{"id":40326,"date":"2022-05-30T22:49:19","date_gmt":"2022-05-31T04:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-taos-hot-shot-crew\/"},"modified":"2022-05-31T04:49:19","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T04:49:19","slug":"a-day-in-the-life-of-a-taos-hot-shot-crew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-taos-hot-shot-crew\/","title":{"rendered":"A day in the life of a Taos hot-shot crew"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hannah
Hannah Kligman, squad boss assistant for the Carson Hot Shots, leads her team on putting out hot spots from the Calf Canyon\/Hermits Peak Fire in the Carson National Forest, May 23, 2022, west of Chacon, N.M. Crews in northern New Mexico have cut and cleared containment lines around nearly half of the perimeter of the nation\u2019s largest active wildfire while bracing for a return of weather conditions that might fan flames and send embers aloft. (Eddie Moore\/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)<\/span>Eddie Moore<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SIPAPU, N.M. (AP) \u2013 After 14 days fighting the fires threatening northern New Mexico, Tyler Freeman went for a run on his day off. In the distance, he could see the plume of smoke from the Calf Canyon\/Hermits Peak Fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like that Sunday night feeling where you\u2019re about to go back to work,\u201d Freeman said. \u201cIt\u2019s like that every R&R day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freeman, 32, is on the Carson Interagency Hotshot Crew and lives in Taos County \u2013 as do about half of the other crew members. That means friends and families have evacuated, and are worried about the smoke. During their three off days, neighbors will stop them to ask what\u2019s going to happen \u2013 a question that\u2019s impossible to answer.<\/p>\n

But it also means the firefighters are very familiar with the area. A favorite mountain bike trail is now a contingency line.<\/p>\n

Hannah Kligman, the squad boss assistant on the crew, said there\u2019s a feeling of pride that comes with working on their \u201chome turf.\u201d The 33-year-old Philadelphia native came to Taos more than a decade ago doing field archaeology for the Bureau of Land Management, and then became interested in learning about fire after the Las Conchas blaze in 2011.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s her eighth year as a hot shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the skills to be doing this, to be able to be here and try to protect our home forest. It feels really good,\u201d Kligman said. \u201cEspecially the hand crew \u2013 we\u2019re a very small piece in the face of nature, but at the same time, we really do have the skills to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

A mosaic pattern<\/div>\n

The Calf Canyon\/Hermits Peak Fire has surpassed 314,000 acres and is the largest wildfire in state history. It is also the largest fire burning in the country.<\/p>\n

More than 3,000 personnel are working to control it.<\/p>\n

The fire, part of which started as a prescribed burn northwest of Las Vegas in early April, has burned more than 700 structures, and led to evacuations of the surrounding towns and communities.<\/p>\n

A Journal<\/em> photographer and reporter spent some time with the Carson Interagency Hotshot Crew as they worked to put out hot spots in a mountainous region west of Chacon, the north edge of the fire.<\/p>\n

\"Tyler
Tyler Freeman with the Carson Interagency Hotshot Crew works to keep a burning log from rolling down a slope May 23, as he and his co-workers work on hot spots from the Calf Canyon\/Hermits Peak Fire in the Carson National Forest west of Chacon, N.M. (Eddie Moore\/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)<\/span>Eddie Moore<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The site is not far from the Sipapu Ski & Summer Resort, which is now behind road blocks. Firefighters have set up inflatable water tanks along the side of the road that can be used to wet down houses and other buildings if the flames begin to close in. The hot-shot crew \u2013 some of the most experienced and highly trained of the wildland firefighters \u2013 was about half a mile down a steep embankment off the side of a rutted dirt road accessible by all-terrain vehicles. Other crews were working nearby.<\/p>\n

Smoke wafted through the air, and pooled around peaks and valleys on the not-too-distant horizon. Although some parts of the forest are described by the crew as \u201cnuked-out areas\u201d and \u201ca moonscape \u2013 where it got really hot and pushed really hard,\u201d in others, the only sign of the fire was ashes mixed with dirt on the ground.<\/p>\n

This creates what is called a mosaic pattern throughout the forest.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, you\u2019ve got areas that really burn hot and clean everything out, and then areas that are green, where it\u2019s going to regrow and be fine,\u201d said Renette Saba, a public information officer for the incident management team. \u201cBut then, as a firefighter, to hold the line, you want it to be black solid so that you\u2019ve got safety. And then, if it does start to rip back down, for whatever reason, it won\u2019t push over that and burn all that leftover material.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every day is different<\/div>\n

It had been two days since a helicopter dropped water on the area \u2013 which cooled it down enough so hot-shot crews could come in to work. They hike in \u2013 carrying such tools as shovels and chain saws, along with their 45-pound backpacks stuffed with gear, snacks and more \u2013 and move methodically to extinguish flames in trees and on the ground.<\/p>\n

The speed with which they can work depends on the steepness of the terrain and how hard the ground is as they\u2019re digging. The couple-acre hot spot took them all day to get around, Kligman said.<\/p>\n

Squatting down to demonstrate, she stuck her hand into a patch of ashy dirt to see if it was still hot. It wasn\u2019t, but, if it was, the firefighter would pile cold dirt on top of it rubbing it in to extinguish any chance of it relighting.<\/p>\n

\"Carson
Carson Interagency Hotshot Crew members Henry Hornberger, left, and Tyler Freeman cut up a hollow tree that was burning on the inside May 23, as they and their co-workers work on hot spots from the Calf Canyon\/Hermits Peak Fire in the Carson National Forest west of Chacon, N.M. (Eddie Moore\/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)<\/span>Eddie Moore<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Further down the ridge, Freeman and two other crew members called sawyers \u2013 because they use chain saws \u2013 had just finished cutting down a tree that had been burning from the inside. The project took about 20 minutes of planning to determine how to bring the tree down safely and then about 30 seconds to actually cut through the trunk.<\/p>\n

After the tree fell, a section burst into flames and the sawyers dug a trench around it so it could burn out.<\/p>\n

A lot of what they do is just learning from experience, Kligman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day is different,\u201d she said. \u201cYou kind of have a toolbox to work off of and, over the years, you gain different slides of situations. But there is no handbook.\u201d<\/p>\n

While fire officials focus on the big picture and strategize on where to put crews, and how to gain the upper hand on the blaze, the boots on the ground focus on specific tasks. The hot shots have learned to use all their senses \u2013 smelling for smoke and touching the earth searching for warmth \u2013 as they look for fuel that could ignite.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really a drop in the bucket in comparison to nature and a (300,000)-acre fire,\u201d Kligman said. \u201cJust like working with water, soil, the weather, the fire itself \u2013 a lot of times, we will do a lot of burning operations in order to contain fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consumed by work<\/div>\n

For the hot-shot crews, the day starts between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m. They get up and break down their camp, packing tents and sleeping bags because they don\u2019t know where they\u2019re going to sleep the next night. The upper level staff members \u2013 called overhead \u2013 go to a daily briefing and the rest of the crew make sure all their tools and equipment are ready to go. Then they head out to the line, working until about 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

No one on the crew has showered since their tour began 11 days ago.<\/p>\n

Kligman said most nights they eat dinner around 8 and then get \u201cfree time\u201d to do whatever they need to before bed. For her, it\u2019s making a cup of herbal tea on a compact portable stove, no matter how hot it is out.<\/p>\n

The camps are noisy with generators and sounds from other crews, and lights can make it hard to sleep well.<\/p>\n

\"Carson
Carson Interagency Hotshot Crew members Henry Hornberger, left, and Tyler Freeman cut up a hollow tree that was burning on the inside May 23, as they and their co-workers work on hot spots from the Calf Canyon\/Hermits Peak Fire in the Carson National Forest west of Chacon, N.M. (Eddie Moore\/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)<\/span>Eddie Moore<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even asleep, it\u2019s hard to escape the work. Kligman said she has a recurring dream where she\u2019s digging a line and the rocks keep getting bigger and bigger until they can\u2019t move them as the fire burns underneath.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had that dream recur in various ways,\u201d she said. \u201cLike we\u2019re digging line and it\u2019s not working, and I\u2019m all stressed out and then I wake up.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the fire season \u2013 usually from March to September, although, this year, the crews cut their training short to head into the field \u2013 life is pretty much consumed by the daily tasks involved in fighting the blaze, leaving little time for anything else.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very Zen state of mind to be able to just wake up, and you know what your chores are and what your duties are within the crew \u2026 \u201d Kligman said. \u201cOn this fire especially, we haven\u2019t had a lot of phone service \u2013 you probably won\u2019t talk to your loved ones or people at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kligman is dating another one of the hot shots \u2013 she said they have a personal rule against talking about the fire on their days off \u2013 but many on the crew are single. The lifestyle isn\u2019t conducive to having a partner, children, pets or even a garden.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a cactus,\u201d one hot shot joked.<\/p>\n

The crew still had a couple of days left in the forest, but Kligman said she\u2019s already started dreaming about the first meal she\u2019s going to make at home \u2013 a kale salad and mashed sweet potatoes. She had even made a grocery list.<\/p>\n

After eating a good, healthy meal, Kligman, who used to run ultramarathons, said she plans on doing some distance runs and hanging out at her \u201coff-the-grid\u201d cabin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich is also why I enjoy our job \u2013 because I like hiking and being outside,\u201d she says. \u201cI knew when I was pretty young, I could never work a desk job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
A burning log from the Calf Canyon\/Hermits Peak Fire burns in the Carson National Forest west of Chacon, N.M., on May 23. (Eddie Moore\/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)<\/span>Eddie Moore<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kligman, squad boss assistant for the Carson Hot Shots, leads her team on putting out hot spots from the Calf Canyon\/Hermits Peak Fire in the Carson National Forest, May 23, 2022, west of Chacon, N.M. Crews in northern New Mexico have cut and cleared containment lines around nearly half of the perimeter of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[138],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-40326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40326"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=40326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}