If you look at the picture above, a side-by-side comparison of two federal wildfire crews, they look similar, with the exception of the photo quality. One picture is from 1982, and the other is from 2022. You’d be hard-pressed to spot the significant differences in PPE, uniforms, and tools of the trade. Why is that? It probably can be attributed to several things.
The slow adoption of new technologies in wildland firefighting can be attributed to a couple of significant factors. Firstly, land management agencies tend to introduce new tools, products, policies, and services at a glacial pace. Secondly, there is a notable reluctance among firefighters themselves to embrace change and adopt new technologies. Consequently, wildland firefighters find themselves caught between the historical and cultural practices of the last century and the pressing current reality of escalating wildfire dangers, despite the potential of contemporary technology to reduce risks. The phrase “that’s how we’ve always done things” is slowly becoming a thing of the past.
A major roadblock to implementing modern solutions is the persistent underfunding of Research and Development (R&D) programs in land management agencies. Adequate investment in these programs year over year is vital, as they have the potential to enhance agency capacity and foster essential partnerships with industry and academia, paving the way for contemporary solutions.
Despite these challenges, there are fire leaders who, much like the greatest sports coaches, constantly strive forward, seeking incremental improvements to enhance safety, comfort, and efficiency for their teams. They aim for minor yet consistent enhancements — a 1% improvement here, a 2-3% there — fostering greater productivity and satisfaction among those they lead. However, many fear that it cannot keep pace with the scope and scale of today’s or tomorrow’s wildfires.
At our event last month at Park City’s, Utah Olympic Park, wildland firefighters assembled with industry leaders and heads of agencies to hear about what the future looks like and how it can keep firefighters safer, less exposed, and in the fight longer.
On the heels of the tragedy in Lahaina, Maui, and Medical Lake, Washington, our communities, homes, and people are finding themselves increasingly in the path of wildfire.
The need for wildland firefighters to have newer tools, products, and services is paramount. The wildfire services were never meant to operate in and around neighborhoods. Yet firefighters are increasingly finding themselves on initial attacks or structure divisions, going from home to home to punch in fireline, conduct technical ignition operations, or orient aircraft to knock down advancing flames.
The feedback received from firefighters at our event was crystal clear: There is a pressing need to minimize exposure to harmful chemicals and toxins found in the combustion of organic and inorganic material. Firefighters are in need of federal land management agencies to follow federal laws and place resource tracking units on individual firefighters during complex operations. This ensures accountability in steep, technical terrain. Firefighters want to upgrade PPE that protects airways and is easily integrated into existing pack systems. The diversity of the workforce means modern uniforms that improve mobility, functionality, and durability for different body types while keeping the skin cooler by incorporating special chemistry or nanotechnology woven into the fiber.
Firefighters and incident managers were asking to have enduring UAS platforms on incidents, capable of carrying an array of sensors and communications nodes that can be integrated with apps to provide real-time situational awareness and a common operating picture across the incident.
The technology already exists and is evolving faster than agencies can adapt. Yet for whatever reason, federal agencies are outfitting and operating our wildfire personnel as if it were 40 years ago and not as if we are gearing up for a fight in the 21st century—a fight for our air, our water, and ultimately our lives. Everything has changed but nothing is changing.
That is where the Wildfire Industry Collective is stepping up. We are hearing directly from wildland firefighters and putting their needs and concerns in touch with our industry partners to better protect those who get up every day to protect us. If you share our mission to put the needs of wildland firefighters first and believe you or your company or organization have 21st-century solutions for the 21st-century problem wildfire poses, get in touch with us, and let’s talk. Your voice, your expertise could be the change we need.