Inside the Shelter

"Fire Shelter Deployments: Stories and Common Insights" is a program developed by the US Forest Service Missoula Technology and Development Center (MTDC) that will help you understand what you may experience in a fire shelter deployment. For additional fire shelter information: www.nifc.gov/fireShelt/fshelt_main.html

[@alanhelton]

Am I the only one that hoped at the moment he talked about the chipmunk crawling under the shelter that both had made it

[@americanaxetoolco2076]

Having deployed 2 times in my life I can relate to these Firefighters! God bless em all! Once you’ve deployed your shelter stay there no matter how bad the urge is to get up and run! The air outside is 10 to 20 times hotter than inside your shelter! You won’t get 20 feet I assure you! Digging into the dirt for cool air is a must and can save your life!

[@joshuas.686]

God Bless you. I'm glad you made it out ok. If I may ask, what fires did you deploy your shelters in?

[@EPICFAILKING1]

@Madness Incorporated Show some respect, man.

[@BushyHairedStranger]

American Axe & Tool Co. So what year were these shelter deployments? what Region? incident number? Which Incident Command Team was managing this incident? What Agency did you work for and who was your Supervisor or Crew Boss?

[@jtaylor0153]

Much love to the families of those brave 19 hero’s in Yarnell AZ, never forget

[@jimthejam6668]

Being a woodland fire fighter on the twisp fire a couple years back, these boys are the bravest of the brave.

[@SondaLovesElly26]

While people are running from the fire, these brave firefighters are running towards it. Only the brave!!

[@timothyjohnson9006]

Corvette gs there is actually a movie called only the brave. It’s about the 19 hotshots that got killed in the Forrest fires

[@lisaanderson1059]

why dont they have a smal oxygentube with them ? There are small ones like a small bottle that will give you likke 10 min of air. Also, why dont they use a zipper? And why isnt the shelter thicker?

[@theskinlessflute4276]

@@lisaanderson1059 zipper would melt, not reliable enough to keep it shut and if you need to escape it is valuable time wasted unzipping it. The shelter cannot be thicker due to it being too heavy to unload quickly. It is a last resort, and must be able to be pulled on and ready to lay down in under 30 seconds. As for the oxygentube, not entirely sure, I could see the potential of it but again, its a matter of efficiency and time constraints. Is it worth the extra 10 seconds to set up, and also can you afford to let go of the pin on the shelter to try and breath. Shelters are meant to be pinned down by hands and feet so to risk lifting your hand to get a bit of air is dangerous and could lead to being flipped over and filled with hot gas and smoke.

[@hairy-dairyman]

@@lisaanderson1059 you can't carry a bottle of oxygen with you in a fire. it wont end well. and thicker shelters would slow them down, from the weight. In Australia we don't use them. They dont seem to survive our conditions

[@kilo5659]

Fire shelters were discontinued in BC in 2005 (the last province in Canada to do so) because of the type of forest we have here (that being temperate rainforest) are just too dense to shelter in.

[@vapormissile]

"chipmunk didn't make it" aw man I lost it

[@vapormissile]

ach don't upvote me, it makes me come look at this horrifying shit ...

[@scottfrench3354]

vapormissile Me too I was like Alvin pulled it off. Fire fighter finishes story and I’m like shit!!

[@charlesharmon8478]

Thankful all these brace firefighters survived. RIP chipmunk.

[@cassandrahowell8055]

From everything I've seen...sounds like site selection is just as important, if not most important, when deploying a fire shelter. I know these guys do not get paid nearly enough for what they do.

[@SurfingBullDog]

Cassandra Howell their pay is criminal. Starting out at GS-3? That’s peanuts for what they do and the risks they take. Even with their extra hazard pay. I used to work a govt job and sat next to a GS-12 who did maybe 2 hours of work a day and spent the rest of the time surfing Facebook. Meanwhile these guys are saving lives, property, and our national parks.

[@Thechist781]

SurfingBullDog Life is unfair mate.

[@scottfrench3354]

Right but meanwhile a football player gets payed millions. But people who save life’s and put themselves in extreme danger. A high five ✋ and not the greatest of salaries. It’s a backwards ass world.

[@craighaldane3596]

Wow that must be terrifying. Wild fire fighters you guys are amazing.

[@mnpd3]

"Fire" shelters? Misnomer. "Heat" Shelter is more appropriate. The things will handle radiant heat up to a point, but open flame dissolves them and just prolongs the user's agony.

[@Boojyman]

Lol where does the heat come from?

[@kittygonzalez2827]

Life saving ! My husband is alive! Our 3 kids are very very thankful! They should NEVER have to deploy, BUT those shelters are the only thing between life and death....I’m certain you would have a change of mind and heart if you were brave enough to fight fires while rushing into to save lives on the other side of the ridge!

[@ajbaumgart4774]

Wow i got to give you wildland fire fighters tons of credit for being brave as heck man id probably freak out and panic if i heard a fire storm getting ready to go over me unbelievable do stay safe out there wildland fire brothers and sister fire fighters out there

[@joeyoung1973]

Travis his boss probably saved his life and other buy going to that training site selection

[@ogjuggalo4545]

soo much love and respect for the fighfighters!

[@ericadender4069]

I made be weird but the worst part to me if I had to do that is your going to be on your own in there. Usually your with your team and they may deploy right beside you but your still alone under there with your mind going in so many directions and if it gets real bad there's no one to help you your going to have to wait it out. Except for the case of I believe the thirty mile fire where they got trapped somehow with two hikers who had no shelters so a woman put them in hers and laid on top of them so her clothes would take the heat from the shelter. I believe a few in her group died there but herself and the two hikers walked away. Amazing

[@runningthor1999]

The ol’ shake n bakes. 8 pounds you wish you wouldn’t carry and pray you never use.

[@0570965]

I did not know about the shelters, until now

[@joshthomas1562]

THANK THE TRAINERS ♡

[@christinej9080]

Brave heroes!

[@austinpaula8188]

Firefighters are some of best people God bless 😥

[@Jeremiahheartly]

Balls of steel.

[@watchthe1369]

I am surprised you guys do not have some sort of breather mask that will cool the air? A mining self rescue breather will convert carbon monoxide and dioxide into breathable air too.

[@josephapawelczyk]

Extra weight is hard to justify when entrapments do't happen very often

[@rob_3417]

They would explode ,no?

[@2011blueman]

First of all that's extra weight in a job that requires hard/fast hiking up mountains. Secondly, the mining self rescue breathers wouldn't cool the air, and you don't want oxidizing chemicals being exposed to the extreme heat inside the tent you're trying to hide from the fire in unless you're intentionally trying to kill yourself.

[@damonfleming2695]

The self rescuers heat up quite a bit also.

[@fana406]

Poor lil chipmunk

[@spartianknight.]

What is the typical duration spent in a shelter?

[@jhn146A]

10 to 90 minutes is what one USFS training video said.

[@Hunter-bm6ss]

Johnny Irenchi idk but if the flames touch the shelter it will melt it so if the black zone wasn't big enough it maybe melted the shelter then they burned

[@Joseph565112]

Well thankfully life is measured in mere seconds when the temp outside is 2500 and even inside its 800+. The brain simply shuts off it seems. Believed that those nearest Pompeii encountered 900F heat and they died quite suddenly.

[@Joseph565112]

Well thankfully life is measured in mere seconds when the temp outside is 2500 and even inside its 800+. The brain simply shuts off it seems. Believed that those nearest Pompeii encountered 900F heat and they died quite suddenly.

[@jamesball1136]

Johnny Irenchi the granite mountain hotshot got over run by the fire it was moving about 50 mph and they didn't have enough time to clear a deploy site big enough for them plus the shelters where made from an old design the fire depending on the fuel can burn anywhere from 1500° or higher hopefully this helps with your question

[@Hannahcode1]

Why dont they make them like mummy bags that zip and still have a air hole placement?

[@jamesbee8265]

air hole 2 what?

[@stephaniescholl4175]

Metal would b extremely hot

[@captainfruitpunch8913]

So they can deploy quickly

[@TheCptncrunchify]

All them moved to the structured side, unacceptable

[@josephastier7421]

Stay inside the thing.

[@Jkl306]

Terrifying :( omg so scary

[@johnsmith-zv8ws]

these guys know this was not a normal brush fire brush fires dont melt steel

[@hughmckay3235]

They didn’t help the granite mountain hot shots did it😔😞

[@DiamorphineDeath]

That was a different situation. Shelters aren’t meant to protect you from direct flame contact, but instead from the radiant heat coming off of the fire up until whatever specific point that happens to be.

[@MsMissaLynn]

That fire was said to reach 2000⁰ and the shelters at the time only went as high as 500

[@kittygonzalez2827]

Power lines! The dirtiest words in California!

[@toriskylar337]

First ;)

[@Isah589]

not as good as first... but second 😆