As summer temperatures take hold in Colorado, mountain firefighters train for wildfires
In the high country, Colorado wildland firefighters say we can't let our guard down even with this near-constant rain.
CBS News Colorado tagged along with a crew training in Summit County on a spot of land that just keeps catching fire.
The reason that spot keeps lighting up? It's right next to a gun range, where fire officials say sometimes people use illegal inciderary rounds, or "tracer" rounds, or shoot at things like propane bottles, though there's no proof that started a fire.
"We have fires frequently enough that we need to stay on top of our skills," said Hannah Olsen, risk mitigation specialist on the wildland division of Summit Fire and EMS.
Not only are they getting good experience cutting lines, throwing hoses, sawing down logs, but they're also preparing the area for a potential prescribed burn, maybe as soon as next spring.\
The training is broken up into jobs.
"The swamper is the person that's paired with the sawyer," Olsen said. "They're moving the logs that the sawyers are cutting. That's incredibly strenuous. The dig is sort of the unsung hero. That's just low-grade, arduous work all day long, bent over, banging a tool into dirt. The hose crews are hauling heavy packs of hose up the hill, running back down, opening wise, closing wise. That's just a lot of buzzing around the hillside."
All of this so they'll be ready to roll in the event of a real issue.
No interruptions, no mistakes, because they can't afford to let these wildfires go. All of Colorado is counting on them.