TRUCKEE HOTSHOTS
The very term “Hotshot” means many things to many people. But to those of us who recruit, train, and work Hotshots, the job title is appropriate. From experience we know that firefighting is 90 percent physical for the Hotshot crewmember. The nature of the work is so demanding that only those of unusual strength, agility, coordination, and stamina can cope with the sustained work required of the average Hotshot crewmember.
As a Hotshot crewmember, you will be required to not only produce physically, but to live together, eat together, and sleep together in close crowded conditions. Complete compatibility is in itself a difficult challenge.
You must take orders, and carry them out at all times day after day. The emotional strain is extreme, and the competitive pressure of your peer group is always present. A crew is only as good as its weakest member.
On the fireline Hotshots are singled out for the most hazardous and difficult assignments. It is normal for Hotshot crews to be on the first shift for 24 hours straight before relief is available. Succeeding shifts of 14-18 hours for 5-15 days straight are often necessary. In extreme cases you may be away from home and family for 30 days. At times you will be isolated away from the main fire camp for several days. You will be thirsty, hungry, and sleeping on rocky ground without a sleeping bag. You’ll hardly have the luxury of washing your hands, much less the facilities to bathe. You’ll be filthy, exhausted, underfed, and hurting. There will be no privacy, no laundry, no shelter, no sanitation, and no sympathy.
The Hotshot crew is so named because of the need for tough, knowledgeable, and hard firefighters that can be sent ahead of the main contingent of ordinary crews, and independently dig control lines around critical sections of the fire, hold that line, and survive on the bare minimum. You will be required to pack heavy loads for hours on end, up and down extremely mountainous terrain. The normal complement of support gear (food, water, tools) you will carry exceeds 30 pounds.
It is not uncommon for Hotshot crews to hike/climb 3-5 miles just to get to the area where they will begin working. Work consists of falling large trees, bucking them into lengths, and hauling the lengths, dead falls, and brush out of the fires path, digging (3 feet to 10 feet wide) firelines to mineral soil, chopping roots out, excavating rocks in the line to construct retaining walls, hauling hose and portable pumps, burning out the line before the fire gets there, and extinguishing spot fires outside of your line.
Other features of the job are living in and breathing smoke for days on end, contending with poison oak, poison ivy, poison sumac, cactus, thorns, ticks, gnats, flies, bees, yellowjackets, snakes, scorpions, spiders, rolling rocks, and falling trees. It’s dirty, dusty, hot, and freezing cold. In short, it reduces all to animal survival.
- Bill Buck, former Hotshot and Fire Management Officer, Coconino National Forest
Who is a Hotshot?
Our History
The first fire crew came to Hobart Mills, where the crew is currently stationed on the Truckee Ranger District of the Tahoe National Forest, in 1961. The Hobart Mills inmate crew CC51 was supervised by Forest Service employees. CC51 was eventually disbanded and in 1971, fire crew Foreman Bob Riley began building a fire crew for Hobart. This crew was a partnership between the Forest Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The crew brought people together from very different ways of living and crossed many cultural, social, and economic hurdles.
In 1973, the crew became the Hobart Hotshots. They operated out of Hobart Mills until 1986, when the crew moved to Bullards Bar to be closer to project work and the crew name was changed to the Tahoe Hotshots. This crew history belongs to the Tahoe Hotshots but is a part of the storied past of Hobart Mills. 1986 through 1989 saw various stages of 10 and 20 man fuels crews working out of Hobart.
In 1989, Terry Gunder formed Crew 7, a 20 man Type II crew called the Truckee Hand Crew. In 2001, as a product of the maximum efficiency level build up, Crew 7 changed their name to Tahoe Crew 1. In 2009, the crew met the Standards for Interagency Hotshot Crews and became the Truckee Hotshots under the supervision of Bobby Hubby.