Plateau on the Radio: Episode 25 Wildfires

Listen to Episode 25 HERE...

Join us for a special edition of your humble regional science show all about wildfires, megafires, and the women and men that fight them.

Forest fire beneath dark skies. Photo by astrosherpa
In this edition we will attend a lecture with Forest Ecologist Paul Hessburg all about the history of fire suppression and how we have created the ingredients for mega-fires that are larger than 100,000 acres. Also a discussion on how to prevent these wildfires through thinning and prescribed burns, and why ponderosa pines are fire dependent. And finally we look towards the wildland firefighters, true heroes of the West and especially of our region. We will see what it is like to attend Fire School, hear a great report about Hotshots, and an audio postcard from some of the elite Smokejumpers, and find out about what exactly that red stuff is that they dump from planes onto fire lines.

A Smokejumper headed into the wild.
If you would like to learn more about how to become a Wildland Firefighter head over to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group for some great information and answers to some of your questions.