By Laura Ammerman
Palm Beach Post (Florida)
Copyright 2006 The Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Serena Rinker and Keith Boliek helped save part of the American West this summer.
Both wildland firefighters, who work at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge west of Boynton Beach, spent two weeks in the Pacific Northwest fighting wildland fires in a year that has seen a jump in the number of such blazes. Grant Gifford and Gayle Martin, two other firefighters who work at the refuge, are on similar assignments.
Wildfires burned 8.4 million acres of U.S. land since Jan. 1, according to estimates the National Interagency Fire Center released Sept. 5. The 10-year average through Sept. 5 is 4.8 million acres. The center has handled so many large fires this year that it has had to call in the military and firefighters from as far away as Australia and New Zealand.
Rinker, 49, of Boynton Beach, was one of a crew of 20 firefighters, all from Florida, who joined hundreds of others to battle a blaze on a mountain in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest on the border of Oregon and Idaho. Boliek, 55, of Coral Springs, was part of a helicopter crew that fought fires at the Ochoco National Forest near Prineville, Ore., and at the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest near Winthrop and Conconully, Wash. At one point during Boliek’s trip, more than 2,900 people were working on the Okanogan-Wenatchee fire.
Conditions at the fires were tough. Rinker and her crew rose at 5 a.m. and worked until 8 p.m. For five days the team had to “spike out,” sleeping on the mountain under the stars in burned areas near the fire, instead of in their tents at the fire camp.
“I was watching fire climb to the other side of the ridge” we were sleeping on, Rinker said.
While they “spiked out,” they ate ready-to-eat meals, similar to the ones given to military troops, and didn’t have access to the temporary showers and toilets set up at the fire camp.
Boliek, a master sergeant in the Army Reserves who served a year in Iraq, said his longest day was 15 1/2 hours.
The job also has its potential dangers. Fifteen wildland firefighters have died at the scene of a fire or on their way to a fire this year, said Tina Boehle, spokesperson for the National Interagency Fire Center. To prepare for the worst, firefighters carry “fire shelters,” sheets that look like giant pieces of aluminum foil, to hide under if a fire traps them. Neither Rinker nor Boliek had to use them this summer, and both emphasized that firefighters can stay safe as long as they follow the rules of fighting fires and maintain constant communication with their colleagues.
“In firefighting, there’s these 18 steps and what you call watch-out orders” to ensure safety, Boliek said. “You go out to fight the fire, but you don’t go out to injure yourself, and nobody wants to get hurt out there.”
Despite the long days, the potential danger and the lack of amenities, Rinker and Boliek seem to love the job.
“I’m actually being paid to be in a forest all day,” Rinker said. “I’m up here on this mountain — nobody else gets to look at these stars tonight.”
To keep their “red cards” — their certifications to fight wildland fires - Rinker and Boliek must take a class and pass the “pack test” each year. The test requires firefighters to walk 3 miles in 45 minutes with 45 pounds of gear strapped to their backs. This year, Boliek finished the test in about 41 minutes; Rinker finished in about 37 minutes.
“I was very proud that every single year I seem to be getting faster, even though I’m older,” she said. “It’s not a race against other people, but I am proud that I come in faster than some of the younger people.”