Fire is often thought of as a bad thing, but University of Idaho sophomore Leslie Fowler said that’s not always the case.
Leslie Fowler | Courtesy
UI sophomore Leslie Fowler works for an engine crew fighting fires for the Bureau of Land Management Burley-Twin Falls district in August.
“As long as it’s not destroying homes and structures, it’s actually a natural process. The environment needs fire to thrive,” Fowler said.
When Fowler applied to the Burley-Twin Falls district fire station two summers ago it was to please her mom, but when she got a call back for an interview, she decided to take it. She had no idea how a summer job would shape the rest of her life.
“I was interested in fire ecology before, but after working my first summer, it was decided,” Fowler said. “It was also solidified when I (worked) in a law office and I couldn’t stand the paperwork and the monotony of it all.”
Fowler now studies fire ecology and management and conservation biology at UI. She said she’s not sure of the emphasis yet, but is interested in how fire affects the environment.
Austin Schmahl, a UI sophomore, works for the Rock Creek-Twin Falls district station. He took the job two summers ago in order to make some extra money for college.
Schmahl is studying fire ecology management, and is hoping to someday be a fire operations supervisor.
“It’s like the fire chief of wild land,” he said.
Schmahl has helped fight 12 fires during his first season, and another 14 this past season. One fire had a significant impact on his life, he said.
As part of a strike team — a team of people from another state sent to fight a specific fire — Schmahl was sent to the Wood Hollow fire in Utah.
He said this fire was different than others because it was getting larger and producing its own gusts of wind rather than cooling off at night.
“We had a close call with what’s called a fire whirl,” Schmahl said. “The best way to describe those is they are dust devils with flames in them. We were going down a two-track dirt road with a fence on both sides. I had a hose out and the fire whirl had spun ahead of us and had cut through the road. We had to cut through the fence to try to get ahead of it.”
He said the fire whirl had done significant damage to the fire engine. The headlights were melted and the paint was peeling on the engine.
“It was the most difficult fire behavior I’d ever seen,” Schmahl said.
During the summer months, Fowler and Schmahl are guaranteed 40 hours of work per week at the station. There they do physical training, paperwork and mechanical repairs. All other work is considered overtime or “danger pay.”
Fowler said it takes a lot of commitment to be a fire fighter because they are always on call and need to be ready to go in 15 minutes. Fowler said in the summer it can be difficult to go to movies or go camping because she is never sure when she will be called in to work.
“In the summer, they own us,” Fowler said. “It’s definitely worth it, even though many opportunities are missed.”
Alexia Neal can be reached at [email protected]