CONTROLLING THE LINES OF AN UNCONTROLLED FIRE

Mille Lacs Band DNR Wildland firefighters Marvin Staples Jr., Eli Staples, Nate Tulenchik-Pendegayosh taking a break from wildfire duties along a mountain trail in California. Submitted photo.

By Vivian LaMoore, Inaajimowin Editor

Record-breaking warmer temperatures all across the country this past summer could be part of the reason there appeared to have been an increase in wildfires across much of North America including the United States and Canada. Dry, less humid conditions create fuel that can ignite a wildfire which can get out of control quickly. That is why the Mille Lacs Band DNR Wildland Fire Crew is ready to respond quickly to any small fire on the Mille Lacs Reservation and beyond. Through the partnership with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) this September, the Mille Lacs firefighters were deployed to assist on a rapidly growing wildfire in California.

The Division of Wildland Fire Management (DWFM) under the BIA supports firefighters trained to interagency standards and qualifications, develops Incident Command System (ICS) trained personnel, and sponsors seven Interagency Hotshot Crews (IHC) and many hand crews to respond to fire incidents.

This September, the BIA activated and deployed the first-ever all Midwest Wildland Fire Crew drawing from tribes from Wisconsin and Minnesota. This included crews from Mille Lacs, Leech Lake, White Earth, Bois Forte, and Menominee. Fire fighters from Mille Lacs included Marvin Staples Jr., Eli Staples, and Nate Tulenchik-Pendegayosh. The entire crew traveled in a caravan across country to team up with hand crews at the ICS camp to knock down a wildfire that was burning 4,000 acres in the Trinity National Forest of Northern California.

The Midwest Wildland Fire Crew departed from Bemidji on August 16 and drove to California to perform their 22-day deployment. The deployment consisted of four travel days on both sides of a 14-day shift working 16 hours per day.

First BIA Initial Attack Hand Crew consisted of a 20-man crew with three squads of six people. Eli Staples was a squad boss. “We control the control lines on an uncontrolled fire,” Eli said. He has been deployed to work on other wildfires throughout his 23-year career as a Wildland firefighter, but “California was a new experience for me, personally,” he said. “It was steep and difficult terrain. We were stationed at the bottom of the mountain, and the fire was at the top. It was a lot of hiking up and down the mountain every day.”

Base camp was in Hayfork, California, with spike camps set up closer to the fireline, which was in Mad River. The BIA hand crew helped to manage the fire by cutting and clearing vegetation to create “fire lines” that slow the spread of wildfire, coordinating with firefighting aircraft, as well as other containment operations, such as mopping up.

Once underway, hand crews strengthen these initial containment measures during the mop-up phase of wildland fire management by digging trenches, removing nearby vegetative fuel, and thoroughly extinguishing embers. This sometimes calls for feeling the ground with their bare hands for hotspots. This is called cold trailing.

“When you see smoke on the ground, you have to go find the fire underground and put that fire out,” Eli said. “It is so dry out there that fire can spread underground when conditions are right. Cold trailing is when you don’t see the smoke, so you feel the ground for hotspots.”

The hand crews do just that. “We just feel the ground with our hands. Sometimes you have to put your hands inside logs, crevices, holes in the ground, and you never know if there is going to be something in there,” Nate said. “Not just fire. It could be a rattlesnake or scorpion, too.”

Northern California is home to several sub-species of venomous rattlesnakes and scorpions — both of which have bites or stings that can be deadly if left untreated. If that is not enough to keep you on your toes, there is also the threat of black bears.

“Yeah, we had all three while we were there,” Nate said. “One guy called over the radio and warned everyone that he had just been at camp and there was a bear there. Another guy called over another time and spotted a rattlesnake, and another guy another day had a scorpion. But we keep in close touch with each other and warn people.”

The days were filled with long hours and hard work. “They feed us pretty good, though,” Eli said. “I think I gained weight out there,” Eli added with a laugh.

According to their website, the Trinity National Forest had four separate fires burning at the time the BIA Wildland crews were out there assisting. The BIA crew was assigned to the “3-9 fire” and there was another fire, the Pilot Knob (Creek) fire, in close proximity. Their job was to keep the two fires from joining together.

The crews slept in small one-person tents on the ground. “I grabbed the wrong size tent before we left,” said Nate, laughing, who is 6-foot-2-inches tall. “I couldn’t really stretch out.” All supplies, tents, sleeping bags, etc. are provided by the Band through the BIA. Because the days were long, labor-intense hours, and unpredictable, they also grabbed a nap anytime, anywhere they could — even if that meant grabbing a 15-minute nap on a downed log. The brief naps would help to energize them and keep them on top of their game.

To say the work is dangerous would be an understatement. “You keep your head on a swivel,” Eli said. Wildland fire crews encounter a variety of obstacles, including falling rock and debris. “Look up. Look down. Be aware. No concern is a dumb concern. Everybody looks out for each other and is in constant contact. At the end of the day, we make sure everyone is safe and everyone makes it home, or back to base camp.”

“The work was hard, but it was a great experience,” Nate said. Getting used to the elevation that ranged from 3,000 to 5,000 feet was a new experience for him. “Yeah, working above the clouds was pretty cool.”

The Mille Lacs Band Wildland Firefighter crew consists of Jake Horbacz, Elijah Staples, Jamal Baird Sr., Aazhibik Aubid, Harvey Aubid, Marvin Staples Jr., Nathan Tulenchik-Pendagayosh, Clayton Benjamin Jr., Duane Sam, and Richard Martin. Each member of the team is eligible to be deployed by the BIA at any given time. While teams are deployed, the remaining crews take full responsibility for all duties. The team has responded to roughly nine fire calls during the 2023 fire season within the Initial Attack (AI) area of the Reservation. Under the umbrella of the BIA, the Mille Lacs Band DNR Wildland is responsible for protecting the lands of the District I tribal lands. Other areas contract with local fire departments and the Minnesota DNR firefighters.

All of the experiences gained during the California wildfire deployment and every wildfire deployment are, in a sense, a live training opportunity. “No matter how long you do a job — any job — if you are not learning something every day, then you are not paying attention,” Eli said. “In this job, you gotta pay attention to everything. I am glad these guys got to go out and experience this. Everything we did out there gave experience and knowledge that we bring back here to use in our daily jobs.”

Eli has been a firefighter for nearly 23 years. “I’ve done it for so long, it is just part of who I am. I grew up in this. The guy before me was Dean Staples, my uncle. He did 27 years here. He is the one who got me into it. He helped me understand fires. It’s all in here,” he said, indicating his heart and his mind. “I’ll do it until I can’t anymore. It’s who I am. When I think back to all of the fires I’ve been on and all that I have witnessed, I wouldn’t change a thing. I would do it all over again. It is a gift I was given.”

BIA Wildland firefighters initial attack hand crew on the morning trail to their designated location. Submitted photo.