On the Front Lines of a Wildfire

A P P L E G A T E, Ore., Aug. 18 -- Fifty-five hundred acres, scorched and smoldering. The day shift's job is to mop up.

"It's a regular wasteland down here," one firefighter said this week, walking through a patch of smoldering trees burned by the Quartz Fire in the Rogue River National Forest, one of several recent and ongoing wildfires out West.

"Yeah, the moon," another said.

The fire, which began with a lightning strike early last weekend, may look like it's out but that's just an illusion. Among the biggest problems are trees where the fire burns on the inside. Left alone, they could burn for a month. Firefighters call a tree like it a hooter and they will usually chop it down.

"It's a hazard tree. And that's a big tree you don't want that one to hit you on the head," says firefighter Bob Wilkens.

Danger isn't just from above. A fire like this can burrow two feet underground. Any hot spot could flare up or just smolder unseen, spreading the fire along the roots of the trees. Firefighters work through these areas with picks and shovels.

From his mountaintop perch, task force leader Joe Linn's job is to coordinate the attack. Pointing out his domain, he gestures out over the valley below.

"Into the smoke there," he says. "Our division is responsible for the whole area that you see."

From the Air

One of the most powerful tools at his disposal is the ability to attack the fire from the air. His arsenal includes a special helicopter whose twin blades are synchronized to rotate in opposite directions. Like many helicopters, it looks a bit like an insect — narrow, brightly colored, bulbous at the head, and vaguely menacing.

There are only 25 of these helicopters in the world. Because of their unique counter-rotating blades, they can carry heavier loads and get into tighter spots than other helicopters. This one can make a round trip every two minutes, carrying 600 gallons per load.

"If we didn't have this, we'd still be burning," says a ground controller, charged with filling up the giant tub in which the helicopter dips its bucket.