:27):
Well, I think that, yeah, that's definitely where
the action is. But he's also, healso mentioned, it's nice for
him to have spend time with hisfamily. Because that's one of
the aspects of being wildlandfirefighter is, there's
adventure, but you never reallyknow where you're going to go
(02:47):
and for how long you're going tobe there. Yeah, I think that I
was really excited to get to sitdown with him. Hopefully, we get
to talk with more firefightersin the future. I just, I just
think that their experiencefighting fire in the wildland
urban interface, like residentsand homeowners, and just people
who live with fire on a dailybasis can learn a lot from it.
(03:10):
And also, their stories are justinteresting and engaging. So I'm
always down to hear to hearthem. You know,
Jamie Roice-Gomes (03:18):
I think it's important that we thank wildland
firefighters for what they do.
It's a big job. And it's noteasy. And they're doing a lot.
Jordan Buxton (03:28):
So I thought it was interesting actually how he
brought that up. How he talkedabout how in other areas. You
know, he does it he kind ofbrought up why it is like this,
but how wildland firefightersare shown gratitude in a greater
way or in a different way, Iguess, then around Northern
(03:50):
Nevada, right? How like he wastalking about fires in Southern
California and how, you know,residents drop off supplies and
goodies and you know, food and,you know, loads of other things
to fire stations whenfirefighters from other places
are there. And I just thoughtthat was kind of interesting
considering how much fire wedeal with here that we don't
(04:11):
necessarily have a greatercommunity response in showing
gratitude.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (04:17):
Yeah, me too.
I wonder if it has to do withthe fact that we always have
wildfires here. And so we'vekind of become immune to it
Jordan Buxton (04:25):
kind of jaded.
Yeah.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (04:26):
I mean, where is it in another area if they
don't experience wildlandfirefighters, or sort of
wildland fires every year? Maybeit's just it's new. And I don't
know. I mean, it's sad butinteresting.
Jordan Buxton (04:40):
Last night, I drove by a lot in downtown and
there's a bunch of Callfire rigsout there right now and I was
actually thinking about how Iwonder if there's a way I should
be showing them gratitude. Imean, these guys aren't even
from here and you know, theirrigs are part. You're getting
ready.
Megan Kay (04:55):
Yeah, folks want to show gratitude. AndI said that
he mentioned in the interviewIt's always good for morale when
they can see, you know, likesigns, saying thank you
firefighters, maybe that willgive them a little bit more
motivation, you know, not thatthey need it. They're, they're
very highly motivatedindividuals. But you know, just
kind of make them feel good.
make their day a little bit.
Jordan Buxton (05:16):
I saw a lot of those signs last at the end of
last season driving throughNorCal, you'd pass through the
little, the little towns, theones that if the fire got there,
they'd definitely be gone. Andthe high was highway was just
lined with thank youfirefighters. And
Jamie Roice-Gomes (05:31):
There you go, Jordan
Jordan Buxton (05:32):
Thank you for saving our homes, but it'd be
cool. It'd be cool to see that.
In Northern Nevada a littlemore.
I will say, If you're when I wasfirefighting, like, it didn't
happen to me that like,personally, but people did bring
stuff down to fire campsometimes. And it was nice, you
know, like if they brought likebaked goods, or maybe they paid
(05:53):
for, if it was like a smallerfire, obviously, if it's a big
fire. I don't think people havethat much money. But there are a
few times Yeah, where peoplewould just like, pay for us to
have some treats, you know,which was really, and when I say
folks, I mean, he's usually likea local business owner, who was
kind of one of the wealthy localbusiness owners wants to cater
(06:16):
an entire fire camp. Muchappreciated.
Megan Kay (06:20):
Well, don't cater the camp and get us some cookies,
you know. But the I think thatthere are some cool
organizations that if peoplewant, I mean, I'm not an expert,
but I do know there's one that Isaw on Facebook called Ashlee's
toy closet, and they collectdonations for families that have
been affected by wildfire, maybelost properties homes, and they
(06:42):
click toys to give to kids. Sothere definitely are these sort
of more grassroots mutual aidefforts by just sort of regular
people trying to help out sothey are there if you find them.
Anyway, I think that we allreally enjoyed talking to Auggie
and get to getting to pick hisbrain by wildland firefighting
(07:05):
and I hope you guys enjoy theinterview.
August Isernhagen (07:23):
My name is August Isernhagen, and I'm a
division chief with TruckeeMeadows fire protection
district. I oversee the wildfireand fuels program there.
Jordan Buxton (07:31):
Can you explain the radio in the background real
quick?
August Isernhagen (07:33):
Yep, I apologize. The radio is going in
the background. We're in redflag today. So I'm just
listening.
Megan Kay (07:42):
And a red flag warning for our audience who
doesn't already know it meansthat there's potential for
extreme fire behavior todaybecause of low temperatures,
high winds and what else?
August Isernhagen (07:53):
high winds and low or RH's
Megan Kay (07:55):
and low relative humidity yeah.
Jordan Buxton (07:56):
So can you kind of give us an overview of what
you do as a division chief atTruckee Meadows?
August Isernhagen (08:01):
Okay. So Truckee Meadows started, we've
always had a wildland component,it's one of our main areas of
emergency response. And we'vedabbled in fuels management here
and there throughout the years,about a year and a half ago, in
partnership primarily with NVEnergy in the state of Nevada
Division of Forestry. There wasfunding to be more proactive
(08:25):
about the fuels management.
Truckee Meadows created myposition to have a division
chief division means you focuson a primary area to have a
division chief focused onwildland fire and fuels
management in Truckee Meadowsjurisdiction. other divisions
within TM there's an EMSdivision for emergency medical
services. There's an OperationsDivision for oversees the line
(08:46):
staff in the stations and thenthere's a logistics training
division that handles all thelogistical needs and training
Megan Kay (08:55):
and then for when we say Truckee Meadows, because I
know you guys recently changedyour name used to be Truckee
Meadows Fire Protection Districtbut now Truckee Meadows just
Fire and Rescue, correct? Yes.
And that's just in WashoeCounty.
August Isernhagen (09:05):
Yep. So Truckee Meadows is responsible
for emergency response inunincorporated Washoe County. So
Reno has their own FireDepartment Sparks as their own
North Lake Tahoe out of inclinehas their own. And then our
jurisdiction goes up to township22, which is pretty much
Palomino Valley like thatnorthern boundary. However,
(09:25):
through agreements with thecounty, we also take on their
fire suppression north of thatso essentially goes to the
Oregon border to the north. Theyhave a small department outside
of Gerlach that is also runcurrently by Truckee Meadows
that's kind of changing. Andthen there's a department
outside of Pyramid Lake
Jordan Buxton (09:45):
and so you're in charge of the fuels crews, but
also those are the wildlandfirefighting crews.
August Isernhagen (09:51):
Well, so the the our newest addition in the
fuels program, their primarynine to five job is we're seven
to five job is fuels, managementRight. And that's what they're
doing 52 weeks out of the year,they're year round. When there
is a fire, their trade that whatthey've come up through is
wildland fire. So they're fullyqualified on that when they're
(10:13):
on project. They're running outof a type five engine, which is
an actual fire truck with waterhose and tools,
Jordan Buxton (10:19):
but it looks like a truck. Right?
August Isernhagen (10:20):
Exactly.
Megan Kay (10:21):
So it's not it doesn't have like a typical fire
engine.
August Isernhagen (10:23):
it's like a big lifted pickup truck, on
how did you get the job? Andwhat is your career in wildland
juice. And so that's whatthey're on project. That's what
they're in on project doingfuels management. Then when
there is a fire, then theyrespond to the fire. Also, all
of Truckee Meadows stations thatwe already have are fully
staffed with wildland apparatusand all of the staff are cross
(10:45):
cross trained for wildland. Sthe new crews are that's thei
focus as wildland fuels but alof the Truckee Meadows crews ar
trained and capable anfirefighter for as a wildland
firefighter?
I took a kind of a wanderingapproach to that here. I've been
(11:06):
doing fire and natural resourcemanagement for about 20 years. I
started in high school as aseasonal park ranger for a
couple years I knew I wanted todo something outside and and
Megan Kay (11:16):
I don't even know seasonal park ranger?
August Isernhagen (11:18):
Yeah for Washoe County.
Megan Kay (11:20):
Someday I'll be a seasonal park ranger
August Isernhagen (11:23):
So I did that for a couple years. And I do
trainings with the ForestService in the summer just to
kind of learn what was out thereI still didn't think I'd do fire
apologize for radio. I stilldidn't think I wanted to do fire
I wanted to go more likewildlife, but started going to
UNR and then to help pay forschool. Now I got a job as a
(11:46):
wildland a seasonal wildland guywith Nevada Division of Forestry
did a couple years ofvolunteering all risk in there
also all risk mean structurefires emergency medical services
that type of stuff. I enjoyed itbut it wasn't really my
Megan Kay (12:01):
the all risk side?
yeah you enjoyed but it
August Isernhagen (12:03):
It wasn't I didn't have the passion for it
wasn't...
like the wildland so I focusedon the wildland. I was a
seasonal doing that for six orseven years. Then I had, my wife
and I had our first child and Igot laid off and I was happy
being a seasonal I thought Icould do that forever. But then
(12:23):
we had that first winter withouthealth insurance and a brand new
baby at home and so it's timetime to grow up.
Jordan Buxton (12:29):
Yeah, so that's that's something that I want to
come back to. So let's because Iwant you to describe what that
seasonality of a wildlandfirefighter
August Isernhagen (12:39):
Okay,
Megan Kay (12:39):
but, I don't mean to interrupt you. So you guys had a
August Isernhagen (12:41):
Had a baby it was time to grow up. So I got a
baby,job running inmate crews with
the Nevada Division of Forestry.
similar function. So 52 weeksout of the year those crews are
going out doing project workfuels management, forest health,
that type of stuff. And thenduring fire season, those those
(13:01):
inmates are cross trained torespond to fires. So I did that
for a few years. When I was aseasonal and bounced around a
little bit I did a few years onengines I did a few years on
helitack which is basically handcrew on the ground firefighters
that get inserted by helicopterinto remote areas.
Megan Kay (13:20):
Very cool. By the way
August Isernhagen (13:22):
Yeah. I went back to engines for a couple
years then I became the crewboss for a while. Then one year
helitack was short staffed. AndI was brought into the chief's
office and he asked you know,you've been running a good crew
how'd you like to go to helitacka fair amount of folks wanted
that experience. I said Nothanks. I like running crew. And
(13:43):
they pretty much said too bad.
You're the only one withexperience you're going so I
ended up back in helitack I wasthere for a few years. So as a
crew Boss, I was year round. And
Megan Kay (13:56):
so when you say crew boss, do you mean with the the I
inmate crews?
August Isernhagen (13:59):
Both so, I did just inmate crews for a
little bit, a couple years. Andthen when I ended up back in
hellitack, I'd go to helitackfor the spring, summer and fall
and then come back to runninginmates in the winter. And did
that for a few cycles.
Eventually, they created abattalion chief position over
Hello tech because that's whythey were always having to
(14:19):
borrow folks as they didn't haveany exclusive positions there. I
got that position. And then myboss there pretty much required.
He couldn't but he required meto go back to school to finish
my degree.
Megan Kay (14:36):
Degree in what?
August Isernhagen (14:37):
Forest management and ecology at UNR so
went back to school finishedthat. And then after four or
five years of being thebattalion chief there, the camp
program manager position openedwith Nevada Division of Forestry
and that oversees the wholeinmate program. That's 700
(14:59):
personnel us what 10 or 11facilities across the state. So
I took that job. The degree waskey for that, obviously moving
into those upper managementpositions. I was there for about
a year and a half, I was alwaysinterested in climbing into
upper management with NevadaDivision of Forestry. Thought
that's where I would stay. Butthen Truckee Meadows created
(15:21):
this position and
Megan Kay (15:23):
you jumped ship
August Isernhagen (15:24):
everything lined up and and here I am. So I
won't be as a client. How
Megan Kay (15:30):
How long have you been with Truckee Meadows?
August Isernhagen (15:32):
16 months 16 months? Yeah. And with NDF for
about 18 years before that,
Jamie Roice-Gomes (15:38):
what's the best part of being a wildland
firefighter, in your opinion?
August Isernhagen (15:42):
The best, the best parts, right. And since
I've moved into that programmanager position at NDF, and now
here with Truckee Meadows, I'mless operational and what
operational means for thosefolks out there is less in the
field boots on the groundswinging a tool, which kind of
sucks because that's wherethat's the fun. That's where the
(16:02):
fun is, right? My favorite partsabout it were number one, the
adventure, right? You neverknow. What's gonna happen today,
Jordan Buxton (16:11):
Why?
when you show up to work.
There's a little bit of thatadrenaline and like I said,
sense of adventure. I like
August Isernhagen (16:19):
I think it's?
I don't know, it's a complicatedtraveling, another exciting
piece about wildland fires, ontop of not knowing what's going
to happen today, you don't knowwhere you're going to end up
today. And so I've been on firesall over the western United
States. And that's an excitingquestion. I think it's, there's
obviously a piece of, it's notpiece, you see a lot of areas
that most people wouldn't see,right? Because you're not going
to the tourist attraction,you're going sometimes you end
up there too. But you're that'snot the point, right? So you end
(16:43):
up in the middle of nowhere. Andsee some cool sites. And then
the last piece, the mostlike morbidly dangerous, right,
but there's an elevated risk.
important piece to me throughthe years has been the
camaraderie. You know, I had, Ihad close friends in high
school, I had close friends incollege. But by far, my closest
(17:03):
friends in the world are, arethose that that I've fought fire
with over the years?
And sometimes you can end up insome sketchy situations. And
(17:23):
that creates a bond. Anotherpiece his ties to what Megan was
talking about, kind of thecyclical nature of it, and the
difficulties that go along withthat. And, and a lot of people
maybe don't relate to that,right? But when you when you are
in a season focus job, andyou're living with these people
(17:46):
for six months out of the year,you just those bonds, I don't
know naturally come about, youknow, and especially like on the
helicopter, there's a heightenedlevel of risk there. And that's
like the true definition ofadventure, right? And just
launch and take off into thewild blue yonder, and get
dropped off on a mountaintop forfour days. with your buddies,
you know, and I think you'd behard pressed not to have those
(18:09):
relationships in thosescenarios.
Megan Kay (18:11):
Yeah, and there's no, there's no escape, right? Even
if you wanted to, right. But theYeah, I did, just for full
disclosure, I have some wildlandfire experience I was on
actually was on an I wasn't onever an engine with you. But I
did serve as I was a seasonalNDF for two seasons. And then on
a type two hand grew in Inclinecalled the Slide Mountain hand
(18:35):
crew, which is part of NorthLake Tahoe fire protection
district for two seasons. Andthen I was there for almost
three seasons, but I got injuredat the beginning of my third
season. And decided not to comeback. And decided to go to
college. But yeah, so I candefinitely relate to that
seasonality because I did thatfor five years, basically of
just, it was hard to break outof, like when you transition out
(18:59):
of it. Like it was really hardfor me to stay at a job for
longer than a year. Right?
Because I was just like, I I'mgetting antsy, like when is it
gonna switch? I don't it's likeis it really just this forever?
August Isernhagen (19:13):
that is difficult to become cyclical,
right? Yeah, your life is basedon the seasons and you start to
expect like, just get November.
Megan Kay (19:21):
Yeah, but definitely like is I didn't keep in touch
with like the guys on my crew,but it's I definitely know a lot
about them, at least at thatmoment to time. And they know a
lot about me, right? You know,so it's like that will that will
never change. But, yeah, thosebonds are definitely pretty
(19:41):
crazy.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (19:43):
Conversely, what do you think is the
toughest part of being awildland firefighter
August Isernhagen (19:50):
There are several I mean, some of it's
kind of the stuff we're alreadytalking about. The hardest part
when you first start, there's afinancial component, right
because it's pretty muchimpossible to get your foot in
the door without some kind ofseasonal experience. So to do
that you have to willingly takea job sometimes for two, three,
my case six, seven, I know otherguys that they go ten to fifteen
(20:12):
years as a seasonal, and thatfinancially is difficult, right?
It's feast or famine you'regetting, you're working all
summer long and you're doingpretty well. And then in the
winter, you're out of a job,right? And it depends which
agency you work for whether youget benefits during that laid
off time period or not. But thefinancial maintaining financial
(20:33):
health, especially when youfirst start is one. Another one
is family life. Right? And I'mmarried, I have four kids. And
that has always been a struggle,especially when they're little,
we were talking about itearlier, right? You leave in the
morning to give everybody akiss, you think you're coming
back that night, but who knows?
Yeah, could end up in Wyoming orIdaho or whatever that scenario
(20:56):
is. And a significant other, canyou know, they're usually aware
of that possibility, but thelittle one, they can't, they
can't process that the same way.
So that one's hard. And thenwhat else? I would say tying
(21:18):
back to those closerelationships is it's a small
group, right? And people outsidethose relationships don't can't
relate and don't have thatperspective. Like even my own
parents barely understand aboutwhat I've done in my career.
Because it's just it's a it's,it's alien to most people,
Megan Kay (21:37):
even my dad who was a Reno firefighter. his whole
career retired as a Renofirefighter. He didn't really
have much wildland fireexperience. Like he did go on
some wildland fires, obviously,but never for as long as I did.
So he even tried to explain itto him like, like he did not
relate. So the only people whowere honestly relate other
(21:57):
wildland firefighters, which Ido have a few friends who were
like on hotshot crews andhelitack crews that just are in
my circle of friends. And wealways end up talking about it.
Like whenever we're at or at aparty or something even though
we're no longer doing it. Wealways just like relate back to
it. Or are following the issuesrelated to wildland firefighters
(22:18):
in the news and kind of tryingto educate people about it.
August Isernhagen (22:23):
I think those are those are kind of the hard
parts what a lot of people wouldenvision as the difficult pieces
and some people think it is I'venever had an issue with you
know, in terms of like thephysical element or sleeping in
the dirt or eating MRE's or nothaving ice for your water,
right, those types of things.
I've always kind of enjoyedthat. So yeah, different than
what most people would think Iwould guess.
Megan Kay (22:46):
Yeah, if that's if those are the difficult parts of
the job and you probablyshouldn't be in the job because
that's just the job.
During the wildfire,firefighters have a lot to do,
make it easier for firefightersto defend your home, create
defensible space now. Defensiblespace is an area between a house
(23:07):
and an oncoming wildfire wherethe vegetation has been managed
to reduce the wildfire threat.
Proper defensible space doesn'tmean removing all vegetation
though. By following the leanclean and green rule, you can
keep your property safe whilepreserving its natural beauty.
Learn more about defensiblespace in our guide fire adapted
communities. The next step inwildfire preparedness, you can
find the guide in the resourcessection of our website at living
(23:30):
with fire dot com.
We're talking about the pros andcons of wildland firefighting,
the sort of effects that I canhave on your, your personal
life. I wanted to circle back toa conversation we were having
off mic earlier about likemental health. And you were
(23:54):
talking you were talking abouthow well first of all just kind
of unpack sort of some of themaybe challenges that are common
with wildland firefighters likemental health wise and then what
you mentioned the TruckeeMeadows is actually being
proactive and dealing with it.
So I'd like to hear a little bitabout that.
August Isernhagen (24:12):
I think mental health in terms of the
wildland community they getobviously it's going to depend
on the individual. Like ifyou're like me, I eventually
fell into a rhythm like we weretalking about where life is just
kind of seasonal, right?
Summertime was fire focused.
Fall was winter focused winter,or excuse me Fall was project
(24:34):
focused, Winter was like huntingand relaxing time. Yeah, Spring
was ramping back up
Megan Kay (24:40):
Getting back into shape time
August Isernhagen (24:42):
Just kind of get into that lifecycle. And
then it's the natural ebbs andflows, if you will. I could see
how that could be a mentalhealth piece for a lot of people
that aren't able to kind of rollwith with that dynamic. The
unknown is also another mentalhealth piece. I would say
(25:04):
probably the biggest one tiesback to the family element that
we were talking about right?
issue, like if it can createmarital issues, the job right,
that same thing being gone allsummer long and not present, how
your kids take it, those typesof things, as well as the stress
from like we talked about thefinancial element when you first
get started, yeah. All of thoseplay into it, and we talked
(25:28):
about it. Again, I've never feltwildland fire was anything
extraordinarily dangerous orextraordinarily impactful in
terms of what you see. Butobviously, same thing. Every
person takes that differently.
And sometimes you see death anddestruction and things that some
(25:53):
people have a hard time copingwith.
Megan Kay (25:55):
Well, yeah, I mean, not everyone experiences an
injury or them either themselvesor maybe on their crew. But it
does happen and it candefinitely be traumatic, right?
You know, like if you see youryour buddy get injured, or you
know, someone on our crew had,like a grand maul seizure had
(26:15):
helitacked out that was a littleintense. But the Yeah, just the,
the anxiety and just theconstant sort of anxiety, I feel
it could definitely contributeto some mental health issues.
August Isernhagen (26:29):
And you do get exposed to some of those
traumatic events, right? They'renot as often as, say, an all
risk firefighter who's going onmedical calls and car accidents
and those kinds of things. Yeah.
Or a police officer, you know,or somebody in the military. But
it's still, the, the rate thatthose things happen is still
elevated in the wildland worldcompared to everyday life I've
(26:50):
been on I've been around threeor four, four aircraft
accidents, right. And I thinkalmost in the wildland
community, those might be itagain, I'm not a psychologist, I
would think those are have amore pronounced impact, because
they're not exposed to it allthe time. And some of those
coping mechanisms aren't there
Megan Kay (27:12):
again. Yeah. But yeah, I can't even imagine being
would be my guess,in the aviation, like all the
stress that would go into justthe daily operations of that.
Yeah. And that can take a tollon your nervous system. And
imagine,
August Isernhagen (27:26):
but yet again, I think it depends on the
individual. Like when you'refirst learning your first Intuit
It's a whole new world,everything can kill you. But
then eventually, that you justyou adapt. And that becomes the
day to day way of things.
Megan Kay (27:41):
Yeah. But it's so at Truckee Meadows, you guys hired
a psychologist?
August Isernhagen (27:44):
So, we have I don't know his technical title.
But yeah, he's a doctor. And wegive him he's basically on
contract with the district. Andin return he's available if we
need him for a cism, which is achronic critical incident stress
management. discussion. Doesn'thave to be that formal, as he's
(28:05):
cruising around town hall stuffin a fire station and, and touch
base with with the folks and ifthey want to engage or pull them
aside, then they can do that.
Not just about work stuff, justin general how they're doing. If
we have near misses or injuries,we bring him into the fold to
check everybody's mental healththere. And then he's also really
active nationally in thewildland fire community. So all
(28:27):
spring, he's cruising around thewestern US touching base with
hotshot crews, engine crews,federal government, state
governments and and same thing,doing a lot of preventative
maintenance. He likes to call iton the front end giving tools on
how to deal with some of thosestressors. So yeah, that's one
element that are that's oneaspect that that Truckee Meadows
(28:50):
has we also have some of ourinternal folks, Battalion Chief
Derek Reed, he was instrumentalin starting the Nevada peer
support network. And that was inconjunction with Dr. Steve also.
And that was all focused onmental health of it started off
fairly limited, read the firecommunity. But that's expanded
for to law enforcement, medicalpersonnel, the military, and
(29:14):
now, it was the Northern Nevadapeer support network. Now it's
the Nevada peer support network.
So I don't know how manydifferent agencies are
participating in that. But thisspring, they put on a two day
resiliency training at theconvention center that was
solely focused on mental healthof emergency responders.
Megan Kay (29:38):
Yeah, I mean, it's such a important issue. And I
mean, just the with the wildlandfirefighter, just with wildland
firefighters in particular. Youknow, our wildland seasons in
air quotes, you can't see thatbut I just did air quotes, are
longer and longer and yeah, andso folks are out on the line,
(29:58):
like actively fighting fire forprolonged periods of time and
getting exhausted. And so I justthink it's anything, any sort of
innovations, and being proactiveand giving folks tools, but also
just checking-in, right? Youknow, I definitely was. I was
(30:21):
feeling I was pretty lucky, Ihad really good leadership that
I was always really touchingbase and checking-in with stuff
like that. I mean, there's, Ifeel like, you know, cultural
factors, like there's alsothings that contribute to
anxiety for sure. That could be
August Isernhagen (30:36):
A stoic macho mentality,
Megan Kay (30:37):
That were, maybe unnecessary. But um, for the
most part, there was genuinelike, concern for everybody. So
that was pretty nice. I wantedto kind of switch gears a little
bit, and talk about just thingsthat you think that residents,
(30:59):
homeowners, people in general,should know about wildland
firefighters, like, what do youthink that people should know
about wildland firefighters,whether that would, it's in
context of like during a wildlnd fire events, or maybe ju
t in general, so that people knd of understand who these fo
ks are that are fightingthese fires you know? I mea
(31:24):
, obviously, everyone's diferent, right? Like there's no,
there's no stereotype, rigt? But the, you know, I just thi
k i think that people would likto think it's an int
resting job that people want tonow about. And especially lik
, if people, if people are livng in the urban interface int
rface, and the wildland urbn interface, and they're exp
(31:45):
riencing wildfire, like the're going to come in contact wit
, with firefighters. Yep. So it'be kind of interesting, it'
be kind of nice to know, lik, maybe we'll start with thi
, like, what's like some etiuette?
August Isernhagen (31:57):
some etiquette? Yeah. Well, several
times, I've experienced itthrough my whole career.
Especially I don't know thatit's centered, obviously, around
fire, but just working for inthe public sector in general,
right? you interact with a lotof opinions out there, based,
you know, regarding what you'redoing, right? A lot of opinions
(32:20):
and good ideas. I've interactedwith tons of public when I'm out
on project or out on fires,where you're getting that you're
getting those inputs onsomething that maybe they don't
understand, as well, right, butthey still have the opinions.
(32:40):
And obviously, in this line ofwork, emotions are high, right?
Whether it's a project andyou're cutting out somebody's
favorite tree, right, or it'sprescribed fire, and somebody is
worried about it escaping oryou're in the actual fire
environment, right, and they'reworried about their house. And
so I think the main piece ofetiquette is would be to
(33:00):
approach approach them, as, youknow, a trained professional,
this is what they chose to do astheir trade and show them that
respect and in their, in theirexpertise, for what they know.
Megan Kay (33:16):
Is there anything that maybe homeowners could now
could do to maybe make wildlandfirefighters jobs easier? Yeah.
Besides what you just mentioned.
August Isernhagen (33:27):
the first question, and, you know, living
with fire, talking about fuelsmanagement, defensible space,
those those pieces, specificallyis a piece of honoring and
respecting what those guys do,would be to take some ownership
in your own your own position inlife, with your property, your
(33:49):
home, that type of thing. Theyare fathers, husbands, wives,
mothers that are coming intothese situations to try to help
and having that ownership to dowhat you can, before that
scenario happens, I think isn'tstressed enough, right? Because
(34:14):
there is a bunch of work. thisis the stuff you guys talk about
all the time that can be doneahead of time, to both make it
safer and more productive whilethe wildland folks are in there.
As we treat as we train. Wealways beat it into everybody's
heads that there's no bush worthdying for. There's no house
worth dying for. Right? That'strue to a degree, but if that
(34:36):
were completely true, we juststopped fighting fire all the
way to get all together, right?
Because that's the only way toguarantee it doesn't happen. So
there is a piece of that. Wealso tried to train folks not to
get emotionally involved whenthere's homes and structures
threatened and private property.
We can say that all day long,but that is not accurate, right?
Megan Kay (34:55):
Yeah, no one wants to someone's house to burn.
August Isernhagen (34:57):
You instantly become more invested in What
you're doing when it'ssomebody's private property?
Yeah. And so having thatownership and making a
difference to help before it'sneeded.
Megan Kay (35:15):
Communities located in wildfire prone areas need to
take extra measures to livesafely. There are many ways to
prepare communities andproperties for wildfire,
including creating andmaintaining adequate defensible
space and hardening homes towithstand wildfire. This could
mean altering or replacingcertain components of the home.
Our wildfire home retrofit guidewill help you better prepare
your home and communities forwildfire. You can find the guide
(35:39):
in the resources section of ourwebsite at living with fire dot
com.
Something that I think isinteresting that exists now and
feel free to comment on it thatdidn't exist when I was wildland
firefighting. Which is alsothat's a whole thing to unpack
(35:59):
there too, is just the termwildland firefighter. Like
often. That's not actually thedesignation. It's usually like
forestry technician, or justseasonal. But as it's understood
that the job is you're awildland firefighter. But when I
was working on a hand crew andon an engine, there wasn't a
(36:23):
whole lot of social media. Youknow, Instagram wasn't around
Facebook was there, but itwasn't that big. And, you know,
there's always been this sort ofimpulse to share stories and to
connect with other people whoare doing the job. So you know,
my crew always did like a videoright at the end at the end of
the year, which was likeusually, like really intense
(36:45):
music and just like highlightsof all this
Jordan Buxton (36:49):
A shot of the plain dumping.
August Isernhagen (36:51):
Yeah, we used to do the same.
Megan Kay (36:53):
Which is awesome. But that is still made and then
uploaded to YouTube. And thatwas your way of kind of like,
putting it out there like thisis what we did this season. But
now there are lots of likeFacebook groups and Instagram
accounts and YouTube influencersaround wildland fire so people
August Isernhagen (37:06):
I dint know if I have a heartwarming
can really kind of educatethemselves and dig into the
culture. There's one podcastthat I listened to, it's called
Anchorpoint it's Brandon Brandonwas while ex wildland
firefighter, former wildlandfirefighter and he he actually
(37:26):
lives in Reno has a big audiencebut yeah, his podcast is huge.
And it's I just love thatthere's this culture now where
people can talk about it andthere's an outlet where they can
like find like-mindedindividuals or people not like
minded but you know, people withthe same experience, right? That
(37:48):
didn't really exist when I wasfirefighting. So it was like,
you either don't The only wayyou can meet other wildland
firefighters was like, in campright? You know, yeah, I thought
that was I just think that'spretty cool. So feel free to
comment, but I still want thatanecdote and that heartwarmin
story
Megan Kay (38:08):
I have kind of an interesting story about
helicopters. So just sorry, thisisn't this podcast isn't about
me. No, you're good. You're thehost. But I'm always I've always
I never got to ride on ahelicopter. And it's one of the
things that I regret, or I can'tregret it because it's nothing.
It's nothing that wasn't mychoice. It's just one of the
(38:28):
things that I'm kind of bummedthat never happened. But the
because part of the reason Iwanted to be on the crew that I
applied for was when I was atNDF, I got assigned to the water
tender one time, which is theit's an interesting gig. If you
guys if people listening haveever been on a water tender. I
(38:50):
was on the water tender that daywhich usually is no big deal
it's like you drive the watertender to project work or
wherever you just have to be onit in case it gets dispatched to
a fire. Well I got dispatched toa fire out in like Winnemucca
right with the other guy was onthe water tender with and we
ended up being on this fire forlike two weeks or however long,
(39:12):
a long time. And we were stuck.
Just like at the airport. Andour whole job was to just like
fill up the various the
August Isernhagen (39:25):
Pumpkins.
Yeah, the pumpkins.
Megan Kay (39:26):
Yeah. So it's like we would just be going back and
forth from the hydrant all day.
Yep, that's all we did. And itwas really boring. In my
opinion. It's a very importantit's a very important job. But
um, and then this crew, thecrews kept getting, they were be
ng flown in and out every dy. Because they weren't like sp
king on the fire. They'rejust like we're getting a ride
(39:48):
very day in the helicoper to and from the fire. And I w
s just like, this is I'm so jealus of this crew and I found o
t who it was the Slide Muntain Hand Crew. I was like
cool. I'm applying for thatcrew. And because in my mind
I didn't know anything, I wasust like, wow, that crew flie
on helicopters. And I neve
Jamie Roice-Gomes (40:08):
I got a, I got a question for Auggie. Do yo
got to fly in a heliopter. The two, two and a half
seasons I was on there, but yeahgot close. I one time we like
taped up all our tools, had ouranifest everything ready beca
se you have to weigh everthing. Because it's very, you
now, it's a, it's an aircaft. In case you guys didn
(40:29):
t know, a helicopter is an arcraft, but we got very close a
d we just never did it. So tey decided that they would t
ey were fine with letting us hke the 13 miles. So we did. B
t anyway,have any stories of how
ike, um, like the community hs, like rallied around like fir
fighters after a fire and like,ade like baked goods or someth
(40:52):
ng like that?
August Isernhagen (40:57):
Yeah. I think it has a lot to do with culture
and demographics of thecommunity, right? I've been on
tons of fires in SouthernCalifornia, and down there,
emergency responders are kind ofviewed in a different light than
up here. I don't know if that'spolitical leanings or what that
(41:18):
is, but down there, there's somany donations and baked goods
and snacks and socks and babypowder that gets dropped off at
the stations like it can't evereven be used by the firefighters
just comes out of the woodworkup here. That's not as common.
Again, it's I think it's justthe demographic difference but
(41:41):
all of those big WUI fires,right wildland urban interface
fires it's a heartwarming pieceright is all the signs that you
see especially when it's kidspainting and those kind of
things saying thank you.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (41:57):
That's really interesting
August Isernhagen (41:58):
Often times they'll forget oftentimes as
those requests come in theincident management teams the
teams on these bigger fires theytry to redirect those people to
the Red Cross or nonprofitsright because when we're on
these big fires the big firesnot necessarily all the little
initial attacks but you'repretty well logistically taken
(42:19):
care of right so there's athere's an incident command post
or and a camp they get set upand it's essentially like
Burning Man it's a city thatjust gets built in a parking lot
right and they're they feed youand there's a medical tend to
get ibuprofen and there's supplytent to to go get new gloves
right and so you're pretty welltaken care of. And so oftentimes
(42:43):
on those big catastrophic oneslike we have right now right
Dixie, those donations are muchbetter served to go to those
nonprofits like Red Cross andhelp with the people that are
evacuated and may have losteverything
Jordan Buxton (42:57):
a couple of years ago I can't I can't remember the
year one of those camps isactually set up in the schools
sports field down the streetfrom where I grew up to down the
street from my parents house itwas there their engines from
Colorado, New Mexico, Yep, acouple from New York that it was
the entire block them I grew upon was just lined with the
engine crews
August Isernhagen (43:16):
One of my more memorable fires there's
hundreds but one of the more funones in retrospect and this is a
unique piece about thefirefighting community right is
often times when you're the mostmiserable and broken afterward
you look back and those are thethe times that you laugh and
it's it's funny. I was I was onhelitack and we got flown into a
(43:40):
fire up by pyramid I don'tremember the name of it. And we
spent we flew up first thing inthe morning and it was off doing
its thing in the cheatgrass andwe spent the entire day just hot
lining, right and so hot liningis a term when you're like at
the active part of the fireyou're not mopping up you're not
controlling the edge but you'relike actively suppressing trying
(44:01):
to fight fire. And it'softentimes the most physically
arduous but it's also the funright you're in you're in the
excitement aircraft are droppingall around you and there's
flames and you're sweating andwe so we did that all day from
probably eight, eight thirty inthe morning to I guess five or
(44:25):
six at night and we got pickedup off the line. Most of us were
pretty close to running out ofwater because on the helicopter
you you've traveled light rightbecause you're our program's
main focus was initial initialattack moving fast on those
scenarios. And so we're flyingback to to the heli base our
(44:48):
support vehicles are in Stead toresupply on water and MRE's and
stuff. But on the way there wefound we we spotted another
smoke over and story countingsomewhere So he turned to go
there. Obviously it needed itneeded some attention. It was
starting to crown through thepinyon Juniper, right and so we
landed, we offload there. Thehelicopter takes off to give us
(45:12):
bucket work. He's he goesactually he went back for fuel.
And then we call in smokejumpers, they're gonna come in
and help us because they'resitting in Stead smokejumper
plan comes over, they droppedtheir guys and part of their
gear. And then a thunder cellmoves over. And so when a cell
(45:36):
moves over, two things happen,right? One, oftentimes your fire
blows out because of the windevents, right? The downdrafts
that come out of it, and two,you lose your aircraft, because
they can fly for the samereason. And so our helicopter
couldn't come back. The jumperplane got sent back and landed,
(45:56):
and we're still out of water.
We're still out of MRE's. We getdrenched. There's lightning
crashing all around us, probablytwo or three strikes within a
quarter mile of us. The jumpersgot blown around in the wind. So
they're scattered out trying tofigure out where everybody is.
And that was our night, we wentto bed with no food, no water,
soaking wet, and in the middleof nowhere in the rocks. And you
(46:19):
go to bed thinking like, what amI doing with my life? But then,
you know, after a week or two,you look at your buddy and you
just chuckle about it, becausethat's part of the adventure
Megan Kay (46:36):
Dang.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (46:37):
I would imagine that it was a really
like bonding moment with yourcolleagues. Right?
August Isernhagen (46:44):
Afterward.
Not in the moment, right?
Because people are thirsty.
They're hungry. They're cold.
They're wet. Yeah, temper startto get testy. I remember having
to call one of them out. Becausehe was complaining about I don't
remember what the water I think.
I had to tell him like,complaining about it isn't
helping anybody. Shut up. We'llget water in the morning.
Jordan Buxton (47:07):
Yeah, They'll drop you some water when they
can.
August Isernhagen (47:11):
but after the fact Yes, then it's bonding, but
in the moment it can be testy.
Jordan Buxton (47:16):
And that's why those relationships are so
strong. You go through more withthese people than you go with
like your freakin' spousesometimes.
August Isernhagen (47:26):
Now, there's been numerous times myself in
the crew, especially on thehelicopter, just flown into the
middle of nowhere, like I said,For three, four days. Here's you
know, 10 cases MRE and a bunchof cubies. Cubies are five
gallon boxes of water and somebatteries and we'll see in a few
days.
Go stop the fire.
(47:47):
Yeah.
Jordan Buxton (47:55):
Thank you for listening to the living with
fire podcast. You can find morestories about wildfire and other
resources at living with firedot com. The Living fire program
is funded by the University ofNevada, Reno extension, Nevada
Division of Forestry Bureau ofLand Management and the United
States Forest Service.
Welcome to the living with fire Podcast, where we
share stories and resources tohelp you live more safely with
wildfire.
Megan Kay, your host andoutreach coordinator for the
living of fire program andjoined today by my boss Jimmy
Roice-Gomes. Hi, Jamie. Hi,Megan and our student worker
(00:42):
content creator Jordan Buxton.
Hello. Jordan is joining ustoday. He was part of the
interview and had some greatquestions I wanted to get his
take on the interview as well.
This episode, we sat down withAugust Iserhagen, who is a
deputy chief of wildland fuelsat the Truckee Meadows fire and
(01:03):
rescue. It was a greatinterview, he talks all about
wildland firefighting from hisperspective and gave us a lot to
think about when it comes to thejob of wildland firefighting and
how we interact interact withwildland firefighters and what
we as residents and homeownerscan do to make their job a
little easier and keep themsafe. So let's, I kind of want
(01:26):
to hear you guy's thoughts onthe interview and let's start
with whoever wants to go first.
Jamie?
Jamie Roice-Gomes (01:33):
okay, I thought it was a great
interview. I like how he gavesome insight perspectives to
wildland firefighting. Most ofthe public doesn't realize some
of this stuff. So prettyfascinating.
Jordan Buxton (01:46):
I agree with that wholeheartedly. I think that
Auggie did a really good orAugust,
Megan Kay (01:52):
he goes by Auggie.
Jordan Buxton (01:53):
I think that he gave a really good perspective
on not only the seasonalwildland firefighter perspective
of you know, he only fightsfires, but the career wildland
perspective. As someone whoworked through the ranks and you
know, has fought in fires foralmost the last two decades, I
(02:16):
think that he had uniqueinsights, especially as someone
who, as he kind of put it wouldrather still be, you know, in
the pits fighting with the guys.
Megan Kay (02:27):
Well, I think that, yeah, that's definitely where
the action is. But he's also, healso mentioned, it's nice for
him to have spend time with hisfamily. Because that's one of
the aspects of being wildlandfirefighter is, there's
adventure, but you never reallyknow where you're going to go
(02:47):
and for how long you're going tobe there. Yeah, I think that I
was really excited to get to sitdown with him. Hopefully, we get
to talk with more firefightersin the future. I just, I just
think that their experiencefighting fire in the wildland
urban interface, like residentsand homeowners, and just people
who live with fire on a dailybasis can learn a lot from it.
(03:10):
And also, their stories are justinteresting and engaging. So I'm
always down to hear to hearthem. You know,
Jamie Roice-Gomes (03:18):
I think it's important that we thank wildland
firefighters for what they do.
It's a big job. And it's noteasy. And they're doing a lot.
Jordan Buxton (03:28):
So I thought it was interesting actually how he
brought that up. How he talkedabout how in other areas. You
know, he does it he kind ofbrought up why it is like this,
but how wildland firefightersare shown gratitude in a greater
way or in a different way, Iguess, then around Northern
(03:50):
Nevada, right? How like he wastalking about fires in Southern
California and how, you know,residents drop off supplies and
goodies and you know, food and,you know, loads of other things
to fire stations whenfirefighters from other places
are there. And I just thoughtthat was kind of interesting
considering how much fire wedeal with here that we don't
(04:11):
necessarily have a greatercommunity response in showing
gratitude.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (04:17):
Yeah, me too.
I wonder if it has to do withthe fact that we always have
wildfires here. And so we'vekind of become immune to it
Jordan Buxton (04:25):
kind of jaded.
Yeah.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (04:26):
I mean, where is it in another area if they
don't experience wildlandfirefighters, or sort of
wildland fires every year? Maybeit's just it's new. And I don't
know. I mean, it's sad butinteresting.
Jordan Buxton (04:40):
Last night, I drove by a lot in downtown and
there's a bunch of Callfire rigsout there right now and I was
actually thinking about how Iwonder if there's a way I should
be showing them gratitude. Imean, these guys aren't even
from here and you know, theirrigs are part. You're getting
ready.
Megan Kay (04:55):
Yeah, folks want to show gratitude. AndI said that
he mentioned in the interviewIt's always good for morale when
they can see, you know, likesigns, saying thank you
firefighters, maybe that willgive them a little bit more
motivation, you know, not thatthey need it. They're, they're
very highly motivatedindividuals. But you know, just
kind of make them feel good.
make their day a little bit.
Jordan Buxton (05:16):
I saw a lot of those signs last at the end of
last season driving throughNorCal, you'd pass through the
little, the little towns, theones that if the fire got there,
they'd definitely be gone. Andthe high was highway was just
lined with thank youfirefighters. And
Jamie Roice-Gomes (05:31):
There you go, Jordan
Jordan Buxton (05:32):
Thank you for saving our homes, but it'd be
cool. It'd be cool to see that.
In Northern Nevada a littlemore.
I will say, If you're when I wasfirefighting, like, it didn't
happen to me that like,personally, but people did bring
stuff down to fire campsometimes. And it was nice, you
know, like if they brought likebaked goods, or maybe they paid
(05:53):
for, if it was like a smallerfire, obviously, if it's a big
fire. I don't think people havethat much money. But there are a
few times Yeah, where peoplewould just like, pay for us to
have some treats, you know,which was really, and when I say
folks, I mean, he's usually likea local business owner, who was
kind of one of the wealthy localbusiness owners wants to cater
(06:16):
an entire fire camp. Muchappreciated.
Megan Kay (06:20):
Well, don't cater the camp and get us some cookies,
you know. But the I think thatthere are some cool
organizations that if peoplewant, I mean, I'm not an expert,
but I do know there's one that Isaw on Facebook called Ashlee's
toy closet, and they collectdonations for families that have
been affected by wildfire, maybelost properties homes, and they
(06:42):
click toys to give to kids. Sothere definitely are these sort
of more grassroots mutual aidefforts by just sort of regular
people trying to help out sothey are there if you find them.
Anyway, I think that we allreally enjoyed talking to Auggie
and get to getting to pick hisbrain by wildland firefighting
(07:05):
and I hope you guys enjoy theinterview.
August Isernhagen (07:23):
My name is August Isernhagen, and I'm a
division chief with TruckeeMeadows fire protection
district. I oversee the wildfireand fuels program there.
Jordan Buxton (07:31):
Can you explain the radio in the background real
quick?
August Isernhagen (07:33):
Yep, I apologize. The radio is going in
the background. We're in redflag today. So I'm just
listening.
Megan Kay (07:42):
And a red flag warning for our audience who
doesn't already know it meansthat there's potential for
extreme fire behavior todaybecause of low temperatures,
high winds and what else?
August Isernhagen (07:53):
high winds and low or RH's
Megan Kay (07:55):
and low relative humidity yeah.
Jordan Buxton (07:56):
So can you kind of give us an overview of what
you do as a division chief atTruckee Meadows?
August Isernhagen (08:01):
Okay. So Truckee Meadows started, we've
always had a wildland component,it's one of our main areas of
emergency response. And we'vedabbled in fuels management here
and there throughout the years,about a year and a half ago, in
partnership primarily with NVEnergy in the state of Nevada
Division of Forestry. There wasfunding to be more proactive
(08:25):
about the fuels management.
Truckee Meadows created myposition to have a division
chief division means you focuson a primary area to have a
division chief focused onwildland fire and fuels
management in Truckee Meadowsjurisdiction. other divisions
within TM there's an EMSdivision for emergency medical
services. There's an OperationsDivision for oversees the line
(08:46):
staff in the stations and thenthere's a logistics training
division that handles all thelogistical needs and training
Megan Kay (08:55):
and then for when we say Truckee Meadows, because I
know you guys recently changedyour name used to be Truckee
Meadows Fire Protection Districtbut now Truckee Meadows just
Fire and Rescue, correct? Yes.
And that's just in WashoeCounty.
August Isernhagen (09:05):
Yep. So Truckee Meadows is responsible
for emergency response inunincorporated Washoe County. So
Reno has their own FireDepartment Sparks as their own
North Lake Tahoe out of inclinehas their own. And then our
jurisdiction goes up to township22, which is pretty much
Palomino Valley like thatnorthern boundary. However,
(09:25):
through agreements with thecounty, we also take on their
fire suppression north of thatso essentially goes to the
Oregon border to the north. Theyhave a small department outside
of Gerlach that is also runcurrently by Truckee Meadows
that's kind of changing. Andthen there's a department
outside of Pyramid Lake
Jordan Buxton (09:45):
and so you're in charge of the fuels crews, but
also those are the wildlandfirefighting crews.
August Isernhagen (09:51):
Well, so the the our newest addition in the
fuels program, their primarynine to five job is we're seven
to five job is fuels, managementRight. And that's what they're
doing 52 weeks out of the year,they're year round. When there
is a fire, their trade that whatthey've come up through is
wildland fire. So they're fullyqualified on that when they're
(10:13):
on project. They're running outof a type five engine, which is
an actual fire truck with waterhose and tools,
Jordan Buxton (10:19):
but it looks like a truck. Right?
August Isernhagen (10:20):
Exactly.
Megan Kay (10:21):
So it's not it doesn't have like a typical fire
engine.
August Isernhagen (10:23):
it's like a big lifted pickup truck, on
how did you get the job? Andwhat is your career in wildland
juice. And so that's whatthey're on project. That's what
they're in on project doingfuels management. Then when
there is a fire, then theyrespond to the fire. Also, all
of Truckee Meadows stations thatwe already have are fully
staffed with wildland apparatusand all of the staff are cross
(10:45):
cross trained for wildland. Sthe new crews are that's thei
focus as wildland fuels but alof the Truckee Meadows crews ar
trained and capable anfirefighter for as a wildland
firefighter?
I took a kind of a wanderingapproach to that here. I've been
(11:06):
doing fire and natural resourcemanagement for about 20 years. I
started in high school as aseasonal park ranger for a
couple years I knew I wanted todo something outside and and
Megan Kay (11:16):
I don't even know seasonal park ranger?
August Isernhagen (11:18):
Yeah for Washoe County.
Megan Kay (11:20):
Someday I'll be a seasonal park ranger
August Isernhagen (11:23):
So I did that for a couple years. And I do
trainings with the ForestService in the summer just to
kind of learn what was out thereI still didn't think I'd do fire
apologize for radio. I stilldidn't think I wanted to do fire
I wanted to go more likewildlife, but started going to
UNR and then to help pay forschool. Now I got a job as a
(11:46):
wildland a seasonal wildland guywith Nevada Division of Forestry
did a couple years ofvolunteering all risk in there
also all risk mean structurefires emergency medical services
that type of stuff. I enjoyed itbut it wasn't really my
Megan Kay (12:01):
the all risk side?
yeah you enjoyed but it
August Isernhagen (12:03):
It wasn't I didn't have the passion for it
wasn't...
like the wildland so I focusedon the wildland. I was a
seasonal doing that for six orseven years. Then I had, my wife
and I had our first child and Igot laid off and I was happy
being a seasonal I thought Icould do that forever. But then
(12:23):
we had that first winter withouthealth insurance and a brand new
baby at home and so it's timetime to grow up.
Jordan Buxton (12:29):
Yeah, so that's that's something that I want to
come back to. So let's because Iwant you to describe what that
seasonality of a wildlandfirefighter
August Isernhagen (12:39):
Okay,
Megan Kay (12:39):
but, I don't mean to interrupt you. So you guys had a
August Isernhagen (12:41):
Had a baby it was time to grow up. So I got a
baby,job running inmate crews with
the Nevada Division of Forestry.
similar function. So 52 weeksout of the year those crews are
going out doing project workfuels management, forest health,
that type of stuff. And thenduring fire season, those those
(13:01):
inmates are cross trained torespond to fires. So I did that
for a few years. When I was aseasonal and bounced around a
little bit I did a few years onengines I did a few years on
helitack which is basically handcrew on the ground firefighters
that get inserted by helicopterinto remote areas.
Megan Kay (13:20):
Very cool. By the way
August Isernhagen (13:22):
Yeah. I went back to engines for a couple
years then I became the crewboss for a while. Then one year
helitack was short staffed. AndI was brought into the chief's
office and he asked you know,you've been running a good crew
how'd you like to go to helitacka fair amount of folks wanted
that experience. I said Nothanks. I like running crew. And
(13:43):
they pretty much said too bad.
You're the only one withexperience you're going so I
ended up back in helitack I wasthere for a few years. So as a
crew Boss, I was year round. And
Megan Kay (13:56):
so when you say crew boss, do you mean with the the I
inmate crews?
August Isernhagen (13:59):
Both so, I did just inmate crews for a
little bit, a couple years. Andthen when I ended up back in
hellitack, I'd go to helitackfor the spring, summer and fall
and then come back to runninginmates in the winter. And did
that for a few cycles.
Eventually, they created abattalion chief position over
Hello tech because that's whythey were always having to
(14:19):
borrow folks as they didn't haveany exclusive positions there. I
got that position. And then myboss there pretty much required.
He couldn't but he required meto go back to school to finish
my degree.
Megan Kay (14:36):
Degree in what?
August Isernhagen (14:37):
Forest management and ecology at UNR so
went back to school finishedthat. And then after four or
five years of being thebattalion chief there, the camp
program manager position openedwith Nevada Division of Forestry
and that oversees the wholeinmate program. That's 700
(14:59):
personnel us what 10 or 11facilities across the state. So
I took that job. The degree waskey for that, obviously moving
into those upper managementpositions. I was there for about
a year and a half, I was alwaysinterested in climbing into
upper management with NevadaDivision of Forestry. Thought
that's where I would stay. Butthen Truckee Meadows created
(15:21):
this position and
Megan Kay (15:23):
you jumped ship
August Isernhagen (15:24):
everything lined up and and here I am. So I
won't be as a client. How
Megan Kay (15:30):
How long have you been with Truckee Meadows?
August Isernhagen (15:32):
16 months 16 months? Yeah. And with NDF for
about 18 years before that,
Jamie Roice-Gomes (15:38):
what's the best part of being a wildland
firefighter, in your opinion?
August Isernhagen (15:42):
The best, the best parts, right. And since
I've moved into that programmanager position at NDF, and now
here with Truckee Meadows, I'mless operational and what
operational means for thosefolks out there is less in the
field boots on the groundswinging a tool, which kind of
sucks because that's wherethat's the fun. That's where the
(16:02):
fun is, right? My favorite partsabout it were number one, the
adventure, right? You neverknow. What's gonna happen today,
Jordan Buxton (16:11):
Why?
when you show up to work.
There's a little bit of thatadrenaline and like I said,
sense of adventure. I like
August Isernhagen (16:19):
I think it's?
I don't know, it's a complicatedtraveling, another exciting
piece about wildland fires, ontop of not knowing what's going
to happen today, you don't knowwhere you're going to end up
today. And so I've been on firesall over the western United
States. And that's an excitingquestion. I think it's, there's
obviously a piece of, it's notpiece, you see a lot of areas
that most people wouldn't see,right? Because you're not going
to the tourist attraction,you're going sometimes you end
up there too. But you're that'snot the point, right? So you end
(16:43):
up in the middle of nowhere. Andsee some cool sites. And then
the last piece, the mostlike morbidly dangerous, right,
but there's an elevated risk.
important piece to me throughthe years has been the
camaraderie. You know, I had, Ihad close friends in high
school, I had close friends incollege. But by far, my closest
(17:03):
friends in the world are, arethose that that I've fought fire
with over the years?
And sometimes you can end up insome sketchy situations. And
(17:23):
that creates a bond. Anotherpiece his ties to what Megan was
talking about, kind of thecyclical nature of it, and the
difficulties that go along withthat. And, and a lot of people
maybe don't relate to that,right? But when you when you are
in a season focus job, andyou're living with these people
(17:46):
for six months out of the year,you just those bonds, I don't
know naturally come about, youknow, and especially like on the
helicopter, there's a heightenedlevel of risk there. And that's
like the true definition ofadventure, right? And just
launch and take off into thewild blue yonder, and get
dropped off on a mountaintop forfour days. with your buddies,
you know, and I think you'd behard pressed not to have those
(18:09):
relationships in thosescenarios.
Megan Kay (18:11):
Yeah, and there's no, there's no escape, right? Even
if you wanted to, right. But theYeah, I did, just for full
disclosure, I have some wildlandfire experience I was on
actually was on an I wasn't onever an engine with you. But I
did serve as I was a seasonalNDF for two seasons. And then on
a type two hand grew in Inclinecalled the Slide Mountain hand
(18:35):
crew, which is part of NorthLake Tahoe fire protection
district for two seasons. Andthen I was there for almost
three seasons, but I got injuredat the beginning of my third
season. And decided not to comeback. And decided to go to
college. But yeah, so I candefinitely relate to that
seasonality because I did thatfor five years, basically of
just, it was hard to break outof, like when you transition out
(18:59):
of it. Like it was really hardfor me to stay at a job for
longer than a year. Right?
Because I was just like, I I'mgetting antsy, like when is it
gonna switch? I don't it's likeis it really just this forever?
August Isernhagen (19:13):
that is difficult to become cyclical,
right? Yeah, your life is basedon the seasons and you start to
expect like, just get November.
Megan Kay (19:21):
Yeah, but definitely like is I didn't keep in touch
with like the guys on my crew,but it's I definitely know a lot
about them, at least at thatmoment to time. And they know a
lot about me, right? You know,so it's like that will that will
never change. But, yeah, thosebonds are definitely pretty
(19:41):
crazy.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (19:43):
Conversely, what do you think is the
toughest part of being awildland firefighter
August Isernhagen (19:50):
There are several I mean, some of it's
kind of the stuff we're alreadytalking about. The hardest part
when you first start, there's afinancial component, right
because it's pretty muchimpossible to get your foot in
the door without some kind ofseasonal experience. So to do
that you have to willingly takea job sometimes for two, three,
my case six, seven, I know otherguys that they go ten to fifteen
(20:12):
years as a seasonal, and thatfinancially is difficult, right?
It's feast or famine you'regetting, you're working all
summer long and you're doingpretty well. And then in the
winter, you're out of a job,right? And it depends which
agency you work for whether youget benefits during that laid
off time period or not. But thefinancial maintaining financial
(20:33):
health, especially when youfirst start is one. Another one
is family life. Right? And I'mmarried, I have four kids. And
that has always been a struggle,especially when they're little,
we were talking about itearlier, right? You leave in the
morning to give everybody akiss, you think you're coming
back that night, but who knows?
Yeah, could end up in Wyoming orIdaho or whatever that scenario
(20:56):
is. And a significant other, canyou know, they're usually aware
of that possibility, but thelittle one, they can't, they
can't process that the same way.
So that one's hard. And thenwhat else? I would say tying
(21:18):
back to those closerelationships is it's a small
group, right? And people outsidethose relationships don't can't
relate and don't have thatperspective. Like even my own
parents barely understand aboutwhat I've done in my career.
Because it's just it's a it's,it's alien to most people,
Megan Kay (21:37):
even my dad who was a Reno firefighter. his whole
career retired as a Renofirefighter. He didn't really
have much wildland fireexperience. Like he did go on
some wildland fires, obviously,but never for as long as I did.
So he even tried to explain itto him like, like he did not
relate. So the only people whowere honestly relate other
(21:57):
wildland firefighters, which Ido have a few friends who were
like on hotshot crews andhelitack crews that just are in
my circle of friends. And wealways end up talking about it.
Like whenever we're at or at aparty or something even though
we're no longer doing it. Wealways just like relate back to
it. Or are following the issuesrelated to wildland firefighters
(22:18):
in the news and kind of tryingto educate people about it.
August Isernhagen (22:23):
I think those are those are kind of the hard
parts what a lot of people wouldenvision as the difficult pieces
and some people think it is I'venever had an issue with you
know, in terms of like thephysical element or sleeping in
the dirt or eating MRE's or nothaving ice for your water,
right, those types of things.
I've always kind of enjoyedthat. So yeah, different than
what most people would think Iwould guess.
Megan Kay (22:46):
Yeah, if that's if those are the difficult parts of
the job and you probablyshouldn't be in the job because
that's just the job.
During the wildfire,firefighters have a lot to do,
make it easier for firefightersto defend your home, create
defensible space now. Defensiblespace is an area between a house
(23:07):
and an oncoming wildfire wherethe vegetation has been managed
to reduce the wildfire threat.
Proper defensible space doesn'tmean removing all vegetation
though. By following the leanclean and green rule, you can
keep your property safe whilepreserving its natural beauty.
Learn more about defensiblespace in our guide fire adapted
communities. The next step inwildfire preparedness, you can
find the guide in the resourcessection of our website at living
(23:30):
with fire dot com.
We're talking about the pros andcons of wildland firefighting,
the sort of effects that I canhave on your, your personal
life. I wanted to circle back toa conversation we were having
off mic earlier about likemental health. And you were
(23:54):
talking you were talking abouthow well first of all just kind
of unpack sort of some of themaybe challenges that are common
with wildland firefighters likemental health wise and then what
you mentioned the TruckeeMeadows is actually being
proactive and dealing with it.
So I'd like to hear a little bitabout that.
August Isernhagen (24:12):
I think mental health in terms of the
wildland community they getobviously it's going to depend
on the individual. Like ifyou're like me, I eventually
fell into a rhythm like we weretalking about where life is just
kind of seasonal, right?
Summertime was fire focused.
Fall was winter focused winter,or excuse me Fall was project
(24:34):
focused, Winter was like huntingand relaxing time. Yeah, Spring
was ramping back up
Megan Kay (24:40):
Getting back into shape time
August Isernhagen (24:42):
Just kind of get into that lifecycle. And
then it's the natural ebbs andflows, if you will. I could see
how that could be a mentalhealth piece for a lot of people
that aren't able to kind of rollwith with that dynamic. The
unknown is also another mentalhealth piece. I would say
(25:04):
probably the biggest one tiesback to the family element that
we were talking about right?
issue, like if it can createmarital issues, the job right,
that same thing being gone allsummer long and not present, how
your kids take it, those typesof things, as well as the stress
from like we talked about thefinancial element when you first
get started, yeah. All of thoseplay into it, and we talked
(25:28):
about it. Again, I've never feltwildland fire was anything
extraordinarily dangerous orextraordinarily impactful in
terms of what you see. Butobviously, same thing. Every
person takes that differently.
And sometimes you see death anddestruction and things that some
(25:53):
people have a hard time copingwith.
Megan Kay (25:55):
Well, yeah, I mean, not everyone experiences an
injury or them either themselvesor maybe on their crew. But it
does happen and it candefinitely be traumatic, right?
You know, like if you see youryour buddy get injured, or you
know, someone on our crew had,like a grand maul seizure had
(26:15):
helitacked out that was a littleintense. But the Yeah, just the,
the anxiety and just theconstant sort of anxiety, I feel
it could definitely contributeto some mental health issues.
August Isernhagen (26:29):
And you do get exposed to some of those
traumatic events, right? They'renot as often as, say, an all
risk firefighter who's going onmedical calls and car accidents
and those kinds of things. Yeah.
Or a police officer, you know,or somebody in the military. But
it's still, the, the rate thatthose things happen is still
elevated in the wildland worldcompared to everyday life I've
(26:50):
been on I've been around threeor four, four aircraft
accidents, right. And I thinkalmost in the wildland
community, those might be itagain, I'm not a psychologist, I
would think those are have amore pronounced impact, because
they're not exposed to it allthe time. And some of those
coping mechanisms aren't there
Megan Kay (27:12):
again. Yeah. But yeah, I can't even imagine being
would be my guess,in the aviation, like all the
stress that would go into justthe daily operations of that.
Yeah. And that can take a tollon your nervous system. And
imagine,
August Isernhagen (27:26):
but yet again, I think it depends on the
individual. Like when you'refirst learning your first Intuit
It's a whole new world,everything can kill you. But
then eventually, that you justyou adapt. And that becomes the
day to day way of things.
Megan Kay (27:41):
Yeah. But it's so at Truckee Meadows, you guys hired
a psychologist?
August Isernhagen (27:44):
So, we have I don't know his technical title.
But yeah, he's a doctor. And wegive him he's basically on
contract with the district. Andin return he's available if we
need him for a cism, which is achronic critical incident stress
management. discussion. Doesn'thave to be that formal, as he's
(28:05):
cruising around town hall stuffin a fire station and, and touch
base with with the folks and ifthey want to engage or pull them
aside, then they can do that.
Not just about work stuff, justin general how they're doing. If
we have near misses or injuries,we bring him into the fold to
check everybody's mental healththere. And then he's also really
active nationally in thewildland fire community. So all
(28:27):
spring, he's cruising around thewestern US touching base with
hotshot crews, engine crews,federal government, state
governments and and same thing,doing a lot of preventative
maintenance. He likes to call iton the front end giving tools on
how to deal with some of thosestressors. So yeah, that's one
element that are that's oneaspect that that Truckee Meadows
(28:50):
has we also have some of ourinternal folks, Battalion Chief
Derek Reed, he was instrumentalin starting the Nevada peer
support network. And that was inconjunction with Dr. Steve also.
And that was all focused onmental health of it started off
fairly limited, read the firecommunity. But that's expanded
for to law enforcement, medicalpersonnel, the military, and
(29:14):
now, it was the Northern Nevadapeer support network. Now it's
the Nevada peer support network.
So I don't know how manydifferent agencies are
participating in that. But thisspring, they put on a two day
resiliency training at theconvention center that was
solely focused on mental healthof emergency responders.
Megan Kay (29:38):
Yeah, I mean, it's such a important issue. And I
mean, just the with the wildlandfirefighter, just with wildland
firefighters in particular. Youknow, our wildland seasons in
air quotes, you can't see thatbut I just did air quotes, are
longer and longer and yeah, andso folks are out on the line,
(29:58):
like actively fighting fire forprolonged periods of time and
getting exhausted. And so I justthink it's anything, any sort of
innovations, and being proactiveand giving folks tools, but also
just checking-in, right? Youknow, I definitely was. I was
(30:21):
feeling I was pretty lucky, Ihad really good leadership that
I was always really touchingbase and checking-in with stuff
like that. I mean, there's, Ifeel like, you know, cultural
factors, like there's alsothings that contribute to
anxiety for sure. That could be
August Isernhagen (30:36):
A stoic macho mentality,
Megan Kay (30:37):
That were, maybe unnecessary. But um, for the
most part, there was genuinelike, concern for everybody. So
that was pretty nice. I wantedto kind of switch gears a little
bit, and talk about just thingsthat you think that residents,
(30:59):
homeowners, people in general,should know about wildland
firefighters, like, what do youthink that people should know
about wildland firefighters,whether that would, it's in
context of like during a wildlnd fire events, or maybe ju
t in general, so that people knd of understand who these fo
ks are that are fightingthese fires you know? I mea
(31:24):
, obviously, everyone's diferent, right? Like there's no,
there's no stereotype, rigt? But the, you know, I just thi
k i think that people would likto think it's an int
resting job that people want tonow about. And especially lik
, if people, if people are livng in the urban interface int
rface, and the wildland urbn interface, and they're exp
(31:45):
riencing wildfire, like the're going to come in contact wit
, with firefighters. Yep. So it'be kind of interesting, it'
be kind of nice to know, lik, maybe we'll start with thi
, like, what's like some etiuette?
August Isernhagen (31:57):
some etiquette? Yeah. Well, several
times, I've experienced itthrough my whole career.
Especially I don't know thatit's centered, obviously, around
fire, but just working for inthe public sector in general,
right? you interact with a lotof opinions out there, based,
you know, regarding what you'redoing, right? A lot of opinions
(32:20):
and good ideas. I've interactedwith tons of public when I'm out
on project or out on fires,where you're getting that you're
getting those inputs onsomething that maybe they don't
understand, as well, right, butthey still have the opinions.
(32:40):
And obviously, in this line ofwork, emotions are high, right?
Whether it's a project andyou're cutting out somebody's
favorite tree, right, or it'sprescribed fire, and somebody is
worried about it escaping oryou're in the actual fire
environment, right, and they'reworried about their house. And
so I think the main piece ofetiquette is would be to
(33:00):
approach approach them, as, youknow, a trained professional,
this is what they chose to do astheir trade and show them that
respect and in their, in theirexpertise, for what they know.
Megan Kay (33:16):
Is there anything that maybe homeowners could now
could do to maybe make wildlandfirefighters jobs easier? Yeah.
Besides what you just mentioned.
August Isernhagen (33:27):
the first question, and, you know, living
with fire, talking about fuelsmanagement, defensible space,
those those pieces, specificallyis a piece of honoring and
respecting what those guys do,would be to take some ownership
in your own your own position inlife, with your property, your
(33:49):
home, that type of thing. Theyare fathers, husbands, wives,
mothers that are coming intothese situations to try to help
and having that ownership to dowhat you can, before that
scenario happens, I think isn'tstressed enough, right? Because
(34:14):
there is a bunch of work. thisis the stuff you guys talk about
all the time that can be doneahead of time, to both make it
safer and more productive whilethe wildland folks are in there.
As we treat as we train. Wealways beat it into everybody's
heads that there's no bush worthdying for. There's no house
worth dying for. Right? That'strue to a degree, but if that
(34:36):
were completely true, we juststopped fighting fire all the
way to get all together, right?
Because that's the only way toguarantee it doesn't happen. So
there is a piece of that. Wealso tried to train folks not to
get emotionally involved whenthere's homes and structures
threatened and private property.
We can say that all day long,but that is not accurate, right?
Megan Kay (34:55):
Yeah, no one wants to someone's house to burn.
August Isernhagen (34:57):
You instantly become more invested in What
you're doing when it'ssomebody's private property?
Yeah. And so having thatownership and making a
difference to help before it'sneeded.
Megan Kay (35:15):
Communities located in wildfire prone areas need to
take extra measures to livesafely. There are many ways to
prepare communities andproperties for wildfire,
including creating andmaintaining adequate defensible
space and hardening homes towithstand wildfire. This could
mean altering or replacingcertain components of the home.
Our wildfire home retrofit guidewill help you better prepare
your home and communities forwildfire. You can find the guide
(35:39):
in the resources section of ourwebsite at living with fire dot
com.
Something that I think isinteresting that exists now and
feel free to comment on it thatdidn't exist when I was wildland
firefighting. Which is alsothat's a whole thing to unpack
(35:59):
there too, is just the termwildland firefighter. Like
often. That's not actually thedesignation. It's usually like
forestry technician, or justseasonal. But as it's understood
that the job is you're awildland firefighter. But when I
was working on a hand crew andon an engine, there wasn't a
(36:23):
whole lot of social media. Youknow, Instagram wasn't around
Facebook was there, but itwasn't that big. And, you know,
there's always been this sort ofimpulse to share stories and to
connect with other people whoare doing the job. So you know,
my crew always did like a videoright at the end at the end of
the year, which was likeusually, like really intense
(36:45):
music and just like highlightsof all this
Jordan Buxton (36:49):
A shot of the plain dumping.
August Isernhagen (36:51):
Yeah, we used to do the same.
Megan Kay (36:53):
Which is awesome. But that is still made and then
uploaded to YouTube. And thatwas your way of kind of like,
putting it out there like thisis what we did this season. But
now there are lots of likeFacebook groups and Instagram
accounts and YouTube influencersaround wildland fire so people
August Isernhagen (37:06):
I dint know if I have a heartwarming
can really kind of educatethemselves and dig into the
culture. There's one podcastthat I listened to, it's called
Anchorpoint it's Brandon Brandonwas while ex wildland
firefighter, former wildlandfirefighter and he he actually
(37:26):
lives in Reno has a big audiencebut yeah, his podcast is huge.
And it's I just love thatthere's this culture now where
people can talk about it andthere's an outlet where they can
like find like-mindedindividuals or people not like
minded but you know, people withthe same experience, right? That
(37:48):
didn't really exist when I wasfirefighting. So it was like,
you either don't The only wayyou can meet other wildland
firefighters was like, in campright? You know, yeah, I thought
that was I just think that'spretty cool. So feel free to
comment, but I still want thatanecdote and that heartwarmin
story
Megan Kay (38:08):
I have kind of an interesting story about
helicopters. So just sorry, thisisn't this podcast isn't about
me. No, you're good. You're thehost. But I'm always I've always
I never got to ride on ahelicopter. And it's one of the
things that I regret, or I can'tregret it because it's nothing.
It's nothing that wasn't mychoice. It's just one of the
(38:28):
things that I'm kind of bummedthat never happened. But the
because part of the reason Iwanted to be on the crew that I
applied for was when I was atNDF, I got assigned to the water
tender one time, which is theit's an interesting gig. If you
guys if people listening haveever been on a water tender. I
(38:50):
was on the water tender that daywhich usually is no big deal
it's like you drive the watertender to project work or
wherever you just have to be onit in case it gets dispatched to
a fire. Well I got dispatched toa fire out in like Winnemucca
right with the other guy was onthe water tender with and we
ended up being on this fire forlike two weeks or however long,
(39:12):
a long time. And we were stuck.
Just like at the airport. Andour whole job was to just like
fill up the various the
August Isernhagen (39:25):
Pumpkins.
Yeah, the pumpkins.
Megan Kay (39:26):
Yeah. So it's like we would just be going back and
forth from the hydrant all day.
Yep, that's all we did. And itwas really boring. In my
opinion. It's a very importantit's a very important job. But
um, and then this crew, thecrews kept getting, they were be
ng flown in and out every dy. Because they weren't like sp
king on the fire. They'rejust like we're getting a ride
(39:48):
very day in the helicoper to and from the fire. And I w
s just like, this is I'm so jealus of this crew and I found o
t who it was the Slide Muntain Hand Crew. I was like
cool. I'm applying for thatcrew. And because in my mind
I didn't know anything, I wasust like, wow, that crew flie
on helicopters. And I neve
Jamie Roice-Gomes (40:08):
I got a, I got a question for Auggie. Do yo
got to fly in a heliopter. The two, two and a half
seasons I was on there, but yeahgot close. I one time we like
taped up all our tools, had ouranifest everything ready beca
se you have to weigh everthing. Because it's very, you
now, it's a, it's an aircaft. In case you guys didn
(40:29):
t know, a helicopter is an arcraft, but we got very close a
d we just never did it. So tey decided that they would t
ey were fine with letting us hke the 13 miles. So we did. B
t anyway,have any stories of how
ike, um, like the community hs, like rallied around like fir
fighters after a fire and like,ade like baked goods or someth
(40:52):
ng like that?
August Isernhagen (40:57):
Yeah. I think it has a lot to do with culture
and demographics of thecommunity, right? I've been on
tons of fires in SouthernCalifornia, and down there,
emergency responders are kind ofviewed in a different light than
up here. I don't know if that'spolitical leanings or what that
(41:18):
is, but down there, there's somany donations and baked goods
and snacks and socks and babypowder that gets dropped off at
the stations like it can't evereven be used by the firefighters
just comes out of the woodworkup here. That's not as common.
Again, it's I think it's justthe demographic difference but
(41:41):
all of those big WUI fires,right wildland urban interface
fires it's a heartwarming pieceright is all the signs that you
see especially when it's kidspainting and those kind of
things saying thank you.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (41:57):
That's really interesting
August Isernhagen (41:58):
Often times they'll forget oftentimes as
those requests come in theincident management teams the
teams on these bigger fires theytry to redirect those people to
the Red Cross or nonprofitsright because when we're on
these big fires the big firesnot necessarily all the little
initial attacks but you'repretty well logistically taken
(42:19):
care of right so there's athere's an incident command post
or and a camp they get set upand it's essentially like
Burning Man it's a city thatjust gets built in a parking lot
right and they're they feed youand there's a medical tend to
get ibuprofen and there's supplytent to to go get new gloves
right and so you're pretty welltaken care of. And so oftentimes
(42:43):
on those big catastrophic oneslike we have right now right
Dixie, those donations are muchbetter served to go to those
nonprofits like Red Cross andhelp with the people that are
evacuated and may have losteverything
Jordan Buxton (42:57):
a couple of years ago I can't I can't remember the
year one of those camps isactually set up in the schools
sports field down the streetfrom where I grew up to down the
street from my parents house itwas there their engines from
Colorado, New Mexico, Yep, acouple from New York that it was
the entire block them I grew upon was just lined with the
engine crews
August Isernhagen (43:16):
One of my more memorable fires there's
hundreds but one of the more funones in retrospect and this is a
unique piece about thefirefighting community right is
often times when you're the mostmiserable and broken afterward
you look back and those are thethe times that you laugh and
it's it's funny. I was I was onhelitack and we got flown into a
(43:40):
fire up by pyramid I don'tremember the name of it. And we
spent we flew up first thing inthe morning and it was off doing
its thing in the cheatgrass andwe spent the entire day just hot
lining, right and so hot liningis a term when you're like at
the active part of the fireyou're not mopping up you're not
controlling the edge but you'relike actively suppressing trying
(44:01):
to fight fire. And it'softentimes the most physically
arduous but it's also the funright you're in you're in the
excitement aircraft are droppingall around you and there's
flames and you're sweating andwe so we did that all day from
probably eight, eight thirty inthe morning to I guess five or
(44:25):
six at night and we got pickedup off the line. Most of us were
pretty close to running out ofwater because on the helicopter
you you've traveled light rightbecause you're our program's
main focus was initial initialattack moving fast on those
scenarios. And so we're flyingback to to the heli base our
(44:48):
support vehicles are in Stead toresupply on water and MRE's and
stuff. But on the way there wefound we we spotted another
smoke over and story countingsomewhere So he turned to go
there. Obviously it needed itneeded some attention. It was
starting to crown through thepinyon Juniper, right and so we
landed, we offload there. Thehelicopter takes off to give us
(45:12):
bucket work. He's he goesactually he went back for fuel.
And then we call in smokejumpers, they're gonna come in
and help us because they'resitting in Stead smokejumper
plan comes over, they droppedtheir guys and part of their
gear. And then a thunder cellmoves over. And so when a cell
(45:36):
moves over, two things happen,right? One, oftentimes your fire
blows out because of the windevents, right? The downdrafts
that come out of it, and two,you lose your aircraft, because
they can fly for the samereason. And so our helicopter
couldn't come back. The jumperplane got sent back and landed,
(45:56):
and we're still out of water.
We're still out of MRE's. We getdrenched. There's lightning
crashing all around us, probablytwo or three strikes within a
quarter mile of us. The jumpersgot blown around in the wind. So
they're scattered out trying tofigure out where everybody is.
And that was our night, we wentto bed with no food, no water,
soaking wet, and in the middleof nowhere in the rocks. And you
(46:19):
go to bed thinking like, what amI doing with my life? But then,
you know, after a week or two,you look at your buddy and you
just chuckle about it, becausethat's part of the adventure
Megan Kay (46:36):
Dang.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (46:37):
I would imagine that it was a really
like bonding moment with yourcolleagues. Right?
August Isernhagen (46:44):
Afterward.
Not in the moment, right?
Because people are thirsty.
They're hungry. They're cold.
They're wet. Yeah, temper startto get testy. I remember having
to call one of them out. Becausehe was complaining about I don't
remember what the water I think.
I had to tell him like,complaining about it isn't
helping anybody. Shut up. We'llget water in the morning.
Jordan Buxton (47:07):
Yeah, They'll drop you some water when they
can.
August Isernhagen (47:11):
but after the fact Yes, then it's bonding, but
in the moment it can be testy.
Jordan Buxton (47:16):
And that's why those relationships are so
strong. You go through more withthese people than you go with
like your freakin' spousesometimes.
August Isernhagen (47:26):
Now, there's been numerous times myself in
the crew, especially on thehelicopter, just flown into the
middle of nowhere, like I said,For three, four days. Here's you
know, 10 cases MRE and a bunchof cubies. Cubies are five
gallon boxes of water and somebatteries and we'll see in a few
days.
Go stop the fire.
(47:47):
Yeah.
Jordan Buxton (47:55):
Thank you for listening to the living with
fire podcast. You can find morestories about wildfire and other
resources at living with firedot com. The Living fire program
is funded by the University ofNevada, Reno extension, Nevada
Division of Forestry Bureau ofLand Management and the United
States Forest Service.
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