Wildland Fire

BES provides wildland fire services for deployment to fires in all types of local natural areas, ranging from forests to grasslands, in support of local and county fire departments. In addition to firefighters engaged in direct fire suppression and mitigation, BES can provide incident support through our other services, such as incident staging and fireline rescue.

All BES firefighters are certified to the national standards of wildland firefighting from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group. In addition to their initial training, firefighters are required to attend a yearly certification refresher and maintain a high standard of physical fitness.

Services Provided

• Wildland firefighting hand crew
• Staging area management
• Ropes & rigging / fireline search and rescue
• Evacuation support
• Unmanned aerial vehicle imaging
• Traffic control and closures
• Incident Management Team (IMT) and Emergency Operation Center (EOC) support

Challenges

Maintaining a certified, physically fit wildland fire crew among volunteers is demanding. Annual recertification and fitness standards must be continuously met.