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.
For more full episode details including the transcript, visit https://www.buzzsprout.com/1819551/episodes/9478617
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Megan Kay (00:19):
Welcome to the Living with Fire Podcast, where we
share stories and resources tohelp you live more safely with
wildfire.
I'm Megan Kay, your host andOutreach Coordinator for the
Living with Fire program, andjoined today by my boss, Jamie
Royce-Gomes, Hi, Jamie.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (00:39):
Hi Megan.
Megan Kay (00:40):
And our student worker content creator Jordan
Buxton.
Jordan Buxton (00:44):
Hello.
Megan Kay (00:45):
Jordan is joining us today. He was part of the
interview and had some greatquestions, so I wanted to get
his take on the interview aswell. This episode, we sat down
with August Isernhagen, who's adeputy chief of wildland fuels
at the Truckee Meadows Fire andRescue. It was a great
(01:06):
interview. He talked all aboutwildland firefighting from his
perspective, and gave us a lotto think about when it comes to
the job of wildland firefightingand how we interact interact
with wildland firefighters andwhat we as residents and
homeowners can do to make theirjob a little easier and keep
them safe. So let's, I kind ofwanted to hear you guys thoughts
(01:27):
and interview, and let's startwith whoever wants to go first.
Jamie?
Jamie Roice-Gomes (01:33):
Okay, I thought it was a great
interview. I like how he gavesome inside 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
Augie did a really good orAugust.
Megan Kay (01:52):
He goes by Augie.
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 firesfor the almost the last two
(02:16):
decades, I think that he hadunique insights, especially as
someone who, as he kind of putit, would rather still be, you
know, in the pits, fighting withthe guys.
Megan Kay (02:27):
Well, I think that, yeah, that's definitely where
the action is. But he's alsoprivate, like he also mentioned,
it's nice for him to have spendtime with his family, because
that's one of the aspects ofbeing wildland firefighter, is
there's adventure, but you neverreally know where you're gonna
go and for how long you're gonnabe there. Yeah, I think that I
(02:53):
was really excited I got 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,
and also their stories are justinteresting and engaging. So I'm
(03:15):
always down to here 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 not
easy, and they're doing a lot.
So, thank you.
Jordan Buxton (03:28):
I thought it was interesting, actually, how he
brought that up, how he talkedabout how in other areas, you
know, he does, 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, than 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):
Me too, I wonder if it has to do with the
fact that we always havewildfires here, and so we've
kind of become immune to it.
Jordan Buxton (04:25):
Kind of jaded.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (04:25):
Yeah, I mean, whereas if in another area, if
they don't experience wildlandfirefighters or certain wildland
fires every year, maybe it'sjust 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 Cal Fire 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 parked here getting
Megan Kay (04:55):
Yeah, if folks want to show gratitude, Augie said
ready.
that he mentioned in theinterview. It's always is good
for morale when they can see,you know, like signs saying,
Thank you firefighters, maybethat will give them a little bit
more motivation. You know, notthat they 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 throughNorth Cal, you'd pass through
the little the little towns, theones that, if the fire got
there, they'd definitely begone. And the high was, highway
was just lined with thank youfirefighters. And yeah.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (05:31):
There you go, Jordan.
Jordan Buxton (05:32):
Thanks for saving our homes. But it'd be cool. It
would be cool to see that inNorthern Nevada a little more.
Megan Kay (05:38):
I will say if you're when I was firefighting, 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,like, baked goods, or maybe they
paid for if it was, like, asmaller fire, obviously, if it's
a big fire, I don't think peoplehave that much money, but there
(05:59):
are a few times, yeah, wherepeople would just, like, pay for
us to have some treats. Youknow, which, which was really,
and when I say folks, I mean isusually like a local business
owner who was kind of.
Jordan Buxton (06:12):
If one of the wealthy local business owners,
wants to cater an entire firecamp, that would be much
appreciated.
Megan Kay (06:20):
Well, don't cater to camp, but 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 Ashley's
Toy Closet. And they collectdonations for families that have
been affected by Wildfire, maybelost properties, homes, and they
(06:42):
collect 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 weall really enjoyed talking to
Augie and get to getting to pickhis brain about wildland
(07:05):
firefighting. And I hope youguys enjoy the interview.
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.
Jordan Buxton (07:34):
You keep going, I actually like it.
August Isernhagen (07:36):
The radio is going in the background. We're
in red flag today, so I'm justlistening.
Megan Kay (07:41):
And a red flag warning for our audience who
doesn't already know, means thatthere's potential for extreme
fire behavior today because oflow temperatures, high winds and
August Isernhagen (07:53):
High winds and low RHs.
what else?
Megan Kay (07:55):
So can you kind of give us an overview of what you
do as a Division Chief atTruckee Meadows?
there's that
August Isernhagen (08:01):
Okay, so Truckee Meadows started. We've
always had a wild landcomponent. It's one of our main
areas of emergency response, andwe've dabbled in fuels
management here and therethroughout the years. About a
year and a half ago, inpartnership, primarily with NV
Energy in the state of Nevada,Division of Forestry, there was
(08:22):
funding to be more proactiveabout 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
(08:42):
within TM. There's an EMSdivision for emergency medical
services. There's an Operationsit oversees the line staff and
Megan Kay (08:47):
And then for when we say Truckee Meadows, because I
know you guys recently changedyour name. Used to be trucking
those Fire Protection District,but now it's Truckee Meadows
just Fire and Rescue.
August Isernhagen (09:02):
Correct yes.
Megan Kay (09:03):
And it's just in Washoe County.
August Isernhagen (09:05):
Yep. So Truckee Meadows is responsible
for emergency response inunincorporated Washoe County. So
Reno has their own firedepartment, Sparks has their
own, North Lake Tahoe out ofIncline has their own and then
our jurisdiction goes up totownship 22 which is pretty much
Palomino Valley, like thatNorthern boundary. However,
through agreements with thecounty, we also take on their
(09:27):
fire suppression North of thatso essentially goes to the
Oregon border. To the North.
They have a small departmentoutside of Gerlach that is also
run currently by TruckeeMeadows. That's kind of
changing. And then there's adepartment outside of Pyramid
Lake.
Megan Kay (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 primary 9-5job is, or 7-5 job is, fuels
management, right? And that'swhat they're doing 52 weeks out
of the year there, year round,when there is a fire, they're
all their 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 waterand hose and tools.
Megan Kay (10:19):
But it's like, but it looks like a truck, right?
August Isernhagen (10:19):
Exactly.
Megan Kay (10:19):
So it's not, it doesn't look like a typical fire
engine. It's like a.
August Isernhagen (10:24):
It's like a big lifted pickup truck on
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 apparatus,and all of the staff are cross
(10:46):
cross-trained for wildland. Sothe new crews are that's their
focus as wildland and fuels, butall of the Truckee Meadows crews
are trained and capable in it.
Megan Kay (10:55):
How did you get the job? And what is your career in
wildland firefighter? As awildland firefighter?
August Isernhagen (11:00):
I took a kind of a wandering approach to get
here. I've been doing fire andnatural resource management for
about 20 years. I started inhigh school as a seasonal park
ranger. For a couple years, Iknew I wanted to do something
outside and and.
Megan Kay (11:16):
I didn't even know they had seasonal park rangers.
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 outthere. I still didn't think I'd
do fire, apologize for theradio. I still didn't think I
wanted to do fire. I wanted togo more like wildlife, but
started going to UNR and then tohelp pay for school. I got a job
(11:46):
as a wildland a seasonalwildland guy with Nevada
Division of Forestry, did acouple years of volunteering all
risk in there also all riskmeans structure fires, emergency
medical services, that type ofstuff. I enjoyed it, but it
wasn't really my.
Megan Kay (12:01):
The all risk side you enjoyed but wasn't your?
August Isernhagen (12:05):
It wasn't I didn't have the passion for it
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
we had that first winter withouthealth insurance and a brand new
(12:25):
baby at home, and so it's time,time to grow up.
Megan Kay (12:29):
Yeah, so that's, that's something that I want to
come back to. So let's, becauseI want you to describe what that
seasonality of a wildlandfirefighter but I didn't mean to
interrupt you. So you got youguys had a baby?
August Isernhagen (12:41):
Had a baby, it was time to grow up. So I got
a job running inmate crews withthe Nevada Division of Forestry,
similar function. So 52 weeksout of the year, those crews are
going out doing project work,fuels 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 bounced around a little
bit. I did a few years onengines. I did a few years on
Helitack, which is basicallyhand crew on the ground,
firefighters that get insertedby helicopter into remote areas.
Megan Kay (13:20):
Very cool by the way.
August Isernhagen (13:22):
Yeah, then I went back to engines for a
couple years, then I became thecrew boss for a while. Then one
year, Helitack was shortstaffed, and I was brought into
the Chief's office, and heasked, you know, you've been
running a good crew. How'd youlike to go to Helitack? So a
fair amount of folks wanted thatexperience. I said, No, thanks.
I like running crew. And theypretty much said, too bad you're
(13:44):
the only one with experience.
You're going, so I ended up backat Helitack. Was there for a few
years. So as a crew boss, I wasyear round, and I'd.
Megan Kay (13:56):
So when you say crew boss, you mean with the inmate
crews?
August Isernhagen (13:59):
Both. I did just inmate crews for a little
bit, a couple years. And thenwhen I ended up back at
Helitack, I'd go to Helitack forthe 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
Helitack, because that's whythey were always having to
(14:20):
borrow folks, as they didn'thave any exclusive positions
there. I got that position, andthen my boss there pretty much
required, he couldn't, but herequired me to 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,finished that, 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 thewhole inmate program, about 700
(14:59):
personnel across. What 10 or 11facilities across the state? So
I took that job. The degree waskey for that. Obviously, moving
into those upper managementpositions. 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 (15:24):
You jumped ship?
August Isernhagen (15:24):
Everything lined up, and here I am, happy
as a clam.
Megan Kay (15:30):
been with Truckee Meadows?
August Isernhagen (15:32):
16 months.
Megan Kay (15:33):
16 months?
August Isernhagen (15:34):
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 ground,swinging a tool, which kind of
sucks, because that's wherethat's the fun. That's where the
(16:03):
fun is, right? My favorite partsabout it were, number one, the
adventure, right? You never knowwhat's going to happen today
when you show up to work.
There's a little bit of thatadrenaline, and, like I said,
sense of adventure. I liketraveling. 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
(16:25):
today, and so I've been on firesall over the Western United
States, and that's an excitingpiece. 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, well sometimes youend up there too, but you're
that's not the point, right? Youso you end up in the middle of
(16:48):
nowhere and see some coolsights. And then the last piece,
the most important piece to methrough the 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
friends in the world are, arethose that that I fought fire
with over the years.
Jordan Buxton (17:08):
Why?
August Isernhagen (17:08):
I think it's, I don't know that's a
complicated question. I thinkit's, there's obviously a piece
of it's not like, morbidlydangerous, right? But there's an
elevated risk, and sometimes youcan end up in some sketchy
situations, and that creates abond. Another piece is ties to
what Megan was talking about,kind of the cyclical nature of
(17:31):
it, and the difficulties that goalong with that. And and a lot
of people maybe don't relate tothat, right? But when you when
you are in a season focused job,and you're living with these
people for six months out of theyear, you just those bonds, I
don't know, naturally comeabout, you know? And especially
(17:53):
like on the helicopter, there'sa heightened level of risk
there, and that's like the truedefinition of adventure, right?
You just launch and take offinto the wild blue yonder and
get dropped off on a mountaintopfor four days with your buddies,
you know? And think you'd behard pressed not to have those
relationships in thosescenarios.
Megan Kay (18:11):
Yeah, and there's no, there's no escape. Even if you
wanted to. But the yeah I did,just for full disclosure, I have
some wildland fire experience. Iwas on, actually, was on an I
wasn't ever on an engine withyou, but I did serve as I was a
seasonal NDF for two seasons,and then on a type two hand crew
(18:32):
in Incline called the SlideMount hand crew, which is part
of North Lake Tahoe FireProtection District, for two
seasons. And then I was therefor almost three seasons, but I
got injured at the beginning ofmy third season and decided not
to come back. I had to go tocollege. But, yeah, so I can
definitely relate to thatseasonality, because I did that
(18:53):
for five years, basically, ofjust and it was hard to break
out of, like, when youtransition out of it, like, it
was really hard for me to stayat a job for longer than a year.
Because I was just like, I I'mgetting antsy. Like when is it
gonna switch? I don't it's like,is it really just this? Forever?
August Isernhagen (19:12):
That is difficult. It becomes cyclical,
right? Yeah, your life is basedon the seasons. And you start to
expect, like, just get toNovember.
Megan Kay (19:21):
Yeah, but definitely, like is, I didn't keep in touch
with like, the guys in my crew,but it's I definitely know a lot
about them, at least at thatmoment in time, and they know a
lot about me, you know? So it'slike, that will, that will never
change. But, yeah, those bondsare definitely, pretty crazy.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (19:43):
Conversely, what do you think is the
toughest part of being awildland firefighter?
August Isernhagen (19:50):
There's 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 knowother guys that they go 10-15,
(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
(20:34):
health, especially when youfirst start, is one another one
is family life, right? I'mmarried, I have four kids, and
that has always been a struggle,especially when they're little.
Is we were talking about itearlier, right? You leave in the
morning, you give everybody akiss. You think you're coming
back that night, but who knows?
You end up in Wyoming or Idaho,or whatever that scenario is,
(20:57):
and a significant other can, youknow, they're usually aware of
that possibility, but the littleone, they can't, they can't
process that the same way, sothat one's hard. And then what
else I would say, tying back tothose close relationships is
(21:19):
it's a small group, right? Andpeople outside those
relationships don't, can'trelate, and don't have that
perspective, like even my ownparents barely understand
anything, because it's just,it's a it's, it's alien to most
people.
Megan Kay (21:36):
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 trying to explain tohim, like, like he did not
relate. So the only people whowere honestly related are the
(21:57):
wildlife 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 a partyor something, even though we're
no longer doing it, we're alwaysjust, 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 peoplewould envision is the difficult
pieces. And some people think itis, I've never had an issue
enjoyed that, so, yeah,different than what most people
Megan Kay (22:44):
Yeah, if that's if those are the difficult parts of
the job, then you probablyshouldn't be in the job, because
that's just the job. During awildfire, firefighters have a
lot to do. Make it easier forfirefighters to defend your
home, create defensible spacenow. Defensible space is an area
between a house and an oncomingwildfire where the vegetation
(23:05):
has been managed to reduce thewildfire threat. Proper
with, you know, in terms of,like, the physical element, or
defensible space doesn't meanremoving all vegetation, though,
by following the lean, clean andgreen rule, you can keep your
property safe while preservingits natural beauty. Learn more
about defensible space in ourguide "Fire adapted communities,
the next step in wildfirepreparedness" you can find the
(23:28):
guide in the resources sectionof our website at livingwithfire.com.
would think, I would guess.
We were talking about the prosand cons of wildland
firefighting, the sort ofeffects that it can have on your
your personal life. I wanted tocircle back to a conversation we
(23:49):
were having off mic earlier,about, like mental health. And
you were talking, you weretalking about how, well, first
of all, just kind of unpack,sort of some of the maybe
challenges that are common withwildland firefighters, like
mental health wise. And thenwhat you you mentioned that
(24:12):
Truckee Meadows is actuallybeing proactive in dealing with
it. So I'd like to hear a littlebit about that.
August Isernhagen (24:13):
I think mental health in terms of the
wildland community, think itobviously 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, spring was
ramping bac yeah you just kindof get into that life cycle, 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
(24:59):
unknown is also another mentalhealth piece, I would say,
probably the biggest one tiesback to the family element that
we were talking about rightissue, like, if it can create
marital issues, the job, right?
That same thing being gone allsummer long and not present, how
your kids take it those types ofthings, as well as the stress
(25:21):
from like we talked about thefinancial element when you first
get started, all of those playinto it. And we talked about it
again. I've never felt wildlandfire was anything
extraordinarily dangerous orextraordinarily impactful in
terms of what you see, butobviously same thing, every
(25:43):
person takes that differently,and sometimes you see death and
destruction and things that somepeople have a hard time coping
with.
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. You
know, like, if you see your yourbuddy get injured, or, you know,
someone in our crew had, like, agrand mal seizure, had been
(26:16):
Helitacked out. That was alittle intense. But the yeah,
just the anxiety and just theconstant sort of anxiety, I feel
like 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 kind of things, or apolice officer, you know, or
somebody in the military, butit's still the the rate that
those things happen is stillelevated in the wildland world
(26:50):
compared to everyday life I'vebeen on, I've been around three
or four, four aircraftaccidents, right? And I think
almost in the wildlandcommunity, those might be,
again, I'm not a psychologist. II would think those are have a
more pronounced impact becausethey're not exposed to it all
the time, and some of thosecoping mechanisms aren't there.
(27:12):
Would be my guess again, yeah,
Megan Kay (27:15):
But yeah, I can't even imagine being in the
aviation like, all the stressthat would go into just the
daily operations of that, yeah,and that can take a toll on your
nervous system, I'd imagine.
August Isernhagen (27:26):
Again, I think it depends on the
individual. Like, when you'refirst learning and you're first
into it, it's a whole new world,and 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 so 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 acritical incident stress
management discussion. Itdoesn't have to be that formal.
(28:05):
As he's cruising around town,he'll stop in a fire station and
and touch base with with thefolks. And if they want to
engage or pull them aside, thenthey can do that, not just about
work stuff, just in general, howthey're doing. If we have near
misses or injuries, we bring himinto the fold to check
everybody's mental health there.
And then he's also really activenationally in the wildland fire
(28:26):
community. So all spring, he'scruising around the Western US,
touching base with hotshotcrews, engine crews, federal
government, state governmentsand and same thing, doing a lot
of preventative maintenance. Helikes to call it on the front
end, giving tools on, how todeal with some of those
(28:46):
stressors. So, yeah, that's oneelement that, or that's one
aspect that, that TruckeeMeadows has, we also have some
of our internal folks. BattalionChief Derek Reid, he was
instrumental in starting theNevada Peer Support Network, and
that was in conjunction with DrSteve also, and that was all
focused on mental health. Of itstarted off fairly limited,
(29:08):
right? The fire community, butthat's expanded for to law
enforcement, medical personnel,the military. And now it was the
Northern Nevada Peer SupportNetwork. Now it's the Nevada
Peer Support Network. So I don'tknow how many different agencies
are participating in that, butthis spring, they put on a two
(29:28):
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 an important issue. And I
mean just the what the wildlandfirefighter, just with wildland
firefighters in particular, youknow, our wildland seasons in
air quotes. You can't see that,but I said air quotes are longer
and longer, and yeah, and sofolks are out on the line, like,
(29:59):
actively fighting fire forprolonged periods of time and
getting exhausted. And so I justthink it's anything, any sort of
innovations in and beingproactive and giving folks
tools, but also just checkingin. You know, I definitely was,
I was feeling I was prettylucky. I had really good
(30:22):
leadership, that I was alwaysreally touching base and
checking in with stuff likethat. I mean, there's, I feel
like, you know, cultural firecrews, like, there's also things
that contribute to anxiety.
August Isernhagen (30:33):
For sure, there's a stoic macho mentality.
Megan Kay (30:38):
Maybe unnecessary, but for the most part, there was
genuine, like concern foreverybody. So that was pretty
nice. I wanted to kind of switchgears a little bit and talk
about just things that youthink, that residents,
(31:00):
homeowners, people in generalshould 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 awildland fire event, or maybe
just in general, so that peoplekind of understand who these
folks are that are fightingthese fires, you know, I mean,
(31:24):
obviously everyone's different.
Like, there's no, there's nostereotype. But the, you know, I
just think, I think that peoplewould like, I think it's an
interesting job that people wantto know about. And especially,
like, if people, if, if peopleare living in the urban
(31:45):
interface, and they, wildlandurban interface, and they're
experiencing wildfire like,they're gonna come in contact
with with firefighters. So it'dbe kind of interesting. It'd be
kind of nice to know, like,maybe we'll start with this.
Like, what's like, someetiquette?
August Isernhagen (31:58):
Some etiquette? Well, several times
I've experienced it through mywhole career, especially. I
don't know that it's centered,obviously, around fire, but just
working for in the public sectorin general, right? You interact
with a lot of opinions out therebased, you know, regarding what
you're doing, right? A lot ofopinions and good ideas. I've
(32:24):
interacted with tons of publicwhen I'm out on project or out
on fires where you're gettingthat, you're getting those
inputs on something that maybethey don't understand as well,
right? But they still have theopinions. And obviously, in this
line of work, emotions are high,right? Whether it's a project
(32:46):
and you're cutting outsomebody's favorite tree, right,
or it's prescribed fire andsomebody's worried about it
escaping, or you're in theactual fire environment, right,
and they're worried about theirhouse. And so I think the main
piece of etiquette is, would beto approach, approach them as
you know, a trainedprofessional, this is what they
chose to do as their trade, andshow them that respect and in
(33:11):
their in their expertise, forwhat they know.
Megan Kay (33:16):
Is there anything that maybe homeowners could
know, could do to maybe makewildland firefighters jobs
easier?
August Isernhagen (33:26):
It ties to the first question, and you
know, living with fire talkingabout fuels management,
defensible space, those thosepieces, specifically, is a piece
of honoring or respecting whatthose guys do would be to take
some ownership in your own, yourown position in life, with your
(33:48):
property, your home, that typeof thing. They are, fathers,
husbands, wives, mothers thatare coming into these situations
to try to help and having thatownership to do what you can
before that scenario happens, Ithink isn't stressed enough,
(34:11):
right? Because there is a bunchof work. This is the stuff you
guys talk about, all the timethat can be done ahead of time
to both make it safer and moreproductive while the wildland
folks are in there. As we treat,as we train, we always beat it
into everybody's heads thatthere's no bush worth dying for.
(34:31):
There's no house worth dyingfor, right? That's true to a
degree, but if that werecompletely true, we'd just stop
fighting fire all the way to getall together, right? Because
that's the only way to guaranteeit doesn't happen. So there is a
piece of that we also try totrain 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.
Megan Kay (34:55):
Yeah, you don't. No one wants someone's house
burned.
August Isernhagen (34:57):
You instantly become more invested in. What
you're doing when it'ssomebody's private property, and
so having that ownership andmaking a difference to help
before it's needed.
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 livingwithfire.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's the job as you're awildland firefighter. But when I
was working on hand crew and onan engine. There wasn't a whole
(36:23):
lot of social media. You know,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 of at the end
of the year, which was, like,usually, like really intense
(36:45):
music and just like highlightsof all the stuff.
Jordan Buxton (36:50):
Of the plane dumping over the forest.
Megan Kay (36:53):
Which is awesome, and then the uploaded to YouTube.
And that was your way of kind oflike putting it out there. Like,
this is what we did this season.
But now there are lots of like,Facebook groups and Instagram
accounts and YouTube influencersaround wildland fire, so people
can really kind of educatethemselves and dig into the
culture. There's one podcastthat I listen to. It's called
(37:17):
Anchor Point. It's Brandon is anex-wildland firefighter, former
wildland firefighter, and he, heactually lives in Reno, has a
big audience, but, yeah, hispodcast is huge, and it's, I
just love that there's thisculture now where people can
talk about it, and there's anoutlet to where they can like,
(37:39):
find like minded individual orpeople not like minded, but, you
know, people with the sameexperience. That didn't really
exist when I was firefighting.
So it was like, the only way youcan meet other wildland
firefighters. Was like, in camp.
You know? So I thought that was,I just think that's pretty cool.
So feel free to comment, but Istill want that anecdote and
(38:01):
that heartwarming story.
August Isernhagen (38:04):
I don't know if I have heartwarming.
Megan Kay (38:07):
I have kind of an interesting story about
helicopters. So just sorry, thisisn't, this podcast isn't about
me.
But I'm always, I'vealways, I never got to ride on a
August Isernhagen (38:17):
No, you're good.
helicopter, and it's one of thethings that I regret, or I can't
regret it, because there'snothing. It's not, it wasn't my
choice. It's just one of thethings that I'm kind of bummed
that never happened. But thebecause, part of the reason I
wanted to be on the crew that Iapplied for was when I was an
(38:37):
NDF. I got assigned to the watertender one time, which is the
it's an interesting gig, if youguys, if people listening, have
ever been on a water tender? Iwas on the water tender that
day, which usually is no bigdeal. It's like you drive the
water tender to project work orwherever. You just have to be on
(38:58):
it in case it gets dispatched toa fire. Well, I got dispatched
to a fire out in, likeWinnemucca, with the other guy I
was in the water tender with,and we ended up being on this
fire for like two weeks, orhowever long, a long time, and
we were stuck, just like at theairport, and our whole job was
(39:19):
to just like, fill up thevarious, yeah the pumpkins. So
it's like, we would just begoing back and forth from a
hydrant all day. Yep, that's allwe did. And it was really
boring, in my opinion. It's avery important, it's a very
important job. But, and thenthis crew, the crews kept
(39:41):
getting. They were being flownin and out every day because
they weren't like, spiking outon the fire. They're just like,
we're getting a ride every dayin the helicopter to and from
the fire. And I was just like,who this is? I'm so jealous of
this crew. And I found out whoit was. It was a slide mount
(40:05):
hand crew. And I was like, cool,I'm applying for that crew next
year. And because in my mind, Ididn't know anything, I was just
like, wow, that crew flies onhelicopter. And I never got to
fly in a helicopter the two, thetwo and a half seasons I was on
there, but got close. I one timewe, like, taped up all our
tools, had our manifest, everyeverything ready, because you
have to weigh everything,because it's very you know, it's
(40:26):
a it's an aircraft, in case youguys didn't know helicopter are
an aircraft, but we got veryclose, and we just never did it.
So they decided that they would,they were fine with letting us
hike the 13 miles. So we did.
But anyway.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (40:41):
I got a question for Augie. Like, do you
Augie? Do you have any storiesof how like, like, the community
has, like, rallied around, likefirefighters after a fire and
like made like baked goods orsomething 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 ofthe woodwork. Up here, that's
not as common. Again, it's, Ithink it's just a demographic
difference, but all of those bigWUI fires, right? Wildland Urban
(41:44):
Interface fires. It's aheartwarming piece. Right? Is
all the signs that you see,especially when it's kids
painting and those kind ofthings, saying, Thank you.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (41:52):
That's really interesting. Sorry.
August Isernhagen (41:58):
Oftentimes, No, you're good. Oftentimes, as
those requests come in, theincident management teams, the
teams on these bigger fires,they try to redirect those
people to the Red Cross ornonprofits, right? Because when
we're on these big fires, thebig fires, not necessarily all
the little initial attacks, butyou're pretty well logistically
(42:19):
taken care of, right? So there'sa there's an incident command
post or and a camp that gets setup, and it's essentially, it's
like Burning Man. It's a citythat just gets built in a
parking lot, right? And therethey feed you, and there's a
medical tent to get ibuprofen,and there's supply tent to to go
get new gloves, right? And soyou're pretty well taken care
(42:40):
of, and so oftentimes on thosebig, catastrophic ones like we
have right now, right Dixie,those donations are much better
served to go to those nonprofitit's like Red Cross and help
with the people that areevacuated and may have lost
everything.
Jordan Buxton (42:57):
A couple of years ago, I can't, I can't remember
the year. One of those camps wasactually set up in the schools
sports field down the streetfrom where I grew up, down the
street from my parents house. Itwas there were their engines
from Colorado, New Mexico. Acouple from New York. And it was
the entire block that my I grewup on was just lined with engine
August Isernhagen (43:16):
One of my more memorable fires. There's
crews.
hundreds, but one of the morefun ones, in retrospect, and
this is a unique piece about thefirefighting community, right?
Is oftentimes when you're themost miserable and broken
afterward. You look look back,and those are the the times that
you laugh, and it's and it'sfunny. I was, I was on Helitack,
(43:39):
and we got flown into a fire upby Pyramid. I don't remember the
name of it, and we spent we flewup first thing in the morning,
and it was off doing its thingin the cheatgrass, and we spent
the entire day just hot lining,right? And so hot lining is a
term when you're like, at theactive part of the fire. You're
not mopping up, you're notcontrolling the edge, but you're
(44:00):
like, actively suppressing,trying to fight fire, and it's
oftentimes the most physicallyarduous, but it's also the fun,
right? You're in, you're in theexcitement. Aircraft are
dropping all around you, andthere's flames, and you're
sweating. And we so we did thatall day, from probably 8:00,
8 (44:21):
30 in the morning, till, I guess, 5:00 or 6:00 at night,
and we got picked up off theline. Most of us were pretty
close to running out of water,because on the helicopter you
you travel light, right, becauseyour our program's main focus
was initial, initial attack,moving fast on those scenarios.
(44:43):
And so we're flying back to tothe heli base. Our support
vehicles are instead to resupplyon water and MREs and stuff. But
on the way there, we found we wespotted another smoke over in
Story County, somewhere. And sowe turned to go there. Obviously
(45:03):
it needed to. It needed someattention. It was starting to
crown through thePinyon-Juniper, right? And so we
landed. We offload there. Thehelicopter takes off to give us
bucket work. He's, he goes,actually, he went back for fuel.
And then we call inSmokejumpers. They're going to
come in and help us, becausethey're sitting instead
(45:25):
smokejumper plane comes over,they drop their guys in part of
their gear, and then a thundercell moves over. And so when a
cell moves over, two thingshappen, right? One, oftentimes
your fire blows out because ofthe wind events right the
downdrafts that come out of it.
And two, you lose your aircraftbecause they can't fly for the
(45:46):
same reason. And so ourhelicopter couldn't come back.
The jumper plane got sent backand landed. And we're still out
of water. We're still out ofMREs. We get drenched. There's
lightning crashing all aroundus, probably two or three
strikes within a quarter mile ofus, the jumpers got blown around
in the wind, so they'rescattered out trying to figure
(46:09):
out where everybody is. And thatwas our night. We went to bed
with no food, no water, soakingwet, and in the middle of
nowhere, in the rocks, and yougo to bed thinking, like, what
am I doing with my life? Butthen, you know, after a week or
two, you look at your buddy andyou just chuckle about it,
(46:31):
because that's part of theadventure.
Megan Kay (46:36):
Dang.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (46:37):
I would imagine that it was a really
like bonding moment with youryour colleagues, right?
August Isernhagen (46:44):
Afterward, not in the moment, right because
people are thirsty, they'rehungry, they're cold, they're
wet. Yeah, tempers start to gettesty. I remember having to call
one of them out, like, becausehe was complaining about, I
don't remember what the water Ithink I had to tell them, like,
complaining about it isn'thelping anybody. Shut up. We'll
(47:06):
get water in the morning.
Megan Kay (47:07):
Yeah, they'll drop you some water when they can,
yeah.
August Isernhagen (47:11):
But after the fact, yes, then it's bonding.
But in the moment, it can betesty.
Megan Kay (47:15):
And that's why those relationships are so strong. You
go through more with thesepeople than you go with like,
your freaking spouse sometimes.
August Isernhagen (47:26):
No, there's been numerous times myself and
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 of MRE and abunch of cubies. Cubies are five
gallon boxes of water and somebatteries, and we'll see you in
a few days.
Megan Kay (47:46):
Go stop the fire.
Thank you for listening to theLiving with Fire Podcast. You
can find more stories aboutwildfire and other resources at
livingwithfire.com. The Livingwith Fire Program is funded by
the University of Nevada, RenoExtension, Nevada Division of
(48:07):
Forestry, Bureau of LandManagement 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.
I'm Megan Kay, your host andOutreach Coordinator for the
Living with Fire program, andjoined today by my boss, Jamie
Royce-Gomes, Hi, Jamie.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (00:39):
Hi Megan.
Megan Kay (00:40):
And our student worker content creator Jordan
Buxton.
Jordan Buxton (00:44):
Hello.
Megan Kay (00:45):
Jordan is joining us today. He was part of the
interview and had some greatquestions, so I wanted to get
his take on the interview aswell. This episode, we sat down
with August Isernhagen, who's adeputy chief of wildland fuels
at the Truckee Meadows Fire andRescue. It was a great
(01:06):
interview. He talked all aboutwildland firefighting from his
perspective, and gave us a lotto think about when it comes to
the job of wildland firefightingand how we interact interact
with wildland firefighters andwhat we as residents and
homeowners can do to make theirjob a little easier and keep
them safe. So let's, I kind ofwanted to hear you guys thoughts
(01:27):
and interview, and let's startwith whoever wants to go first.
Jamie?
Jamie Roice-Gomes (01:33):
Okay, I thought it was a great
interview. I like how he gavesome inside 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
Augie did a really good orAugust.
Megan Kay (01:52):
He goes by Augie.
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 firesfor the almost the last two
(02:16):
decades, I think that he hadunique insights, especially as
someone who, as he kind of putit, would rather still be, you
know, in the pits, fighting withthe guys.
Megan Kay (02:27):
Well, I think that, yeah, that's definitely where
the action is. But he's alsoprivate, like he also mentioned,
it's nice for him to have spendtime with his family, because
that's one of the aspects ofbeing wildland firefighter, is
there's adventure, but you neverreally know where you're gonna
go and for how long you're gonnabe there. Yeah, I think that I
(02:53):
was really excited I got 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,
and also their stories are justinteresting and engaging. So I'm
(03:15):
always down to here 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 not
easy, and they're doing a lot.
So, thank you.
Jordan Buxton (03:28):
I thought it was interesting, actually, how he
brought that up, how he talkedabout how in other areas, you
know, he does, 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, than 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):
Me too, I wonder if it has to do with the
fact that we always havewildfires here, and so we've
kind of become immune to it.
Jordan Buxton (04:25):
Kind of jaded.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (04:25):
Yeah, I mean, whereas if in another area, if
they don't experience wildlandfirefighters or certain wildland
fires every year, maybe it'sjust 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 Cal Fire 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 parked here getting
Megan Kay (04:55):
Yeah, if folks want to show gratitude, Augie said
ready.
that he mentioned in theinterview. It's always is good
for morale when they can see,you know, like signs saying,
Thank you firefighters, maybethat will give them a little bit
more motivation. You know, notthat they 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 throughNorth Cal, you'd pass through
the little the little towns, theones that, if the fire got
there, they'd definitely begone. And the high was, highway
was just lined with thank youfirefighters. And yeah.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (05:31):
There you go, Jordan.
Jordan Buxton (05:32):
Thanks for saving our homes. But it'd be cool. It
would be cool to see that inNorthern Nevada a little more.
Megan Kay (05:38):
I will say if you're when I was firefighting, 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,like, baked goods, or maybe they
paid for if it was, like, asmaller fire, obviously, if it's
a big fire, I don't think peoplehave that much money, but there
(05:59):
are a few times, yeah, wherepeople would just, like, pay for
us to have some treats. Youknow, which, which was really,
and when I say folks, I mean isusually like a local business
owner who was kind of.
Jordan Buxton (06:12):
If one of the wealthy local business owners,
wants to cater an entire firecamp, that would be much
appreciated.
Megan Kay (06:20):
Well, don't cater to camp, but 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 Ashley's
Toy Closet. And they collectdonations for families that have
been affected by Wildfire, maybelost properties, homes, and they
(06:42):
collect 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 weall really enjoyed talking to
Augie and get to getting to pickhis brain about wildland
(07:05):
firefighting. And I hope youguys enjoy the interview.
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.
Jordan Buxton (07:34):
You keep going, I actually like it.
August Isernhagen (07:36):
The radio is going in the background. We're
in red flag today, so I'm justlistening.
Megan Kay (07:41):
And a red flag warning for our audience who
doesn't already know, means thatthere's potential for extreme
fire behavior today because oflow temperatures, high winds and
August Isernhagen (07:53):
High winds and low RHs.
what else?
Megan Kay (07:55):
So can you kind of give us an overview of what you
do as a Division Chief atTruckee Meadows?
there's that
August Isernhagen (08:01):
Okay, so Truckee Meadows started. We've
always had a wild landcomponent. It's one of our main
areas of emergency response, andwe've dabbled in fuels
management here and therethroughout the years. About a
year and a half ago, inpartnership, primarily with NV
Energy in the state of Nevada,Division of Forestry, there was
(08:22):
funding to be more proactiveabout 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
(08:42):
within TM. There's an EMSdivision for emergency medical
services. There's an Operationsit oversees the line staff and
Megan Kay (08:47):
And then for when we say Truckee Meadows, because I
know you guys recently changedyour name. Used to be trucking
those Fire Protection District,but now it's Truckee Meadows
just Fire and Rescue.
August Isernhagen (09:02):
Correct yes.
Megan Kay (09:03):
And it's just in Washoe County.
August Isernhagen (09:05):
Yep. So Truckee Meadows is responsible
for emergency response inunincorporated Washoe County. So
Reno has their own firedepartment, Sparks has their
own, North Lake Tahoe out ofIncline has their own and then
our jurisdiction goes up totownship 22 which is pretty much
Palomino Valley, like thatNorthern boundary. However,
through agreements with thecounty, we also take on their
(09:27):
fire suppression North of thatso essentially goes to the
Oregon border. To the North.
They have a small departmentoutside of Gerlach that is also
run currently by TruckeeMeadows. That's kind of
changing. And then there's adepartment outside of Pyramid
Lake.
Megan Kay (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 primary 9-5job is, or 7-5 job is, fuels
management, right? And that'swhat they're doing 52 weeks out
of the year there, year round,when there is a fire, they're
all their 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 waterand hose and tools.
Megan Kay (10:19):
But it's like, but it looks like a truck, right?
August Isernhagen (10:19):
Exactly.
Megan Kay (10:19):
So it's not, it doesn't look like a typical fire
engine. It's like a.
August Isernhagen (10:24):
It's like a big lifted pickup truck on
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 apparatus,and all of the staff are cross
(10:46):
cross-trained for wildland. Sothe new crews are that's their
focus as wildland and fuels, butall of the Truckee Meadows crews
are trained and capable in it.
Megan Kay (10:55):
How did you get the job? And what is your career in
wildland firefighter? As awildland firefighter?
August Isernhagen (11:00):
I took a kind of a wandering approach to get
here. I've been doing fire andnatural resource management for
about 20 years. I started inhigh school as a seasonal park
ranger. For a couple years, Iknew I wanted to do something
outside and and.
Megan Kay (11:16):
I didn't even know they had seasonal park rangers.
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 outthere. I still didn't think I'd
do fire, apologize for theradio. I still didn't think I
wanted to do fire. I wanted togo more like wildlife, but
started going to UNR and then tohelp pay for school. I got a job
(11:46):
as a wildland a seasonalwildland guy with Nevada
Division of Forestry, did acouple years of volunteering all
risk in there also all riskmeans structure fires, emergency
medical services, that type ofstuff. I enjoyed it, but it
wasn't really my.
Megan Kay (12:01):
The all risk side you enjoyed but wasn't your?
August Isernhagen (12:05):
It wasn't I didn't have the passion for it
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
we had that first winter withouthealth insurance and a brand new
(12:25):
baby at home, and so it's time,time to grow up.
Megan Kay (12:29):
Yeah, so that's, that's something that I want to
come back to. So let's, becauseI want you to describe what that
seasonality of a wildlandfirefighter but I didn't mean to
interrupt you. So you got youguys had a baby?
August Isernhagen (12:41):
Had a baby, it was time to grow up. So I got
a job running inmate crews withthe Nevada Division of Forestry,
similar function. So 52 weeksout of the year, those crews are
going out doing project work,fuels 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 bounced around a little
bit. I did a few years onengines. I did a few years on
Helitack, which is basicallyhand crew on the ground,
firefighters that get insertedby helicopter into remote areas.
Megan Kay (13:20):
Very cool by the way.
August Isernhagen (13:22):
Yeah, then I went back to engines for a
couple years, then I became thecrew boss for a while. Then one
year, Helitack was shortstaffed, and I was brought into
the Chief's office, and heasked, you know, you've been
running a good crew. How'd youlike to go to Helitack? So a
fair amount of folks wanted thatexperience. I said, No, thanks.
I like running crew. And theypretty much said, too bad you're
(13:44):
the only one with experience.
You're going, so I ended up backat Helitack. Was there for a few
years. So as a crew boss, I wasyear round, and I'd.
Megan Kay (13:56):
So when you say crew boss, you mean with the inmate
crews?
August Isernhagen (13:59):
Both. I did just inmate crews for a little
bit, a couple years. And thenwhen I ended up back at
Helitack, I'd go to Helitack forthe 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
Helitack, because that's whythey were always having to
(14:20):
borrow folks, as they didn'thave any exclusive positions
there. I got that position, andthen my boss there pretty much
required, he couldn't, but herequired me to 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,finished that, 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 thewhole inmate program, about 700
(14:59):
personnel across. What 10 or 11facilities across the state? So
I took that job. The degree waskey for that. Obviously, moving
into those upper managementpositions. 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 (15:24):
You jumped ship?
August Isernhagen (15:24):
Everything lined up, and here I am, happy
as a clam.
Megan Kay (15:30):
been with Truckee Meadows?
August Isernhagen (15:32):
16 months.
Megan Kay (15:33):
16 months?
August Isernhagen (15:34):
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 ground,swinging a tool, which kind of
sucks, because that's wherethat's the fun. That's where the
(16:03):
fun is, right? My favorite partsabout it were, number one, the
adventure, right? You never knowwhat's going to happen today
when you show up to work.
There's a little bit of thatadrenaline, and, like I said,
sense of adventure. I liketraveling. 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
(16:25):
today, and so I've been on firesall over the Western United
States, and that's an excitingpiece. 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, well sometimes youend up there too, but you're
that's not the point, right? Youso you end up in the middle of
(16:48):
nowhere and see some coolsights. And then the last piece,
the most important piece to methrough the 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
friends in the world are, arethose that that I fought fire
with over the years.
Jordan Buxton (17:08):
Why?
August Isernhagen (17:08):
I think it's, I don't know that's a
complicated question. I thinkit's, there's obviously a piece
of it's not like, morbidlydangerous, right? But there's an
elevated risk, and sometimes youcan end up in some sketchy
situations, and that creates abond. Another piece is ties to
what Megan was talking about,kind of the cyclical nature of
(17:31):
it, and the difficulties that goalong with that. And and a lot
of people maybe don't relate tothat, right? But when you when
you are in a season focused job,and you're living with these
people for six months out of theyear, you just those bonds, I
don't know, naturally comeabout, you know? And especially
(17:53):
like on the helicopter, there'sa heightened level of risk
there, and that's like the truedefinition of adventure, right?
You just launch and take offinto the wild blue yonder and
get dropped off on a mountaintopfor four days with your buddies,
you know? And think you'd behard pressed not to have those
relationships in thosescenarios.
Megan Kay (18:11):
Yeah, and there's no, there's no escape. Even if you
wanted to. But the yeah I did,just for full disclosure, I have
some wildland fire experience. Iwas on, actually, was on an I
wasn't ever on an engine withyou, but I did serve as I was a
seasonal NDF for two seasons,and then on a type two hand crew
(18:32):
in Incline called the SlideMount hand crew, which is part
of North Lake Tahoe FireProtection District, for two
seasons. And then I was therefor almost three seasons, but I
got injured at the beginning ofmy third season and decided not
to come back. I had to go tocollege. But, yeah, so I can
definitely relate to thatseasonality, because I did that
(18:53):
for five years, basically, ofjust and it was hard to break
out of, like, when youtransition out of it, like, it
was really hard for me to stayat a job for longer than a year.
Because I was just like, I I'mgetting antsy. Like when is it
gonna switch? I don't it's like,is it really just this? Forever?
August Isernhagen (19:12):
That is difficult. It becomes cyclical,
right? Yeah, your life is basedon the seasons. And you start to
expect, like, just get toNovember.
Megan Kay (19:21):
Yeah, but definitely, like is, I didn't keep in touch
with like, the guys in my crew,but it's I definitely know a lot
about them, at least at thatmoment in time, and they know a
lot about me, you know? So it'slike, that will, that will never
change. But, yeah, those bondsare definitely, pretty crazy.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (19:43):
Conversely, what do you think is the
toughest part of being awildland firefighter?
August Isernhagen (19:50):
There's 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 knowother guys that they go 10-15,
(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
(20:34):
health, especially when youfirst start, is one another one
is family life, right? I'mmarried, I have four kids, and
that has always been a struggle,especially when they're little.
Is we were talking about itearlier, right? You leave in the
morning, you give everybody akiss. You think you're coming
back that night, but who knows?
You end up in Wyoming or Idaho,or whatever that scenario is,
(20:57):
and a significant other can, youknow, they're usually aware of
that possibility, but the littleone, they can't, they can't
process that the same way, sothat one's hard. And then what
else I would say, tying back tothose close relationships is
(21:19):
it's a small group, right? Andpeople outside those
relationships don't, can'trelate, and don't have that
perspective, like even my ownparents barely understand
anything, because it's just,it's a it's, it's alien to most
people.
Megan Kay (21:36):
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 trying to explain tohim, like, like he did not
relate. So the only people whowere honestly related are the
(21:57):
wildlife 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 a partyor something, even though we're
no longer doing it, we're alwaysjust, 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 peoplewould envision is the difficult
pieces. And some people think itis, I've never had an issue
enjoyed that, so, yeah,different than what most people
Megan Kay (22:44):
Yeah, if that's if those are the difficult parts of
the job, then you probablyshouldn't be in the job, because
that's just the job. During awildfire, firefighters have a
lot to do. Make it easier forfirefighters to defend your
home, create defensible spacenow. Defensible space is an area
between a house and an oncomingwildfire where the vegetation
(23:05):
has been managed to reduce thewildfire threat. Proper
with, you know, in terms of,like, the physical element, or
defensible space doesn't meanremoving all vegetation, though,
by following the lean, clean andgreen rule, you can keep your
property safe while preservingits natural beauty. Learn more
about defensible space in ourguide "Fire adapted communities,
the next step in wildfirepreparedness" you can find the
(23:28):
guide in the resources sectionof our website at livingwithfire.com.
would think, I would guess.
We were talking about the prosand cons of wildland
firefighting, the sort ofeffects that it can have on your
your personal life. I wanted tocircle back to a conversation we
(23:49):
were having off mic earlier,about, like mental health. And
you were talking, you weretalking about how, well, first
of all, just kind of unpack,sort of some of the maybe
challenges that are common withwildland firefighters, like
mental health wise. And thenwhat you you mentioned that
(24:12):
Truckee Meadows is actuallybeing proactive in dealing with
it. So I'd like to hear a littlebit about that.
August Isernhagen (24:13):
I think mental health in terms of the
wildland community, think itobviously 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, spring was
ramping bac yeah you just kindof get into that life cycle, 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
(24:59):
unknown is also another mentalhealth piece, I would say,
probably the biggest one tiesback to the family element that
we were talking about rightissue, like, if it can create
marital issues, the job, right?
That same thing being gone allsummer long and not present, how
your kids take it those types ofthings, as well as the stress
(25:21):
from like we talked about thefinancial element when you first
get started, all of those playinto it. And we talked about it
again. I've never felt wildlandfire was anything
extraordinarily dangerous orextraordinarily impactful in
terms of what you see, butobviously same thing, every
(25:43):
person takes that differently,and sometimes you see death and
destruction and things that somepeople have a hard time coping
with.
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. You
know, like, if you see your yourbuddy get injured, or, you know,
someone in our crew had, like, agrand mal seizure, had been
(26:16):
Helitacked out. That was alittle intense. But the yeah,
just the anxiety and just theconstant sort of anxiety, I feel
like 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 kind of things, or apolice officer, you know, or
somebody in the military, butit's still the the rate that
those things happen is stillelevated in the wildland world
(26:50):
compared to everyday life I'vebeen on, I've been around three
or four, four aircraftaccidents, right? And I think
almost in the wildlandcommunity, those might be,
again, I'm not a psychologist. II would think those are have a
more pronounced impact becausethey're not exposed to it all
the time, and some of thosecoping mechanisms aren't there.
(27:12):
Would be my guess again, yeah,
Megan Kay (27:15):
But yeah, I can't even imagine being in the
aviation like, all the stressthat would go into just the
daily operations of that, yeah,and that can take a toll on your
nervous system, I'd imagine.
August Isernhagen (27:26):
Again, I think it depends on the
individual. Like, when you'refirst learning and you're first
into it, it's a whole new world,and 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 so 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 acritical incident stress
management discussion. Itdoesn't have to be that formal.
(28:05):
As he's cruising around town,he'll stop in a fire station and
and touch base with with thefolks. And if they want to
engage or pull them aside, thenthey can do that, not just about
work stuff, just in general, howthey're doing. If we have near
misses or injuries, we bring himinto the fold to check
everybody's mental health there.
And then he's also really activenationally in the wildland fire
(28:26):
community. So all spring, he'scruising around the Western US,
touching base with hotshotcrews, engine crews, federal
government, state governmentsand and same thing, doing a lot
of preventative maintenance. Helikes to call it on the front
end, giving tools on, how todeal with some of those
(28:46):
stressors. So, yeah, that's oneelement that, or that's one
aspect that, that TruckeeMeadows has, we also have some
of our internal folks. BattalionChief Derek Reid, he was
instrumental in starting theNevada Peer Support Network, and
that was in conjunction with DrSteve also, and that was all
focused on mental health. Of itstarted off fairly limited,
(29:08):
right? The fire community, butthat's expanded for to law
enforcement, medical personnel,the military. And now it was the
Northern Nevada Peer SupportNetwork. Now it's the Nevada
Peer Support Network. So I don'tknow how many different agencies
are participating in that, butthis spring, they put on a two
(29:28):
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 an important issue. And I
mean just the what the wildlandfirefighter, just with wildland
firefighters in particular, youknow, our wildland seasons in
air quotes. You can't see that,but I said air quotes are longer
and longer, and yeah, and sofolks are out on the line, like,
(29:59):
actively fighting fire forprolonged periods of time and
getting exhausted. And so I justthink it's anything, any sort of
innovations in and beingproactive and giving folks
tools, but also just checkingin. You know, I definitely was,
I was feeling I was prettylucky. I had really good
(30:22):
leadership, that I was alwaysreally touching base and
checking in with stuff likethat. I mean, there's, I feel
like, you know, cultural firecrews, like, there's also things
that contribute to anxiety.
August Isernhagen (30:33):
For sure, there's a stoic macho mentality.
Megan Kay (30:38):
Maybe unnecessary, but for the most part, there was
genuine, like concern foreverybody. So that was pretty
nice. I wanted to kind of switchgears a little bit and talk
about just things that youthink, that residents,
(31:00):
homeowners, people in generalshould 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 awildland fire event, or maybe
just in general, so that peoplekind of understand who these
folks are that are fightingthese fires, you know, I mean,
(31:24):
obviously everyone's different.
Like, there's no, there's nostereotype. But the, you know, I
just think, I think that peoplewould like, I think it's an
interesting job that people wantto know about. And especially,
like, if people, if, if peopleare living in the urban
(31:45):
interface, and they, wildlandurban interface, and they're
experiencing wildfire like,they're gonna come in contact
with with firefighters. So it'dbe kind of interesting. It'd be
kind of nice to know, like,maybe we'll start with this.
Like, what's like, someetiquette?
August Isernhagen (31:58):
Some etiquette? Well, several times
I've experienced it through mywhole career, especially. I
don't know that it's centered,obviously, around fire, but just
working for in the public sectorin general, right? You interact
with a lot of opinions out therebased, you know, regarding what
you're doing, right? A lot ofopinions and good ideas. I've
(32:24):
interacted with tons of publicwhen I'm out on project or out
on fires where you're gettingthat, you're getting those
inputs on something that maybethey don't understand as well,
right? But they still have theopinions. And obviously, in this
line of work, emotions are high,right? Whether it's a project
(32:46):
and you're cutting outsomebody's favorite tree, right,
or it's prescribed fire andsomebody's worried about it
escaping, or you're in theactual fire environment, right,
and they're worried about theirhouse. And so I think the main
piece of etiquette is, would beto approach, approach them as
you know, a trainedprofessional, this is what they
chose to do as their trade, andshow them that respect and in
(33:11):
their in their expertise, forwhat they know.
Megan Kay (33:16):
Is there anything that maybe homeowners could
know, could do to maybe makewildland firefighters jobs
easier?
August Isernhagen (33:26):
It ties to the first question, and you
know, living with fire talkingabout fuels management,
defensible space, those thosepieces, specifically, is a piece
of honoring or respecting whatthose guys do would be to take
some ownership in your own, yourown position in life, with your
(33:48):
property, your home, that typeof thing. They are, fathers,
husbands, wives, mothers thatare coming into these situations
to try to help and having thatownership to do what you can
before that scenario happens, Ithink isn't stressed enough,
(34:11):
right? Because there is a bunchof work. This is the stuff you
guys talk about, all the timethat can be done ahead of time
to both make it safer and moreproductive while the wildland
folks are in there. As we treat,as we train, we always beat it
into everybody's heads thatthere's no bush worth dying for.
(34:31):
There's no house worth dyingfor, right? That's true to a
degree, but if that werecompletely true, we'd just stop
fighting fire all the way to getall together, right? Because
that's the only way to guaranteeit doesn't happen. So there is a
piece of that we also try totrain 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.
Megan Kay (34:55):
Yeah, you don't. No one wants someone's house
burned.
August Isernhagen (34:57):
You instantly become more invested in. What
you're doing when it'ssomebody's private property, and
so having that ownership andmaking a difference to help
before it's needed.
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 livingwithfire.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's the job as you're awildland firefighter. But when I
was working on hand crew and onan engine. There wasn't a whole
(36:23):
lot of social media. You know,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 of at the end
of the year, which was, like,usually, like really intense
(36:45):
music and just like highlightsof all the stuff.
Jordan Buxton (36:50):
Of the plane dumping over the forest.
Megan Kay (36:53):
Which is awesome, and then the uploaded to YouTube.
And that was your way of kind oflike putting it out there. Like,
this is what we did this season.
But now there are lots of like,Facebook groups and Instagram
accounts and YouTube influencersaround wildland fire, so people
can really kind of educatethemselves and dig into the
culture. There's one podcastthat I listen to. It's called
(37:17):
Anchor Point. It's Brandon is anex-wildland firefighter, former
wildland firefighter, and he, heactually lives in Reno, has a
big audience, but, yeah, hispodcast is huge, and it's, I
just love that there's thisculture now where people can
talk about it, and there's anoutlet to where they can like,
(37:39):
find like minded individual orpeople not like minded, but, you
know, people with the sameexperience. That didn't really
exist when I was firefighting.
So it was like, the only way youcan meet other wildland
firefighters. Was like, in camp.
You know? So I thought that was,I just think that's pretty cool.
So feel free to comment, but Istill want that anecdote and
(38:01):
that heartwarming story.
August Isernhagen (38:04):
I don't know if I have heartwarming.
Megan Kay (38:07):
I have kind of an interesting story about
helicopters. So just sorry, thisisn't, this podcast isn't about
me.
But I'm always, I'vealways, I never got to ride on a
August Isernhagen (38:17):
No, you're good.
helicopter, and it's one of thethings that I regret, or I can't
regret it, because there'snothing. It's not, it wasn't my
choice. It's just one of thethings that I'm kind of bummed
that never happened. But thebecause, part of the reason I
wanted to be on the crew that Iapplied for was when I was an
(38:37):
NDF. I got assigned to the watertender one time, which is the
it's an interesting gig, if youguys, if people listening, have
ever been on a water tender? Iwas on the water tender that
day, which usually is no bigdeal. It's like you drive the
water tender to project work orwherever. You just have to be on
(38:58):
it in case it gets dispatched toa fire. Well, I got dispatched
to a fire out in, likeWinnemucca, with the other guy I
was in the water tender with,and we ended up being on this
fire for like two weeks, orhowever long, a long time, and
we were stuck, just like at theairport, and our whole job was
(39:19):
to just like, fill up thevarious, yeah the pumpkins. So
it's like, we would just begoing back and forth from a
hydrant all day. Yep, that's allwe did. And it was really
boring, in my opinion. It's avery important, it's a very
important job. But, and thenthis crew, the crews kept
(39:41):
getting. They were being flownin and out every day because
they weren't like, spiking outon the fire. They're just like,
we're getting a ride every dayin the helicopter to and from
the fire. And I was just like,who this is? I'm so jealous of
this crew. And I found out whoit was. It was a slide mount
(40:05):
hand crew. And I was like, cool,I'm applying for that crew next
year. And because in my mind, Ididn't know anything, I was just
like, wow, that crew flies onhelicopter. And I never got to
fly in a helicopter the two, thetwo and a half seasons I was on
there, but got close. I one timewe, like, taped up all our
tools, had our manifest, everyeverything ready, because you
have to weigh everything,because it's very you know, it's
(40:26):
a it's an aircraft, in case youguys didn't know helicopter are
an aircraft, but we got veryclose, and we just never did it.
So they decided that they would,they were fine with letting us
hike the 13 miles. So we did.
But anyway.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (40:41):
I got a question for Augie. Like, do you
Augie? Do you have any storiesof how like, like, the community
has, like, rallied around, likefirefighters after a fire and
like made like baked goods orsomething 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 ofthe woodwork. Up here, that's
not as common. Again, it's, Ithink it's just a demographic
difference, but all of those bigWUI fires, right? Wildland Urban
(41:44):
Interface fires. It's aheartwarming piece. Right? Is
all the signs that you see,especially when it's kids
painting and those kind ofthings, saying, Thank you.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (41:52):
That's really interesting. Sorry.
August Isernhagen (41:58):
Oftentimes, No, you're good. Oftentimes, as
those requests come in, theincident management teams, the
teams on these bigger fires,they try to redirect those
people to the Red Cross ornonprofits, right? Because when
we're on these big fires, thebig fires, not necessarily all
the little initial attacks, butyou're pretty well logistically
(42:19):
taken care of, right? So there'sa there's an incident command
post or and a camp that gets setup, and it's essentially, it's
like Burning Man. It's a citythat just gets built in a
parking lot, right? And therethey feed you, and there's a
medical tent to get ibuprofen,and there's supply tent to to go
get new gloves, right? And soyou're pretty well taken care
(42:40):
of, and so oftentimes on thosebig, catastrophic ones like we
have right now, right Dixie,those donations are much better
served to go to those nonprofitit's like Red Cross and help
with the people that areevacuated and may have lost
everything.
Jordan Buxton (42:57):
A couple of years ago, I can't, I can't remember
the year. One of those camps wasactually set up in the schools
sports field down the streetfrom where I grew up, down the
street from my parents house. Itwas there were their engines
from Colorado, New Mexico. Acouple from New York. And it was
the entire block that my I grewup on was just lined with engine
August Isernhagen (43:16):
One of my more memorable fires. There's
crews.
hundreds, but one of the morefun ones, in retrospect, and
this is a unique piece about thefirefighting community, right?
Is oftentimes when you're themost miserable and broken
afterward. You look look back,and those are the the times that
you laugh, and it's and it'sfunny. I was, I was on Helitack,
(43:39):
and we got flown into a fire upby Pyramid. I don't remember the
name of it, and we spent we flewup first thing in the morning,
and it was off doing its thingin the cheatgrass, and we spent
the entire day just hot lining,right? And so hot lining is a
term when you're like, at theactive part of the fire. You're
not mopping up, you're notcontrolling the edge, but you're
(44:00):
like, actively suppressing,trying to fight fire, and it's
oftentimes the most physicallyarduous, but it's also the fun,
right? You're in, you're in theexcitement. Aircraft are
dropping all around you, andthere's flames, and you're
sweating. And we so we did thatall day, from probably 8:00,
8 (44:21):
30 in the morning, till, I guess, 5:00 or 6:00 at night,
and we got picked up off theline. Most of us were pretty
close to running out of water,because on the helicopter you
you travel light, right, becauseyour our program's main focus
was initial, initial attack,moving fast on those scenarios.
(44:43):
And so we're flying back to tothe heli base. Our support
vehicles are instead to resupplyon water and MREs and stuff. But
on the way there, we found we wespotted another smoke over in
Story County, somewhere. And sowe turned to go there. Obviously
(45:03):
it needed to. It needed someattention. It was starting to
crown through thePinyon-Juniper, right? And so we
landed. We offload there. Thehelicopter takes off to give us
bucket work. He's, he goes,actually, he went back for fuel.
And then we call inSmokejumpers. They're going to
come in and help us, becausethey're sitting instead
(45:25):
smokejumper plane comes over,they drop their guys in part of
their gear, and then a thundercell moves over. And so when a
cell moves over, two thingshappen, right? One, oftentimes
your fire blows out because ofthe wind events right the
downdrafts that come out of it.
And two, you lose your aircraftbecause they can't fly for the
(45:46):
same reason. And so ourhelicopter couldn't come back.
The jumper plane got sent backand landed. And we're still out
of water. We're still out ofMREs. We get drenched. There's
lightning crashing all aroundus, probably two or three
strikes within a quarter mile ofus, the jumpers got blown around
in the wind, so they'rescattered out trying to figure
(46:09):
out where everybody is. And thatwas our night. We went to bed
with no food, no water, soakingwet, and in the middle of
nowhere, in the rocks, and yougo to bed thinking, like, what
am I doing with my life? Butthen, you know, after a week or
two, you look at your buddy andyou just chuckle about it,
(46:31):
because that's part of theadventure.
Megan Kay (46:36):
Dang.
Jamie Roice-Gomes (46:37):
I would imagine that it was a really
like bonding moment with youryour colleagues, right?
August Isernhagen (46:44):
Afterward, not in the moment, right because
people are thirsty, they'rehungry, they're cold, they're
wet. Yeah, tempers start to gettesty. I remember having to call
one of them out, like, becausehe was complaining about, I
don't remember what the water Ithink I had to tell them, like,
complaining about it isn'thelping anybody. Shut up. We'll
(47:06):
get water in the morning.
Megan Kay (47:07):
Yeah, they'll drop you some water when they can,
yeah.
August Isernhagen (47:11):
But after the fact, yes, then it's bonding.
But in the moment, it can betesty.
Megan Kay (47:15):
And that's why those relationships are so strong. You
go through more with thesepeople than you go with like,
your freaking spouse sometimes.
August Isernhagen (47:26):
No, there's been numerous times myself and
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 of MRE and abunch of cubies. Cubies are five
gallon boxes of water and somebatteries, and we'll see you in
a few days.
Megan Kay (47:46):
Go stop the fire.
Thank you for listening to theLiving with Fire Podcast. You
can find more stories aboutwildfire and other resources at
livingwithfire.com. The Livingwith Fire Program is funded by
the University of Nevada, RenoExtension, Nevada Division of
(48:07):
Forestry, Bureau of LandManagement and the United States
Forest Service.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.