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The Tinder People

The Tinder People explores not only how we fight fire, but how we live within the warming West. For two seasons we embedded with both Forest Service and private contract crews to understand and document the wildland fire industry from the inside.

Facing Climate Change (2007-2008)

Lightning Bill Austin locates smoke with an Osborne fire finder. Next summer will be his 15th season on the Goat Peak Fire Lookout in Washington's Methow Valley. Bill has experienced what the research has shown: snow is melting earlier and storms arrive later, extending the fire season by as much as 78 days.
The Methow Valley Hand Crew mops up at a lightning fire during initial attack. Drought and warmer temperatures fuel more frequent and intense wildfires. Over the past five decades, the top five years for US acreage burned have occurred since 2000, and most climate models suggest that things will get worse.
The Methow Valley Hand Crew mops up at a lightning fire during initial attack.
Blake Stokes reports one lightning fire as contained while keeping an eye on another storm's approach. Currently about half of the Forest Service budget is consumed by wildfire, compared to around 15 percent in 2001. Managers now struggle to balance fire suppression with other program areas such as recreation, wildlife and fisheries.
Forest Service firefighters break for coffee during initial attack on the Scatter Creek Fire in Washington's Methow Valley. After a century-long war against wildfire, many western forests are overgrown. Climate Change essentially holds a match to these fuels and the millions of homes we've built up around them.
The Methow Valley Hand Crew descends a ridge after containing a small fire at the edge of the 2003 Needles Fire. “You can put it in its place for a little while, and we did that pretty well, but now fire has decided it’s coming out and it’s coming out everywhere.” — Joe King
Private contract firefighters try to find their way on a structure protection assignment at the Jocko Lakes Fire in Montana.
Private contract firefighters wait for their next assignment after setting up sprinklers around evacuated homes. According to a national study by researchers at Colorado State University, 12.5 million homes are at risk of high severity wildfires.
A contract engine crew mops up at the Jocko Lakes Fire near Missoula, Montana. As wildfires and the cost of fighting them escalate out of control, private contractors are taking on an increasingly important role.
Andy Orford uses a drip torch to set a backburn during the Jocko Lakes Fire near Missoula, Montana. Consuming fuels in front of a fire is one way to stop its progress, but fighting fire with fire is more risky when conditions are dry, fuels are dense and homes are in harms way.
The government campaign against wildfire has left many western forests overgrown. Climate Change essentially holds a match to these fuels and the millions of homes we’ve built up around them.
Kjell Bagge surveys a backburn during the Jocko Lakes fire near Missoula, Montana. In 2007 wildfires burned nearly 15,000 square miles and cost over $3 billion in federal funds.
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