[slow dramatic music]
- NARRATOR: Along the edge of the Texas Panhandle,
you'll find the Matador Wildlife Management Area,
a colorful land of rolling plains and canyons
spanning over 28,000 acres.
[slow dramatic music]
The beauty and balance of this natural landscape
is maintained by the regular use of an ancient tool.
[crackling]
Fire.
[crackling] [slow dramatic music]
[engine starting]
[ATVs pull away]
On this spring morning,
a crew of wildland fire specialists
huddles for their 8:00 a.m. meeting.
- Derek Malone.
Derek, you got lined out on how to operate everything
on that piece of equipment?
[laughing]
All right.
- Yes, sir. [laughing]
- I mean, if you don't know something, ask.
It's our job to make sure we communicate
the information to you,
but it's your job to make sure you understand it.
- NARRATOR: All joking aside,
these fire veterans along with a few new recruits
are about to conduct some serious business.
[clanging]
Today's job is a prescribed burn.
- Right now they're preparing to light a test fire.
[crackling]
It gives us a pretty good indication
of what the fire behavior is going to be like.
[crackling]
- It's going to burn slow.
- CHRIS: Since it's a test, if it doesn't work out,
we can put the fire out and go for it another day.
- NARRATOR: Prescribed fire mimics the wildfires
that shaped and sustained this landscape
over thousands of years.
Fire is a natural process
that has occurred forever out here.
Whenever you don't have fire,
brush encroaches.
The more brush there is,
the higher the fire danger is going to be
during a dry year,
[sirens wailing]
so the more fire you put on the ground,
the less the effects of a wildfire will be
and the more controllable it will be.
[crackling]
- NARRATOR: But prescribed fire isn't just for
controlling wildfires.
Fire knocks back invasive plants
and returns nutrients to the soil.
This promotes native species
and helps create a balance of cover and forage for wildlife.
[turkeys gobble]
- All right, guys.
We're going to go ahead and send one toward John.
- NARRATOR: For burns as big as this one,
the department assembles a large crew
to complete the work.
[fast drum beats]
The person in charge of the fire is called the burn boss.
- [on radio] Burn boss one. - Go ahead.
- NARRATOR: They oversee all personnel on the fire.
- [on radio] All right, copy that.
- NARRATOR: Next come the engine bosses.
- Squad one.
- NARRATOR: Who drive the fire trucks and direct crews.
Anybody in charge of the firing operation
that actually lights the fires,
they're called the firing boss.
[crackling and scraping]
Five to seven person hand crews do the mop up work
once the fire burns through.
[revving]
Squad bosses are in charge of the UTVs with sprayers.
[spraying and hissing]
Then there's the entry level firefighter.
They do all the grunt work
and make everyone else look good.
[energetic music]
♪ ♪
- [on radio] All units stand by for 11:00 weather.
Temperature is 64 degrees.
Relative humidity is 41%, down 11.
Ability to ignition is 30%, up 10.
- Right there that tells us about the humidity dropping
and things kind of improving,
well this fire activity is going to increase a little bit.
It's going to move a little bit better.
- We started out this morning with one-foot flame lengths.
Now we're looking at two to three-foot flame lengths
and a little bit more fire behavior.
The fire is gaining and moving.
Warmer temperatures, warmer fuels.
The sun does that job.
A little bit more wind, it helps spread the fire.
[man talking over radio]
- FIREFIGHTER: Just start dripping it along
the road there.
- On the inside or from the road?
MAN: Yep, just right there.
- NARRATOR: Along with the natural benefits of the work,
these burns also help foster the next generation
of fire professionals.
[crackling]
- That stuff lights up real quick.
Those fires.
Hot.
[crackling]
- Everybody's working together as a team.
I find that really awesome.
Everybody's calling things over the radio
and you got lookouts,
people with the drip torches setting stuff on fire,
people making sure there's no spot fires.
[squeaking]
It's making me want to pursue it more as a career
every second I'm here.
- FIREFIGHTER: Let's take it over here, right here.
We'll light it.
- It's been a real treat, a really good experience.
Some of these guys have been doing this
longer than I've been alive,
which is just kind of hard to believe.
I'm feeling tired,
like I'm going to need a few days' rest
before I think about coming out here again.
[upbeat music]
[indistinct chatter]
- When the humidity is a little higher
and the fire's good, everybody works well together.
- DERRICK: Prescribed fire is a great
habitat management tool.
Every time we do a fire,
I feel like we're taking a big chunk
out of our management of that area.
[crackling]
Then when you come back three months later
and you have all this tall grass
and you have all the wildflowers out there,
it just kind of brings it all together
and you realize what you've accomplished.
[dramatic music]
- ANNOUNCER: This project was funded in part
by a grant from the Wildlife Restoration Program.