Original subtitles

[♪♪♪]

[train horn blowing]

[thunderclap]

[thunderclap]

[♪♪♪]

[♪♪♪]

[phone ringing]

[phone ringing]

[woman] Good morning, Southeast Fire Centre.

[man] Yeah, hi. There's a lot of smoke,

um, just right now, coming, uh, into town...

[man] This is Fire Centre, go ahead.

[man] Yeah, hi. I see a... a lot of smoke

coming off on, uh... on-- just on the side--

[woman] Good morning, Southeast Fire Centre.

[man] Hi, I'm calling in about smoke we can see

across the Valley from our house.

-I woke up and looked-- -[man] Hello, Fire Centre.

[woman] There's a fire on the mountain

just outside town!

[man] I think it might be a fire.

It's under...

[radio announcer] You're listening to COOP Radio.

If you're on the way to work

you might have noticed

a lot of smoke in the air this morning

and planes buzzing overhead.

Turns out there's a fire just outside of town.

It's already got water bombers on the scene

and the province has issued...

We're going to check out Sitkum 2023,

an area that's burned a least four times

in my time working at the Kootenay Lake fire zone.

There was a lightning strike on the hillside

just north of Nelson.

It's highly visible

to everybody living along the lakefront,

and, basically, the entire community.

[airplane engine overhead]

When assessing fires,

you measure its potential risk to what we consider values,

life and property being the most important,

so these fires will be a higher priority.

Hopefully, we get our unit crew

and the resources that were requested last night,

but it's pretty tight province-wide right now,

so we're basically, like, triaging,

and, like, pulling all of our crews off of fires

that are deeper back country

that we were putting out before,

and just working on stuff like that,

like, front country.

[♪♪♪]

[Lee-Anne] In the past,

we were able to put crews on pretty much every start,

regardless of where it was,

because we didn't have these massive fires

that took up all the resources,

and we would put everything out that we would find,

whereas now, it's, like,

so many more fires on the landscape,

we're unable to suppress all of them.

When you become a response officer,

that's what you're doing,

you're--you're coordinating response of helicopters,

aircraft crews.

I can do it either from the field,

which is the response-officer piece,

or the, uh, ZWCO--

or, Zone Wildfire Coordination Office.

I prefer the field.

I'm not quite fully into the office yet.

[door alert tone chiming]

I'm gonna head out with Mitch, the other response officer,

to discuss tactics and potential resourcing.

You're on day, what, 13, 14?

15.

Yeah, so...

I'm, like-- I'm reset,

but I think you're at...

I should shotgun this...

You still can.

We, uh, gotta get going.

-Um... -Are you in front or am I?

No, I was thinking, you should probably do it

until we do a changeover, kinda, proper.

[Mitch] I agree,

I just didn't wanna steal your thunder.

Well, I didn't wanna steal

your thunder.

[woman] Copy that.

[Mitch] Yeah.

[Lee-Anne] It looks like it started

kind of on the northeast corner,

and spread up to the ridge and back down the gulley,

so that's where we'll pinch it off,

up high, up on the ridge, where it's flat.

[Mitch] Yeah.

[Lee-Anne] It looks like we're gonna need

multiple rounds of airtankers,

some medium bucket support.

I think this fire's well beyond initial attack,

so we'll need a unit crew in here as well.

What a mess.

[♪♪♪]

[radio] Fire Centre, Echo-Papa-X-ray.

[Dan] An A.T.R. is an "Air Tanker Request".

Airtanker requests

can be generated one of two ways.

Echo, we a new target on the board,

fire number Q-025354.

[Dan] They're either generated

from the people in the field,

or someone in the zone, or a fire centre.

I use the example of a ground crew out in the field

arriving on the scene of the fire,

recognizing that this fire has some potential,

and saying, "Hey, you know what, we're gonna need--

we're gonna need some additional support,"

so they'll get on the radio,

they will call the Fire Centre

and ask for an airtanker request.

B launch route 5 of Kamloops

to Kilo-25354.

Logistics, this is Central.

Can we please launch BC-5 off of Kamloops

to Kilo-25354.

Okay, I'm launching BC-5 off of Kamloops to Kilo-25354.

[Dan] That information will generate an email,

then that's sent off to the entire crew

that's expected to go,

so that would be myself,

all of the associated pilots,

the loaders that are on base that load the aircraft,

the mechanics--

everybody's basically in the loop.

The response of the folks in Kamloops know,

"Okay, everybody got the dispatch,

and they're headed to their airplanes."

Basically, I fly around in a fixed-wing aircraft

directing fixed-wing tankers

to either put a suppressant or a retardant on the ground

to slow the fire down,

in order to help and assist the ground crews.

I am not a pilot myself.

I started on the ground fighting forest fires,

and worked my way into this role.

So I sit beside a pilot

that has a whole bunch of training

tied to what he does...

Okay, right side clear of platinum plugs,

chocks moved?

Clear flat, no chocks, no plugs.

[Dan] ...and the two of us basically make up

what we call the "Bird-Dog Platform".

Rotation.

[fire crackling]

[Anthony] Okay, everybody, round up.

[man] IA as well?

[Anthony] Yeah! Everyone, the whole shebang.

So, we can put two at the burn.

We're all pushed over the burn, right?

So ATV in and double-back.

[Anthony] Before I forget--

well, good morning, for starters.

I'll just chat about a few things.

Medevac.

If we're actually needing to fly someone out,

it's gonna be quicker to go to the upper pad.

Your safest zone is away from the fire, okay?

Important that we stick to that, because...

well, you guys know what it's like up there.

Let's buckle down,

and really try to get a foothold on this thing.

[Lee-Anne] What I'm seeing on the landscape

is so much different than it was.

Fires are burning hotter, bigger,

more aggressively.

We're unable to do it,

unable to get crews on the ground,

it's not safe,

so it's kinda like recognizing

that we're in that shift right now,

and that things are probably gonna get worse

before they get better,

and so, yeah, we're kind of...

in the midst of climate change.

So you guys are, uh, cleared in over the fire.

Bird-Dog will be at 6,500.

[Mitch] That's all, copy.

Who's the Bird Dog?

[Dan] Uh, Purcell.

[Mitch] Roger that.

[Lee-Anne] We're looking for cooling action,

essentially just off our 2:00 upslope

to hold it until ground crews get in.

[Lee-Anne] Yeah, yeah, that's all good.

Retardant should be successful,

it's more of an open canopy at the top.

136 clear.

[Lee-Anne] So we just completed our assessment,

and it looks like the fire's gonna require airtankers.

[Dan] Uh, 481-137.

[Lee-Anne] It's really important

that they're accurate in their drops,

'cause that can be waste if they're not good at it.

[Lee-Anne] They nailed it.

[Lee-Anne] Once completed,

the sentinel unit crew can come in

to action the fire.

[Sentinal 1] Okay, Lee,

I think we got everything set up

at staging here.

Anything else we can take care of

before you come down?

[Lee-Anne] No, that's all good, Anthony.

The zone was gonna bring a couple quads

to the bottom there at your staging,

so that might be worthwhile,

to get the quads up there

at some point.

Okay.

Yeah, those ATVs,

they're gonna be your best way to get around,

so we'll make sure that we got those,

and, uh, some water ready for you down here,

and we'll get some heavy machines

pushing a road in shortly.

[Lee-Anne] Okay, sounds good.

We'll do multiple rounds of retardant drops

just until we're confident with that lower corner,

but I'll let you know when it's safe for your crews

to get back in.

[Anthony] Okay.

Yeah, that sounds good, Lee.

Thanks for, uh,

painting the picture there.

[Lee-Anne] No problem, Tony.

[♪♪♪]

Are we gonna start cutting right away from here?

-It's, uh... -It's a bit sordid.

Just leave it 4-low, and put the parking brake on.

and, like, twist the wheels, right,

so it doesn't just start to slide out.

Yeah, and then...

we'll see, like, how far we get.

Like, that old fire, I guess, is not that far away,

so we might be able to connect to that.

Where is the water coming from is the question.

-TBD. -Yeah.

Yeah, big TBD on that.

-I'm gonna go start looking. -Sounds good.

-Bye. -Bye.

[fire crackling]

[Laurence] We're doing what we call "D.T.A.-ing".

It stands for "Danger Tree Assessment".

Watch out!

[wood splintering]

They're called "danger tree" for a reason.

[shouting alert]

[Laurence] One of them can kill ya.

Essentially, before the crews join,

we wanna make sure that it's safe for them,

so we, uh, send people ahead,

and then it's all marked in orange...

and then, as soon as we can open ground,

then the rest of the gang can keep going.

In the green, there's a lot of, uh,

kind of punky, old trees that look snaggy...

[fire crackling]

...and then, in here, we can see how it's all hollow,

so, like, big shells,

and then with the drought conditions

we've been experiencing...

[hacking with axe]

...like, the roots are just not anchored

as if the soil was healthy,

so we're seeing a lot more green timber

that normally would kind of pass,

failing,

so it's a little bit of a tricky time at the moment.

[Lee-Anne] From the air,

I realize that we're gonna require heavy equipment

to open up an old road,

and then, we, hopefully,

push a line along the top ridge as well,

just to create access to the back side of the fire--

depending on fire behaviour, of course.

[Sandy] Rough road.

This is a hell of a lot better than it was.

Christ.

So we're just getting access

for these boys to get up to the fire, eh?

[man] Yeah.

You know, then we'll smooth 'er out

on the way down a bit, but--

Anyway, the first part of the road's

probably the roughest.

I guess we'll jump on the CAT first.

Good thing these boys left that CAT

in the right goddamn spot, makes it easy.

[starting engine]

[♪♪♪]

The fire crews can't do bugger all

till we get 'em access.

Now the boys will be able to drive up

to the top of the fire.

My granny could drive up this goddamn road now.

[helicopter overhead]

You always have to look up.

It's what above ya that you gotta watch out for.

He's coming to bucket.

Here he comes!

Let's get out of the way.

[helicopter departing]

That's, uh, bang on.

That should cool it down for a bit.

[Lee-Anne] That's looking a lot better.

It hasn't come down the slope at all.

The tanker action definitely helped,

especially in that lower corner,

and they are forecasting precip for this afternoon,

which should really help.

[Lee-Anne] Yeah, the rain's a real gamechanger.

Like, realistically,

tactics will change to direct.

Okay.

[engine powering down]

Hi! How was it?

-Hey, dawg. -Look at you!

How's it going?

Good.

[rain pelting]

Whoa, that's rain.

I know.

Working tomorrow? Oh, yeah.

One more day.

Oh, you guys have one more day?

-Yeah. -Oh, okay.

I thought today was it.

That's good.

No, 'cause we had one reg day.

Oh, okay.

-All right, man. -Nice.

That was fun?

Nice.

Any time we get a season-ender rain event,

I'm into it.

It wasn't always that case, though.

I... There was a time

when I used to get excited about it,

but now I'm...

I'm over it.

Problem is,

we all have, like, PTSD from last season,

where it was well into November,

and we were still seeing fire behaviour

that you would never expect to see,

in November,

in the snow,

so, I think a lot of us are, like...

any time we get stuff like this in our backyard,

we're, like, "How long is this gonna last?"

and "Are we gonna have weather that's gonna be favourable,

or are we just gonna be battling till November again?"

Yeah.

[♪♪♪]

Who's the Bird Dog?

[Dan] Depending on what my strategy and tactic is

with the fire,

I've got a bunch of different options.

Water, foam, or foamed water,

is basically put directly on the fire

to cool it down.

Just like any other firefighter

on the ground with a hose,

they're trying to take the heat out of the fire

with the water.

As opposed to retardant,

which retards the actual flame,

so as the fire burns into it,

it actually slows it down.

It's a chemical change in the fuel

that's on the ground.

It's basically a salt fertilizer

with a colour package in it.

Now, I don't recommend anyone drink it,

but, um, the information that we have,

it's "yes" that it's non-toxic.

So, for us, being overhead,

looking down into a green forest,

having that red line

really tells us where the coverage is,

and where we're going.

When we're building retardant lines,

trying to get around the entire fire,

or trying to tie it from one anchor point

that's not gonna burn

to another anchor point

that's not gonna burn.

So, bodies of water are good ones.

Control lines that the crews put in.

CAT guards that the crews put in.

These are all different anchor points that we use

when we're building a retardant line...

...and it's not uncommon for a tanker to miss.

There are a lot of different factors

that come into play on that drop.

[♪♪♪]

It's tough for us, sometimes,

to figure out how much movement a drop is gonna have

in the wind.

Speed can be a huge factor.

There's so many different factors

that can play on that particular load,

and trying to get it exactly where you want can be--

it can be quite challenging and difficult.

[Lee-Anne] A lot of the push from the public

came to suppress fires,

because they're scared of it.

They don't like seeing it in their backyard,

but if they would just understand

that 70 years of mismanaged forests

lead us to the state that we're in now,

where forests need to burn.

Massive fuel build-up, all of that,

and that's kind of contributing to the fact

that we are unable to put everything out now.

Oh.

I'm fueling it,

but I'll let you know on the radio.

Okay, thanks.

Anthony, we kinda got shut down with weather

to do the Creston flight,

so I think we're just gonna head back to 2615

if you wanna do a recce.

There's a bit of a system

that looks to the north of where we are now.

I'm not sure if you guys are in it,

or if it's clear.

Okay.

Okay, I'll chat in a bit. Okay, bye.

So I'm just gonna drop it off.

Well, yeah, we'll do a quick fly-by--

Yeah, like, a recce,

and we can probably do what we need to do.

And then drop this off on H2,

which I've been assured that it's been cleared.

Nice.

[♪♪♪]

[Lee-Anne] Yeah, that's affirmative.

We need to get these bodies on the ground now.

[Lee-Anne] Yeah, yeah, we do.

We need to get that water source established on the south flank,

where it's the hottest,

then we can get some crews in there

to attack the moving groundfire.

And let's set up some bladders on the northwest side.

If we can do that, we can get containment.

-For such a little fire... -Yeah.

...it has a lot of challenges.

-Yeah, -You know?

Totally.

[Anthony] Well, um... yeah, I've seen what I need to see.

[Lee-Anne] Okay, cool.

Let's return.

[Anthony] Picture that I've painted for the zone

is that, like, nothing's easy on this thing.

Everything from the air looks easy and achievable,

but then you get down on the ground,

and it's another story.

Right now, this fire's sitting at around 50, 60 hectares,

and it's looking like

we potentially have a bit of a window.

We wanna shift,

and look at going direct on this thing.

Let's kick the shit out of this thing today.

[Lee-Anne] It looks like

there's a bit of an access issue,

so I'm gonna have to go and recce it on a quad.

[starting engine]

[♪♪♪]

It's not until I do that initial quad trip

through the fire

that I realize that most of the creeks have run dry,

and we need to supply a 20-person crew

with enough water to action all the flanks of the fire.

That's gonna require a lot more manpower.

[helicopter overhead]

Yeah, we got bladders going in.

That's a good call.

Uh, we're gonna start getting these filled shortly.

Awesome.

Put one bladder there,

and one bladder there or something?

Like--

[chainsaw buzzing]

[voice crackling indistinctly over radio]

[distant chainsaws]

We're headed to a water source.

We're looking to try to get flooders on the south flank,

'cause that's the most active part of the fire.

Heads up! Here comes a pump.

Goddamn Mark 3!

[starting motor]

[♪♪♪]

[starting motor]

[♪♪♪]

My name's Ken Sjogren.

My primary role

is to turn and burn these Mark 3s,

and pumps, and chainsaws, and generators,

and pretty much everything they return to the warehouse,

turn it into serviceable again,

and get it back in, uh-- on the fire line.

They're our only pumps we have here--

1,200, 1,500 Mark 3s.

The Mark 3s are pretty much

the bread and butter of the organization.

It's what we spend most of our time on.

They come in from the fire lines.

I receive 'em up in here, and triage 'em.

Goes to show you how hot a fire can get, I guess.

Sometimes, they fall out of helicopters,

sometimes, they-- you know,

they get hooked onto water tenders,

sometimes they-- Just, like, things happen.

[♪♪♪]

This year, for some reason,

we're having a lot of problems with carburetors.

Some of these are super old.

They-they're dinosaurs, really.

They've been on since...

Oh, we have some, probably... 30 years old.

We take 'em, we bead blast 'em, we clean 'em all up,

and they will turn out just like they were brand-new.

Sometimes, I can see the same pump

70 times in a season.

I swear that I remember certain numbers.

Your mind starts playing little tricks on you.

You're thinking, like, "Oh, you've seen this pump before,"

and you start remembering all the history of the pump.

That's when you start to think that maybe

you've been doing this a little bit too long, right?

You get a little bit-- little bit sideways.

It's a little bit intense

when you get fire seasons like this,

but we do the best we can.

[helicopter overhead]

We're trying to establish a water source

in the creek at the moment.

That's not optimal,

but we've dug it out quite a bit for a large sump.

We're gonna get a tarp

and pool it out,

and then, uh...

I just don't like the tarp pins.

I'm getting poked by all these things--

and then the water can kinda come up higher on the walls,

but... we'll see.

This is cold.

[helicopter thudding overhead]

[chainsawing]

See what they're doing here with the mesh on the flip valve?

It'll, like, keep that debris from clogging it up.

[starting motor]

[pump motor rattling]

First water on the fire,

or on this side anyway.

How's the pressure?

Good.

[voice over radio] Bravo five, Kelly three?

Go ahead.

Yeah, you can tell that

we're gonna have no problems down here.

[helicopter overhead]

[shouting] Hey-oh!

[distant voice responding] Hey-oh!

[Lee-Anne] We got D.T.A.,

D.T.F. happening along the roads

so that we can gain access to the ridge.

With this continues burning,

we're gonna have to do this the next, like, few hours

just to prevent danger trees from burning out,

and then falling across the road,

or hitting a vehicle,

or, um, crews that are walking up here.

[helicopter overhead]

Another chainsaw.

[helicopter overhead]

[Laurence] You go over, I'll go under.

I go underneath this shit 'cause my legs are short.

Let's go find the trees Lee-Anne flagged.

Attention, uh, all Sentinels there.

Starting falling operation

on the road corner,

splitting west to the south line.

[starting chainsaw]

You always have to keep your heads up,

look at the top of the trees,

so you can see hazards like widow-makers.

A widow-maker is a broken branch,

or a broken top stuck in a tree

that might fall at any time and... kill ya.

I'm using a wedge in this tree

to make it fall where I want.

[hammering]

[chainsaw revving]

[tree splintering]

[Laurence gasping]

Holy fuck!

[panting]

Do you have an idea how to do it?

-A little bit. -A little bit?

Just stand around the edge for the first one.

For that, yeah.

I recommend just...

so when the wind blows,

this whole thing's gonna flap, so...

[radio] There are a couple of trees

across the road.

Yeah, something like that.

Yeah, if you can bring a bucket or a few

to help start filling up the, uh, bladder

up by the white truck on the upper line,

that would be great.

[pilot] Yeah, we're gonna try.

We've got some cloud--

we got a bit of cloud forming on the ridge here.

We'll see how we go.

Okay, we're set.

Awesome.

I'll guide you in whenever you get close.

[helicopter approaching]

Okay, here she comes!

That's the same pilot who, uh, dumped half a--

half a bucket on me the other day.

Really?

Yeah, he was...

dumped it in, thought he was empty,

so he started pulling up,

and just... right on me.

I don't know how you can see, though.

I don't blame him.

You got a that little window right by your foot.

Wanna try this one on your own?

Wanna try the next one on your own,

or do you want me to support?

Go for it!

[Lee-Anne] Like, would it live?

That's my question.

-Would it? -I wonder.

I don't know, you tell me.

Well, spruce is not notorious

for, like, being very fire-resilient,

but it makes good cavity nesters for animals.

Like, that's gonna make a mess.

You can reassess if you think that they're not--

[distant tree splintering]

Well, no, I'm happy to-- Like, it doesn't take much, right?

-Yeah, they're little. -Yeah.

That one spruce is quite large, though,

and it's very hollowed out,

so you're gonna have to fall it high.

Um...

Nothing's really hitting the road

when you're falling, either?

-You're, like-- -No, I'm trying to keep it off.

Okay.

Although, I-- Yeah.

[Lee-Anne] For those nine months

that I'm working in fire,

it's basically...

I eat, sleep, dream--

all of it-- fires.

I know it's hard for family members,

and that kind of thing,

to be, kind of, on the outside of that,

but it's-- it's just all-consuming, right?

You can't be only half in it.

It basically takes over your life.

Do I ever think about the associated risks

of what I'm doing?

Yeah, absolutely.

It was most recently, actually, this past summer,

flying around in a helicopter.

It just lost elevation really quickly.

You know, fire coming in up the hill, fast,

trying to track it,

because we need to get

these accurate sizes of the fire,

and, all of a sudden, losing power,

and actually, like, beginning to rotate out of it.

Nothing happened, and we were safe,

because the pilot's trained,

he knows what he's doing,

but in those moments, you're, like... yeah.

You certainly think about your safety.

[flames crackling]

Just putting a bit of fire down

to try and clean this section up.

Instead of chasing this gnarly, squirrely edge,

we got road right down here.

We'll bring the fire down to the road,

and, uh, create a straighter line,

and essentially, um...

just speed operations up

by, uh, using fire in our favour.

[chainsawing]

[Lee-Anne] How's it going, Tony,

with your burn-off?

Are you getting good consumption.

[Anthony] Yeah, it's just been slow-going.

Just doing dot ignition

to keep it, you know, low and on the ground.

It's just taking time to consume itself.

[Lee-Anne] Yeah, okay.

Sounds good.

[Lee-Anne] It's interesting to see

how it burned a little bit

through this old burn, hey?

[Dan] Oh yeah, no, this one was, uh--

was going pretty good.

We were worried about it wrapping up in the air.

[Lee-Anne] Yeah.

There's Mitch's section.

7-10 Alpha, it's XAI.

[Mitch] Hey, Lee.

[Lee-Anne] Hey, Mitch, how'd you make out

on your north flank there?

Yeah, really well.

The most northern flank there

is, uh, very close to being done,

and, uh, we're, like, setting ourselves up,

and infrastructure and lines

on the south of our little bump.

[Lee-Anne] Okay, sounds good.

Looks really quiet on your side, so... nice.

[Mitch] Great, thanks.

A little bit quicker than expected, hey?

Yeah. We're done.

We're good.

Awesome.

You think that, uh,

your guys coming from that side

will actually be able to, like,

hose up to the end of that line before the end of day?

Totally.

-Yeah? -Oh, yeah.

[line ringing]

I love having cell service on fires.

It's so nice.

-Wave of the future. -It's unbelievable.

Hey, buddy.

Hey, buddy, I got ya!

-Yeah. -Bug you for--

I'm on speaker here with a couple others.

Perfect.

Uh, I'm just here with Mitch having a chat.

We've connected up our lines,

and, presumably, we'll have solid containment

on this whole west side by end of day.

End of day today?

End of day today.

Wow.

-Yeah. -That's great news.

[chainsawing]

[Lee-Anne] Although we won't call it out

for a few more weeks probably,

we feel that the fire's under control now,

and we don't need to worry about it spreading down

towards the community anymore.

Uh, Sentinel 1, it's SKK.

[Anthony] Go ahead.

Hey, just overhead your fire, just taking some photos.

How'd that burn go?

Did it burn clean to the road?

[Anthony] Yeah, affirmative.

A couple patches

where it didn't take well, but, yeah,

brought it down to the road

and, uh, got it mopped up.

How's it looking otherwise?

[Lee-Anne] Yeah, really quiet.

The only smoke I'm really seeing

is up at the top of the ridge,

kind of along that bike trail,

and, uh, Mitch's section looks really quiet this morning.

I'll send you a picture

just so you have it for reference.

[Anthony] Thank you.

[camera clicking]

[♪♪♪]

[Chris] My role is investigations,

so I'll go out and follow the fire sciences,

and bring the fire back to where it started,

and hopefully, from there,

we'll be able to see how...

how it started and where it started.

Just build a case.

We can solve the puzzle.

Every fire is investigated in some capacity.

A small fire might be--

the investigation might just be the crew leader

taking a photo of a lightning-struck tree,

saying, you know, "It's in the middle of nowhere.

Here's a lightning strike."

We do the...

the high damage, high cost,

high impact to communities and neighbourhoods.

There is a lot of roadside fires,

mostly from vehicles,

so it'll be the exhaust-- carbon exhaust--

and then, also catalytic converter pieces

shooting out of the exhaust pipe.

We do have arson files,

so if it's a big fire or it has a...

a high impact on nearby communities and stuff,

we have to go out and make sure

that it was, in fact, lightning

and-and not something else.

Start packing.

Good to see ya.

Yeah, you too, man.

-It's been a while. -Yeah, no kidding.

The retardant, was this from yesterday?

-Yeah. -Okay.

Yeah.

There might be a couple of boot prints in there

that are recent.

Okay, so it's just from you walking around?

Okay.

We'll be hanging out in this area for the day, and...

-Have fun. -Yeah.

I'll let you know when we're out?

-Okay. -Check-in's through you?

-Yeah. -Okay.

[distant chainsawing]

[Chris] Every fire is different.

I'll do some overall scene photos,

and take a look at some fire-direction indicators.

Yeah, we're catching the south side here.

[Chris] The area over there is pretty covered in retardant,

which makes indicators difficult.

Over in this area,

I'm able to look at the angle of char

on some of the trees

that show the fire is a--

was a backing fire in this location,

meaning the fire didn't start down here below us.

Uh, so it kind of gives me an idea

of what the fire was doing.

[helicopter overhead]

With the elevated fuel,

the flame essentially wraps under,

and then comes back and scorches this side.

You can see on some of the rocks,

there's some good staining,

where one side will be stained with, uh, soot

on the side the fire came from,

and the other side will be a little cleaner,

and less... less dark.

A lightning-struck tree--

normally, you'll see bark peeled off the side of the tree,

and it's pretty...

it has that fresh look to it,

like freshly-broken wood,

so it's... pretty bright in colour.

[camera snapping]

Just finished up walking the fire.

Very remote location.

We did identify a tree

that was struck by lightning.

[camera snapping]

My report--

it's gonna be lightning is the cause.

Sentinel 1 from Oscar-Charlie-five.

[Anthony] Go ahead.

Hey, we're all finished in here,

and we'll be, uh, hiking out back to the truck,

so I'll check ourselves off with Fire Centre.

[Anthony] Much appreciated.

Thanks for your help. Have a good day.

[Anthony] You as well.

[♪♪♪]

[Lee-Anne] We just Demob'ed the fire

on this side of the mountain,

and all this gear's gonna be bumped

to the other fire

on the other side of the mountain.

Count again.

Two, four, six, eight, ten, 12.

They're gonna be choked,

because they're gonna get melons

instead of nice, clean rolls,

but that's all we got.

[over radio] I reserved a request

for just the one Mark 3.

[Lee-Anne] Yeah, okay, copy that.

It's what we call the "bazooka".

[laughing]

Mark 3 complete.

15 lengths of inch-and-a-half.

A couple of Jerrys.

That should tide them over,

and the rest of it will be...

truck.

Got all the crews in,

got all the gear in...

Think we're good.

This is what I do now. [laughing]

I organize gear.

I hang out at staging sites.

They get to do the fun stuff.

Are you tamping on the fire tonight?

No, I'm gonna head back to Nelson here with Mike.

Ah, okay.

I should grab my overnight kit, though,

just for times like this, eh?

Take a good bed when you can get it.

[laughing]

Next time.

Next week on Wildfire...

It's not a natural thing

to exit an aircraft at 1500 feet

into what is sometimes not the easiest terrain,

with a wildfire burning.

I supervise a 22-person crew.

We generally take the larger incidents,

what we know as "project fires".

We're watching the wind super closely.

I'm a little nervous it may be taking a turn.

It's really cool to work with my older brother, Connor.

We're trying to establish lines

before the significant wind event comes in,

which means that

we're looking at

60- to 80-kilometre winds passing through here.

This is a dangerous job.

Despite all our efforts,

sometimes, the worst can happen.