Interesting article. Thank you for taking the time to write this post. It makes me realize people do care and also there are people who understand the gravity of the situation and the risk the government is asking “forestry techs” to take on. I don’t know if seasonal works really understand what they are being asked to do and the support they won’t be given. Without insurance, a hospitalization can be financially devastating and far outweigh the money they possibly could make this season since DOL has clearly shown they will not support these low wage workers. I’ve heard a lot of calls for firefighters to be out burning. Our burns are patchworked pieces of a couple hundred acres here, a hundred acres there. Over the longer term they reduce risk of catastrophic fire and improve forest health. Short term at least in my fuel type I don’t see a benefit to burning this year. Who knows where this years fires will occur and I suck more smoke on an rx burn then I do on a wildfire. My goal is to keep myself and my people out of smoke this season. Also hotshot crew working year round, camped out in the wilderness...the second that happens, I’m out. My body is broken, my family life in shambles, and my mental capacity exhausted after a six month season. There is no easy solution and I’m not sure I understand the potential for corona in wildland fire. Maybe it’s small, maybe it’s quite large. But I do ask myself the question every now and then...do we really need to fight fire this season? And yes I know the answer is yes...but only in some situations. Placing that decision on local management is a scary thought.
Interesting article. Thank you for taking the time to write this post. It makes me realize people do care and also there are people who understand the gravity of the situation and the risk the government is asking “forestry techs” to take on. I don’t know if seasonal works really understand what they are being asked to do and the support they won’t be given. Without insurance, a hospitalization can be financially devastating and far outweigh the money they possibly could make this season since DOL has clearly shown they will not support these low wage workers. I’ve heard a lot of calls for firefighters to be out burning. Our burns are patchworked pieces of a couple hundred acres here, a hundred acres there. Over the longer term they reduce risk of catastrophic fire and improve forest health. Short term at least in my fuel type I don’t see a benefit to burning this year. Who knows where this years fires will occur and I suck more smoke on an rx burn then I do on a wildfire. My goal is to keep myself and my people out of smoke this season. Also hotshot crew working year round, camped out in the wilderness...the second that happens, I’m out. My body is broken, my family life in shambles, and my mental capacity exhausted after a six month season. There is no easy solution and I’m not sure I understand the potential for corona in wildland fire. Maybe it’s small, maybe it’s quite large. But I do ask myself the question every now and then...do we really need to fight fire this season? And yes I know the answer is yes...but only in some situations. Placing that decision on local management is a scary thought.