Western Colorado Women's Fire Team

ASPEN, Colo. — As fire season begins in Colorado, local, state and federal agencies are working hard to recruit wildland firefighters to respond and prevent dangerous fires.

Although it's hard work, many firefighters say it's rewarding to do work that keeps them outdoors and makes a positive difference.

Wildland firefighting is a male-dominated career, but there's a team in western Colorado looking to change that.

On Friday, May 31, Raechelle Seil prepares to start her work day, unpacking her chainsaw and other tools next to an impressive pile of branches and brush.

“Before that, I worked in an office and quickly discovered that I hated office jobs,” Seil said. “So I started looking for a little more outdoors…I knew I wanted to do something physical.” I want to do something outside.

Instead of being stuck in an office, she navigates rugged terrain, creates firebreaks, and protects neighborhoods from natural disasters. She is the deputy head of a team of forest firefighters, made up entirely of women.

This development team is the result of a partnership between the Western Colorado Conservation Corps (WCCC), the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service, aimed at attracting more women to wildfire jobs. The Forest Service estimates that up to 87 percent of its wildland firefighters are men.

Lathan Johnson is the deputy fire director for the BLM and the Upper Colorado River Interagency Fire Management Unit. He helps coordinate the women's fire team and said the program has a dual benefit: Federal agencies are doing major fuels reduction work before the peak of the fire season and their staffs are starting to look a bit like more to society as a whole.

“Every time I work, whether it's a wildfire or something we do here in the office, that gender diversity, I think, has always made for a better team,” he said in an interview. with Aspen Public Radio.

When the program is complete, he said, all of the women will be certified to fight wildfires for federal agencies and will have completed all the training they need to work in the field.

Over the past few weeks, this team has cleared gambol oak and other plants from the ridge behind the Red Dog subdivision, nestled in the shadow of Mount Sopris. They are gathering the vegetation into large piles, which will be burned later this year.

“When you have fresh vegetation or fresh soil, if there's a fire or something like that, it's a lot harder for that fire to spread out of it, because it's not dry, it's isn’t leafy, it’s nothing like that,” Seil explained the fire prevention strategy that underpins the team’s work.

But it has other benefits beyond reducing the risk of wildfire in a residential area: It helps maintain wildlife corridors through the area and makes remaining plants healthier.

While Ellie Zaher helped Seil clear some of the vegetation upstream of the burn pile, she said that when the team is not in the field, they benefit from mentoring, such as help to write their resume and advice on what seasonal jobs they should apply for. .

She said it was especially meaningful when it came from women who had been working in the fire industry much longer than the interns.

“They are all very supportive and want more women in the fire,” she said. “They are so happy that we have this program and they each continue to show us what we should pack and what we should expect.” I appreciate that so much because not everyone is willing to do that.

The pile of burns grew much larger over the hour or so the team worked there, with one of them crushing him with their full weight every now and then.

It is difficult work that requires some physical fitness: women work long days carrying heavy loads over rough terrain, sometimes creating their own trails to do so. They often camp near their construction sites, instead of sleeping in beds.

Eva Heller, another assistant team leader, explained that it is rewarding to see the results of their work and that the difficult parts of the job are worth it.

“I feel like I’m actually making a difference here and doing something meaningful, which is so awesome,” she said. “And that’s probably my favorite thing about my job, other than working with all these great people.”

After the team's last day of work, they will disperse and join up with different traditional fire crews across western Colorado.

The WCCC, BLM and Forest Service estimate that about 80 percent of women who have participated in the program in past years are employed in fire for at least the following season, and many of them pursue careers in fire. fire sector. natural resources.

In exit interviews and feedback to program managers, they often attribute part of their success to the opportunity to learn the position in a welcoming environment. This is something Raechelle Seil is grateful for.

“Using all this, like bigger tools, all these machines and stuff like that, without feeling judged and without feeling inferior,” she said. “It’s very, very nice to really feel supported and cared for.”