S-212 Wildland Fire Chain Saws, #14: It never really changes with these sawyer students who won't smile for the class photo. Mt. Princeton serves as the gorgeous backdrop for our newest cutting area. Over 5 years worth of class photos are posted on Firecamp's Facebook page.
Hey, was that Kent's photo on the July, 2008 cover of National Geographic Magazine?
Colorado Firecamp assisted NGM's staff a little with their wildfire feature (including an editor who took the S-130/190 class here) and is credited on page 128 as a source for their "Combating a Blaze" graphic. Who wouldn't want to be a wildland firefighter after reading the first paragraph of the “Under Fire” article???
“The young men wade through thigh-high grass beneath the firs and ponderosa pines, calmly setting the forest on fire. They carry torches, dispensing burning droplets of gasoline and diesel fuel. With flicks of the wrist they paint the landscape in flame. The newborn fires slither through the grass and chew into the sagging branches. Every few minutes a fir ignites, flames devouring it in a rush of light, the roar of rockets. It is over in seconds. Only a smoking skeleton remains. The men, firefighters, enjoy this immensely.”
Colorado Firecamp is a 501(c)(3)
non-profit, wildland firefighter school, dedicated to expanding
the opportunities for firefighters (and those who someday will
be) to attend quality redcard wildfire training. We primarily
offer 100- and 200- level courses developed by the National Wildfire
Coordinating Group (NWCG) in the areas of leadership, incident
command and suppression skills.
By working with local (Upper Arkansas Valley), zone (Pueblo
dispatch) and regional (Rocky Mountain Area) training teams,
Colorado Firecamp fills a niche in the wildland fire training
market. We offer another option for fire chiefs, county sheriffs
and training officers to advance the skill of their firefighters.
And, we give those without firefighting experience or previous
firefighter training a chance to get a 'foot in the door' with
the wildland agencies.
Classes are taught using the conference facilities of the Ponderosa
Lodge. Located 12 miles west of Salida, Colorado Firecamp sits in
the middle of the Maysville-North Fork wildland/urban interface.
Field exercises reinforce the classroom lessons.
Our cadre of instructors comes to the classroom by way of a range
of diverse backgrounds: some started as federal wildland
agency “groundpounders,” and others are ’-ologists
of one degree or another, and still others continue their careers
in that other world of structural fire. While each instructor meets
the NWCG minimum standards for experience and qualification, they
all share a passion for firefighter safety.
Simply stated, the mission of Colorado Firecamp is centered on
“keeping quality in qualification”
of wildland firefighters.
Fire
Origins
