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© 2024 J. Matt
Pickup, Ponderosa Pine, and Fireplace with Standing Chimney.
Crown fires, wildfires which burn through and travel within the crowns of trees, are spectacular, devastating fires which leave felled and charred trees in their paths. These are the forest fires typically in the public imagination thanks in part to the success of the Smoky the Bear public service announcement campaigns since the 1960s. Fires like the Camp Fire are a mix of structure fires, forest fires, and brush wildfires, each demanding its own specific suppression techniques.
Urban firefighters are specifically trained to attack fires in buildings while wildfire fire crews are trained to stop fires in wildlands with techniques that are not at all similar to fighting structure fires. Typically one sort of firefighter is not possessed of the skills or equipment of the other. The increasing incidence of fires burning through the developed/wildland interface makes the managing of multiple types of fires and their specific personnel a difficult job which few are certified to command. These complicated fires are called Type I incidents.
In the case of terrifyingly fast-moving Type I fire incidents like the Camp and Tubbs fires there is often little that officials are able to do to stop or slow the fire’s advance and concentration on evacuations becomes a critical priority for authorities managing a response. Making these decisions necessarily means allowing structures to burn completely, evincing the sort of destruction rarely seen outside of wartime. Paradise USA