Fighting Wildfires The Forest Service Battle Plan
The Forest Service mobilizes like a military operation to combat major fires. About 450 aircraft are available in fire season, tanker planes drop flame suppressants, helicopters transport crews and supplies, and smokejumpers parachute in. Hot shot crews operate nationwide from Boise, Idaho, with trials for native Americans. Full time crews work long shifts with rest days, while seasonal and casual firefighters are hired for summer. National Guard and Army units receive basic firefighting training to support responses.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Boise
Idaho
Forest Service
Australia
National Guard
Reserves
Regular Army
Forest fires raise calls to rethink suppression era
A century later the debate over fire policies intensifies as scientists warn that decades of fire suppression have left forests crowded and tinder, risking larger, hotter blazes. Experts blame logging, grazing, and development for fueling catastrophe while urging controlled burns to restore natural cycles and reduce future losses.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Wiebe
Mick Harrington
Forest Service
Montana
Fie
The Big Blowup Fires of 1910 in Wallace Idaho
In 1910 a massive forest fire swept Wallace Idaho and surrounding areas, burning millions of acres and prompting Congress to authorize federal funding to fight fires for the first time. The event, later called The Big Blowup, shocked the nation and reshaped U.S. forest policy.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Uls
Forest Service
Ab Herees
Wallace
Idaho
Congress
Smokejumpers Posed in Missoula 1943 Conscription Contrast
The 1943 AP file shows smokejumpers, conscientious objectors who fought forest fires in the western United States during World War I. From left are Art Cramer, Phil Stanley, and Dave Ratigan in Missoula Montana.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
United States
Art Cramer
Phil Stanley
Dave Ratigan
Missoula
Montana
Wildfire roars through Benton City area near Hanford site
A 2000 AP photo shows burned-out cars beside a house ruin after a wildfire June 20 in Benton City Washington. The blaze charred nearly half of the Hanford nuclear reservation before being stopped, and it grew rapidly from a roadside nuisance to a 30 mph inferno in under a day as the second federal nuclear site fire of the year.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Gifford Pinchot
Bernhard Fernow
House
Dennis Hastert
Clinton
Forest Service
Smokey
Bear
Yellowstone National Park
Phil Omi
Colorado State University
Western Forest Fire Research Center
Montana
Idaho
Thomas Powers
University of Montana
National Park Service
Los Alamos
Benton City
Wash
Hanford
Also Mentioned on This Page
Oh Tre
WS. Forest Service
Air Support Forest Service
Washington
Igepale
U.S. Forest Service
National Interagency Fire Center
Forest Fires
Westrn Forests
Department At the Interior
Wildland Urban Fire
Ifesae
Joe Johnson
GOES
Saskatchewan
Iowa
This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!