Defensive Firefighting Helps Fire Crews Defeat Bigger Blazes

We’ve all heard of “backfires,’  fire crews setting  smaller controlled blazes ahead of larger fires, to chew up fuel. This is expanded on that.

    Fire Expert Explains how Crews are Battling Oregon Fires

The Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office along with the Paradise, Hagen and Horse Ridge Fire Information Team, shared a video explaining how defensive firefighting is used to control a fire.

Kate Airhart, who is an Operations Section Chief with Northern Rockies Team 6 (a regional firefighting team) did a recent video explaining a lot of the terms they use in public releases about how they fight fires.  Terms such as “defensive firing” and why they use it.  Give it a watch.

Defensive firing is considered less invasive and more surgical than ‘just’ setting backfires.  Defensive firing enables less vegetation and terrain to be damaged by fires.

These practices help fire crews control the fire’s behavior, and bring about a more stable situation.  Due to the sheer size of these fires, it’s harder to ‘put them out’ with water and retardant.