As fire season progresses in Colorado, local, state and federal agencies are working hard to recruit wildland firefighters to respond to and prevent dangerous fires.
While it’s a difficult job, many firefighters say it’s rewarding to do work that keeps them outdoors and makes a positive difference.
Wildland firefighting is a male-dominated career, but there’s a team in western Colorado looking to change that.
On Friday, May 31, Raechelle Seil prepares to begin her work day, unpacking her chainsaw and other tools along with an impressive pile of branches and brush.
“I used to work in an office and quickly discovered that I hate office jobs,” Seil said. “So I started looking for a little more outdoors… I knew I wanted to do something physical. “I want to do something outside.”
Instead of being stuck in an office, she hikes rugged terrain, creates firebreaks, and keeps neighborhoods safe from natural disasters. She is the chief assistant of a team of wildland firefighters, one made up entirely of women.
This development team is the result of a partnership between the Western Colorado Conservation Corps (WCCC), the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Forest Service designed to get more women working on wildland fires. The Forest Service estimates that up to 87% of its wildland firefighters are men.
Lathan Johnson is deputy fire chief for the BLM and the Upper Colorado River Interagency Fire Management Unit. She helps coordinate the all-female fire team and said the program has a two-fold benefit: Federal agencies do major fuels reduction work before the height of fire season, and their workforce begins to look a little more like society in his set.
“Every time I work, whether it’s a wildfire or something we’re doing here in the office, I think having that gender diversity has always made a better team,” she said in an interview. with Aspen Public Radio.
When the program is complete, she said, all of the women will be certified to fight wildfires for federal agencies and will have completed all the training they need to work in the field.
For the past few weeks, this crew has been clearing gambol oaks and other plants from the ridge behind the Red Dog subdivision, hidden in the shadow of Mount Sopris. They gather the vegetation into large piles, which will be burned at the end of this year.
“When you have fresh vegetation or fresh soil, basically if there is a fire or something like that, it is much more difficult for that fire to jump that, because it is not dry, it does not have leaves, it is nothing like that.” Seil said he explained the fire prevention strategy behind the team’s work.
But it has other benefits, beyond reducing the risk of wildfires in a residential area: it helps maintain wildlife corridors in the area and makes remaining plants healthier.
While Ellie Zaher helped Seil clear some of the vegetation uphill from the burn pile, she said that when the team is not in the field, they receive mentoring, such as help with their resumes and advice on what seasonal jobs they should apply for. .
She expressed that it is especially meaningful when it comes from women who have been working in the fire for much longer than the apprentices.
“Everyone is very supportive and wants more women in the fire,” she said. “They are very happy that we have this program and each one of them continues to show us what we should pack and what we should expect. “I really appreciate it because not everyone is willing to do it.”
The pile of burns grew much larger in the hour the team had been working there, and one of them would crush it with all his weight, from time to time.
It is difficult work that requires no little physical fitness: women work long days carrying heavy loads across rugged terrain, sometimes creating their own trails to do so. They often camp near their workplaces, rather than sleeping in beds.
Eva Heller, another assistant crew chief, explained that it is rewarding to see the results of her work and makes the difficult parts of the job worth it.
“I feel like I’m really making a difference here and doing something meaningful, which is very, very amazing,” he said. “And that’s probably my favorite part of the job, besides working with all these wonderful people.”
After the team’s final day of working together, they will disperse and join different traditional firefighting teams throughout western Colorado.
The WCCC, the BLM and the Forest Service estimate that about 80% of women who have participated in the program in previous years continue to have burning jobs for at least the next season, and many continue with careers in natural resources.
In exit interviews and in feedback to program managers, they often attribute part of their success to having the opportunity to learn the job in a welcoming environment. It’s something Raechelle Seil is grateful for.
“Using all this like bigger tools and all this machinery and stuff like that and not feeling judged and not feeling inferior,” he said. “It’s very, very nice to feel really supported and cared for.”
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