Hotshots vs. a fire crew...what's the difference?

 

I realized I needed to write this when one of my wildland firefighting Facebook groups shared a post titled: “The First Women Hotshots” along with photos and bios of five women. At first I thought: “Nice.” But then I thought: “Wait a minute…” What about the other women who were on ‘just plain old fire crews?’ Who worked just as hard. Who had a place in history as “women firsts” just as much as any female Hotshot. Like me.

A sore spot had been poked.

I struggled with whether or not to add a comment. I’m not one to make waves, but I decided to make a wave…a respectful wave. I wrote: Not to minimize the tough job of a Hotshot...but being on a 10-person fire suppression crew in 1976 was just as hard. Just because we didn't have the "title" doesn't mean we weren't important.

One woman (obviously a former Hotshot) responded: We drew the line; you held it.

Meaning they (Hotshots) initial attacked the fire; and we (not Hotshots) followed to hold that fireline and mop-up.

I did not take offense. And I thought to not respond, but a few minutes later I did, but carefully responded with the truth: “Yes, we did. But we often did it all!”

Let me explain.

Almost everyone I met who knew about my former career and about my memoir assumed I worked on a Hotshot crew. I would immediately dive in to correct this assumption, struggling to find a way to explain the difference to someone who had no clue what the job was like and why Hotshot and Fire Suppression Crews had the same job, even though they did not have the same title. I found myself apologizing (why, I don’t know) and explaining that no, I served on a 10-person suppression crew…and then I would proceed to explain the differences, or lack of differences, feeling foolish for not having the right words to say what I wanted to say…which led to facial expressions on the listeners bordering on disillusionment or disappointment. I inevitably would feel that I let myself down by not saying proudly: I did the exact same work as a Hotshot did—and leave it at that.

My point is this: Is there anything special or different or more important about Hotshot Crews vs. the other hardworking firefighters without said title? My firm stance is a firm “no.” 

Here’s why:

Hotshot Crew

Hotshot crews are regionally oriented. In other words, their role is not to protect a specific area or National Forest, but to provide manpower throughout their region (Southwest, Northwest, etc.), but if the fire situation dictates, they travel the entire U.S. (and on rare occasions to Canada), wherever and whenever needed. They are often called in for initial attack, and often leaving the grunt work (mop-up) to others. Mop-up is the grueling, tedious work of extinguishing every single hotspot which could potentially reignite the fire days, weeks, or even in some rare cases, months, after the fire has been declared “out.” I remember the reasoning behind this being explained as Hotshot crews were needed to initial attack new fires.

Fire Suppression Crew, Type II

This is the title my crew held in the mid-1970s. We were proud of that title! So how did we differ? Well, first of all, we were hired to protect a specific area…a District on a specific National Forest. But that didn’t mean if the fire situation warranted sending us off-District, or even out-of-state, we weren’t boarding a plane or driving hundreds of miles to answer that call.

That said, if we had a fire on our District, we initial attacked. And we stayed to hold the line and mop-up. We stayed until the fire was out.

As for what other crews did when there weren’t any fires? All I can say is that for me and my crew, we did a lot! Hiking trail maintenance, building fence, cutting fence posts for said fence, station maintenance, vehicle maintenance, cleaning campgrounds, picnic areas, and outhouses, picking up roadside litter, repairing and improving spring water resources…and more.

The most important point I want to make is that with fire suppression, we did it all. We initial attacked. We held the line. We mopped up. And when not firefighting, we also did it all. I’m very, very proud of the job I held. What’s in a title? Truthfully, not much. It’s wildland firefighters, whatever their role, that is important.