Wildfires are incredibly destructive, and even though wildland firefighters put a lot of work into putting them out, it can seem impossible to actually contain them. They spread across hundreds if not thousands of acres, raging for days. It’s easy for people to wonder why it takes so long to put out wildfires, but when you step back and see how big they can be, you can see that controlling these fires takes time.
Getting to the Fire
A significant aspect that makes putting out wildfires such a lengthy process is that they aren’t right next to a fire station. Instead, they are typically miles away from civilization, and it takes a long time for the firefighters to get there, unload their gear, and trek through the woods to the fire. All this traveling back and forth, and getting helicopters involved when necessary, takes a lot of time. The firefighters can be at the fire site within hours, but it takes more time for each additional crew to arrive to relieve the previous crew.
Containing the Fire
One of the biggest challenges with putting out wildfires is that, because of their large size, you can’t just pour a bucket of water on it to put it out. Instead, these fires spread across many hundreds or thousands of acres, so the firefighters must target different spots. While they put in a great effort to put out and minimize the fire, there’s often more to do to contain the fire.
Containing fires includes going to where the fire isn’t, setting up fire lines, and ensuring the fire doesn’t spread further. Most only think of controlling the fire, but the big difference between containing and controlling is that a controlled fire is a fire firefighters manage to extinguish. Firefighters will need to contain the fire, stop the spread, and then, after isolating the fire, get to work extinguishing it to classify it as controlled.
Putting Out Hot Spots
Another reason that putting out wildfires takes a long time is that the fire doesn’t just stop. Instead, the firefighters work to suppress the fires and minimize their spread. Those they don’t directly put out sort of fizzle over time. At times like this, the public may think the fire is out, but not everything is under control yet. Instead, there are hot spots, parts where the fire superheated an area, and if you’re not careful, these hot spots can reignite the fire. Firefighters will need to monitor these spots for multiple days, and the wildfire is only officially out when all the hot spots are no longer hot.
Putting out wildfires takes a long time, but it doesn’t mean the wildland firefighters aren’t working hard. On the contrary, without these firefighters and the effort they put into these situations, these fires would rage on for many days or weeks. It will take a lot of time and hard work to control something as uncontrollable as a wildfire.
