Ethan White

With the Nevada Division Of Forestry I learned more about rehabilitation of the forrest and ranges affects on the environment after a fire. The crew was assigned to foresters on projects to remove invasive plant species and the reasoning behind it. During my time here we completed broad cast prescribed burns and felling of tress. Working on a fully staffed type 2 IA hand crew i was able to gain new knowledge on firefighting techniques and strategies from more exercised firefighters.

On my 3rd Fire season I became a senior firefighter with increased reasonability over the crew and had my firefighter 1 task book opened. I was in charge of vehicle mileage and maintenance sheets, General Message orders, crew time reports and instructing and assigning tasks to new and inexperienced crew members on fire operations. During fire assignments, I was in charge of the resource orders and verifying them and getting directions to the incident obtaining frequencies and meeting with the incident commander or division for instructions on implementing where the crew needed to be. During this time as a senior firefighter, I learned various ways of describing the assignments clearly on what the objectives are and how to effectively ans safely perform these tasks. During this time, I became the medical incident commander when our crew sustained a heat related illness. I implemented the 8 line and came up with a fast, effective, and safe way to get the patient out where they got further assessed by medical professionals. I learned to take criticism openly on ways to better achieve goals and challenges and over come them. One of the challenges I faced was teaching crewmembers the basics of firefighting tactics and strategies. I became aware that priorities had shifted from myself to the crew. Working on a 10 person wildfire module taught me new depth and breadth on wildfire behavior and weather. The objective of a wildfire module crews besides mopping up and cutting line where to access wild fire behavior and weather and write FEMO reports that would give firefighting managers and the public with reliable accurate information on real time fire behavior.

As a helicopter crew member I learned the principles of fire avation and safety. I was tasked with crew shuttles and manifest as well as passenger safety briefings. I also became proficient in radio communications talking to resources to coordinate water drops and sling loads. The responsibility I was tasked with were assigned and improving heli-spots for crew shuttle and potential areas where cargo may get dropped at as well building the long lines. During the 2022 fire season our crew precipitated in a multitude of Initial attack missions going direct on wild fires to prevent further potential in consumption of fuel . I had the opportunity and gain knowledge on chain saws operations and how to implement them during fire line construction.

During my time with First Strike environment I started my first season understanding the basics in fire suppression techniques. I had the privilege in working mostly in southern oregon and northern California. During this time i used multitude of hand tools such as the pulaski,shovels,and a mcleod. I learned how to sharpen and maintenance hand tools . We used techniques such as mop up gridding monitoring, as well as setting up sprinkler systems and operating a mark 3 portable pump for structure protection. I was able to detail on to a type 6 engine. During an assignment my engine and I were tasked to hold line for a burning operation.