Hot seat: Elite crews manage the firefighting

When wildfires rage beyond control and regional political climates become just as hot, local fire crews turn to national incident management teams for direction in extinguishing the blazes.

There are three primary types of incident management teams, termed Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3.

Type 3 teams are locally managed — their incidents are smaller than Type 2 and Type 1 wildfires.

Type 2 teams are regionally managed and include state and some federal help. When there is a shortage of firefighters to fight the blaze, sufficient resources to suppress it aren't available or a tricky political situation exists, a Type 2 team is sent in to manage the fire. Members of these teams are on call during the summer months to help manage fires.

Type 1 teams are considered the best trained and the elite among firefighters.

Type 1 teams are made up of "hotshots" (firefighters who fight fires and manage them from the front lines) and smoke jumpers (firefighters who jump from planes in small groups to fight fires from dangerous but crucial positions), in addition to a structured "military style leadership," said Tina Boehle, spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center.

There are 17 national Type 1 incident management teams, which rotate throughout the nation year-round to areas in need of managing not only wildfires but other incidents, including hurricanes, tornados, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, riots and hazardous-material spills.

Members of Type 1 teams are on call year-round to manage incidents within the lower 48 states and Alaska. Teams come from nine regions across the United States and work two-week intervals, followed by two days off. These teams can work many incidents in a row with little time to rest, Boehle said.

Mark Ruggiero, a Type 1 fire incident manager, and his team were called in to battle the Salt Creek fire in Nephi after it burned 12,000 acres in one day.

The team of 50 firefighters, based primarily in the Southeastern United States, has fought bigger fires this year. But Ruggiero says the size of a blaze doesn't necessarily determine how difficult it is to manage.

"Fighting fires here, in Florida or California, the rules and tactics and strategies are the same," Ruggiero said. "What changes is the fuel types, which we all have a lot of experience in. But at this fire there are six different jurisdictions and agencies who all want things done a certain way. To get them to agree can be difficult."