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Now a fisheries biologist helping save endangered
silvery minnow in the Rio Grande, Kristen Staiger ’99 finds
her current work as exciting as the time she spent on a Hotshot
crew, fighting wildland fires for the U.S. Forest Service. Staiger
joined the elite circle of Hotshot firefighters when 15-20 new crews
were added to the force a few years ago.
Preparations started the moment Staiger decided to pursue the job.
She enrolled in wildland fire courses to better understand such
things as how weather interacts with, and impacts fire. These classes
are common in states such as Colorado, the site of two of summer’s
biggest blazes, where there is an abundance of urban interfacing—a
term describing cities that back-up to mountains.
Staiger credits networking skills learned at CMC
to getting hired so quickly. “You have to be connected with
the right people,” she emphasizes. “That’s the way
to get it done. You don’t just turn in an application, then
sit back.”
What led you into firefighting?
Staiger: “I’m still trying to
figure out that question myself, but I think a lot of it has to
do with the fact that I grew up fascinated with fire. As I got into
science in college, I started learning the chemical process, and
everything that feeds fire is fascinating, too. When I was at CMC,
I did some research in the eastern sierra mountains and it was an
opportunity to meet some of the forest service firefighters who
had worked in Yosemite. That kind of intrigued me because here was
a way to incorporate my love of the environment –which is what
I was really focusing on in college – with fire, which had
always interested me.
It actually took another year, sitting at a desk
in a Bay Area consulting firm, to realize that I really wanted to
be out there.
Was it what you expected?
Staiger: It can be very political, so I
was able to use my entire major (government and biology) on the
job.
In what way?
Staiger: The structural firefighting industry
is getting better about accepting women into the force, but the
government forest service is very old-school. A lot of people who’ve
been in the business have been in it for 20-30 years, and are locked
into the idea that this is a man’s world. So it is pretty unaccommodating
in a lot of ways.
It’s also political in the sense of the management
of fire by people, rather than letting nature manage fire. Fire
is such a natural process, and here we are fighting it. And that
creates the kind of environmental issues that have developed.
How did you train for Hotshot firefighting?
Staiger: In terms of the physicality, I
was a triathlete. I had been running marathons in college so I had
the endurance. For me, I really needed to work on my strength, so
in the months beforehand, I was in the gym for four or five hours
a day, working on that area.
I think that’s really pertinent to women.
If you’re not a really strong woman, then you’ll struggle
a lot out there. So in that sense you also have to be strong mentally.
Did you ever have a moment that required that
kind of mental tenacity?
Staiger: Yes, there was an instance in Washington
when we were climbing a hill and I thought I was going to pass out.
I was carrying a heavy pack and a fuel container, and we were going
up this huge incline. And of course you’re not wearing comfortable
workout clothing .You’re in pants and carrying hiking gear.
(Laughs.) It was a lot of weight for someone my size because I’m
only 5-foot-3. I started off the season at 110 pounds. I gained
about 30 pounds during the season just to be able to keep my strength
up.
What kinds of tools and equipment were you working
with?
Staiger: There are 20 people on a crew,
and each person is assigned a tool. You can switch throughout the
season, but generally you just stick with one. Some people are up
front, cutting down trees and bushes with chainsaws. They obviously
have a hard job because of the weight of those tools. Then you have
a pulaski, a tool that looks like an axe, with a hoe on the other
side, for chopping roots or trees or bushes, or for pulling back
dirt. And then you have a series of other tools. We had someone
on our crew who custom-welded some of our tools.
Essentially what you’re doing, as a wildland firefighter, is
builiding a 3-foot-wide trail around the entire fire. Just imagine
getting up at 5 or 6 a.m., swinging an axe for 20 hours, going to
bed, then getting up the next day and doing it all over again.
Sounds fun. What other ‘natural’ forces
are you battling with besides the fire?
Staiger: Usually the terrain isn’t
flat, so you’re dealing with a lot of hills, and it’s
hot and dirty.
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