MOUNT CHARLESTON (KTNV) — Hiking in the hot desert can be hard. But for local wildland fighters, it's nothing.
“It could be anywhere between three, five,10 miles depending on where we go," Jeremiah Hart, Engine Captain for the U.S. Forest Service, said.
That's the distance Hart and his team may hike — with over 70 pounds of gear — to get to an active burn in the wilderness. That gear contains the tools necessary to fight fire, including a "bladder bag" to spray water on flames, but also everything necessary to survive self-sufficiently for a minimum of 36 hours.
"A lot of critical decisions get made on the fire line very quickly," Hart explained.
Working conditions are toughened by the heat of the summer and Hart and his crew train ahead of time to prepare for the toll firefighting can take on the body.
“Because it is so hot here, you really have to be on top of your hydration game," Hart said.
He often carries extra water out with him to fire lines.
It's still early and a wet spring may have delayed the start to fire season, which typically starts to ramp up April through June. But all that greenery around us in Southern Nevada may turn to fire food in a few months when things dry out.
"You have a lot of brush that’s grown in, things that haven’t burned in a while. So we’re prepared, we’re ready, we’re alert and we’re aware of what’s happening. So it could be a potentially busy year for us," Hart said.
