Meet The Warriors of the West

[Music] mother nature she's not very happy with us right now the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in the state's history we used to have fire seasons now we have fire years and I think that's our firefighters that are paying a big price for that a second firefighter was killed while battling the Ferguson fire the hazard risking life and limb out there at least we could do is take care of them and they're taking care in the country the way they do [Music] one over the corner came through most people in America don't even realize what wildland firefighters are how dangerous it is how many of them don't come home old order range 10 Wes Meridian a latitude 41 37.4 75 by what doesn't the public know about wildland firefighters you know when most people hear firefighter they go right to the red truck that's driving around downtown that's a structure firefighter it's a huge difference structure guys defense structures wildland firefighters defend nature fire officials say they've been using hotshots who are famous for being the best of the best Hot Shots area first ones in on a wildland fire stuff that you and I would want to hike absolutely not and they do it carrying a 40 pound Packer tools working their way up you go to fires and people have a high expectation of us you're expected to do the longest shifts do the hardest things go to places where no one else goes gone from family seven months at a time pretty much we're on fire 14 16 days with travel home - gone again 14 16 days home - gone again back to back to back their ID on the line of the fire with an tools digging a line to stop that fire from moving to more vegetation yeah there's a lot into fire that I don't think people are very aware of at all do they know that they run through the forest with no respirators on with just a bandanna over their face do they know that they travel around in 10-man buggies for millions of miles a year do they know that they're rappelling out of helicopters and jumping out of planes on top of trees that are burning I think as far as dangerous jobs out there you know it's as dangerous as it gets [Music] my name is Park miner I'm the director of the wildland firefighter foundation you'll hear me say in any kind of presentation I ever do the wildland firefighter is the most underrated public servant we have you know we like to honor and recognize them all through the year so certainly appreciate all you come together and support this cause so thank you thank you my mom Vicki miner had a vision back in 1994 I used to do contract commissary for the Forest Service 1994 14 people burned to death on storm king mountain they'd all died in an instant one of the worst firefighting disasters in recent history I'd be in camps and at night you could hear some of those firefighters weep in their tents and so we created a memorial shirt one of our goals was to sell that t-shirt out of our commissary for the rest of that fire season to send that money to the families of storm King that year we raised a hundred and eight thousand dollars selling those t-shirts inside the compounds we sent that money back east to a non-profit we checked on the money a year later to see the progress of you know how it touched the lives and what it had done and figured out the money had never even got to the families I'd ask him what happened to that money and they said it was administration cost and and that really bothered me and so we started this foundation in my kitchen wild on firefighter foundations a nationally known nonprofit our main mission is to reach in and sustain the home of a fallen or injured wildland firefighter when that firefighter goes down the rent doesn't stop groceries don't stop none of that stops except for the paycheck and the family member it's not coming home and that's where we step in immediately we start getting the household whatever it needs found out that he had a wedding ring in the jewelry store and we went down and got it out and so she could have it before he was buried and that's why we don't take government money as we wouldn't have the fluidity to move and do the things that are from here we're just a drop in the bucket compared to that amount of people that we serve [Music] all right here we go nationally fifty-four new fires seven days significant fire potential as you can see hot and dry until the weekend and then there is a red flag warning for southwest Wyoming for strong gusty winds as you guys know we had that fire out on the salmon Challis yesterday it sounds like that was 75 acre never gonna forget my first actual job [Music] it was slightly terrifying rigea smokejumpers are around as they jump on fires that fire truck and get to when the fire call comes through I literally have no idea where I could end up when you leave you don't know how long you're gonna be on that fire and so we need all the equipment that we might need for a long duration typically that's gonna be a hundred and ten plus now [Music] because there's no door on the aircraft we put our hand over the red handle of our reserve parachute so it doesn't accidentally deploy and kind of suck the smoke jumper outside the aircraft [Music] smokejumpers yoke up against hazards and dangers you know from the moment that Buzzard flies getting on the plane jumping out of the plane and then when they get to the ground you know they're in fire [Music] around the fire there's just one danger after the other but it's there in his room there's snakes Yellowjackets poison oak we lost a firefighter last year tree fell on [Music] and that call came I mean no one ever trained me to talk to a mother that had lost her son or daughter and there's there's no way to teach that or prepare that there was always so much music in our house Luke was a guitar playing fool ready to go Soph my son Luke Sheehy Luke was a smokejumper that was a big part of who he was Luke was the kind of guy who he just always made me feel like I had somebody that would no matter what would drop everything to be there for me where iron Luke he was one of the best firemen I've ever had worked for me he was always top notch did anything anytime anywhere for anybody and anything for a fun mall day June 10 2013 got a knock on the door a burning branch had fallen landed on Luke and killed him [Music] Doug was a very broken father when I met him that was a very busy season I believe we had 42 line-of-duty for each out he's out here [Music] when someone you love dearly dies your world just cracks open [Music] it's hard to describe what the wildland community is because there's so many intricate parts to it no wildland firefighting is not just the guy hiking up the hill there's a lot of moving pieces and people that make that happen a wildland firefighter incident these camps can go 90 days at a time a fire starts and if they can't catch it within that verse 24 hour period then instantly were called in hey best how are you usually late at night 10:00 to 1:00 o'clock in the morning and they need us immediately the wildland fires happened they usually go in places out in the middle of nowhere for five months a year Julie is on the road she works a lot of cars going from fire to fire - fire come on back Jeff looking good we're setting up a whole little city out in the middle of no man's land within hours always if we're late they're not going out to the field in order to fight fire morning everyone the big thing today is that we had a push to the south there about 5,000 acres homes threatened got to get this North in a buttoned up today and tomorrow to withstand those kind of winds there are so many people involved in all of this and sometimes we have a community of 40,000 people out there on different fires all over the nation you're always got to be ready when they say we need you they need you it's required to have a laundry service because when they're up there and that poison oak and it's burning they need to be able to wash those clothes you know you're away from your friends your family but what I love about it is when they get their clean clothes it makes their day more comfortable they're the ones putting their neck out for us to preserve this beautiful country we live in and if I can make it a little bit better that's what I would you don't like to do everybody's knows the importance what they're doing the fuel has got to be there there's no equipment running about it no chainsaws nothing they basically they're not gonna fight to fire up fuel we try to do you know a nice fresh barbecue fresh fennel made meatloaf look at it out there and these guys are out out there come on back here get some good food get some coffee sit back readjust and think about the next step no no we're not we're not firefighters but there's a lot of pride that you take knowing that you're helping the effort we feel like we come in and actually help we help to save the forest we help to save lives and hopefully we hope to save firefighters [Music] Julie's on the go all the time she's been a contractor most of her life and a huge supporter of this foundation my family is the firefighting family I'm third-generation my kids are fourth-generation I had a niece she's hot shot and she was ran over in the field she was as close to death as one gets [Music] the wildland firefighter foundation instantly jumped in there and he just made sure all of our logistical needs were taken care of at that point I realize how important they were and there's so many people in the field that need him when in a injury or fatality happened on a big event there everybody's ears are out there they know what's going on they hear the radio traffic [Music] the wildland community it doesn't matter if you're state federal smoke jumper or hotshot they've all been touched with losing someone they knew at least there's this healing place in Boise Idaho where people can go here's guys that were remembered from 1935 I went to the Vietnam Wall with a combat vet in Washington DC and I saw the healing that happened to those men when they would touch the name on the wall this is in the shape of a Pulaski this is a tool that they have firefighters use of them and I came back and I thought we don't have any place like that for wildland firefighters I shared that I deal with some people and it just grew and grew this is Granite Mountain 19 burned to death and this is Storm King 14 burned to death if it wasn't for this place when the foundation across the street where their pitchers hang there would be no place here in America to remember all these wildland fire fighters [Music] probably the toughest thing I ever had to do was face a mother than lost a son or daughter and they do that year in year out and just love on these people I have no idea how they can do it dealing with injured and fallen firefighters is a year-round thing now I think people are blown away when they come in here to see how small our staff really is to the amount of people that we serve obviously being a non-profit we're up against funding all the time we try not to worry about where the money's come but it takes time to find donors to spiffing to your mission it takes times to write grants it takes time to do all that and sometimes we don't have time here in the fire season fire don't give you time you know thousand people are unaccounted for think about that over a thousand people unaccounted for in Northern California after a fast-moving wildfire demolished the small town of Paradise the firefighter killed today the second firefighter was killed while battling the point they're expecting this death toll to rise it's already the deadliest in California history [Music] these guys were saying this fire was moving so fast they couldn't stay in front of it that house is lucky to be their big nice house he came up here a lot to run and now the bike and stuff like that after Luke died we were in some alternative universe didn't know what we were doing with ourselves I had no idea what the wildland firefighter foundation was and now I can say oh thank goodness for Burke [Music] you know I guess it all started with a fundraiser one of our hotshot crews approached their their local distributor company just to get some beer donated for their event they were having but we got a call the next day from Coors Banquet how can we help you more when we got this building this was all hollow in here and it echoed when you walked in here and then after we got the shirts up you could smell the smoke getting here from the shirts every sure you see in here has been brought here by an engine by a crew been pulled out of a dirty 14-day bag sure come in the mail today now we appreciate the tour everything you do with the foundation here's an addition to the wall of shirts and this guy's out of Chugiak National Forest and Moose Pass Alaska the shirts just keep coming in I mean we can't go a couple days without shirts coming in without the funding of banquet we wouldn't be doing what we're doing on the scale we're doing you know going into its fifth year now reaching more firefighters in a season with their yearly donation [Music] this is always the first stop right here Luke died on a Monday and two days later Burke miner of wildland firefighter foundation arrived at the smokejumping base they never say hey what do you need they would just show up with coffee in the morning or grab a load of laundry that's exactly wff this foundation is important to us because we know we're changing people's lives because of course banquet we've been able to subsidize those firefighters who sacrificed so much to protect our West and they brought some spark back to some of those families [Music] this I got at the foundation it says I may look harmless but I raised a wildland firefighter one of the hardest things about losing my son you have all his clothes and so I we had boxes of t-shirts and you you know it's hard to just take him to Goodwill I mentioned it to Vicki and that's all you have to do with Vicki has mentioned something Lynne Luke's mother had all these shirts and I said you send us those shirts Oh make a blanket this is such a wonderful thing from wff and of course this has been our mantra a friend of Luke's came up with this shortly after he died live like glute here's Luke she he's marker I was talking to Doug one time and he told me it was playing his guitar and he could feel Luke I hear behind him one gift that I've gotten from Luke is that you know sorrow is just as valuable as joy whatever whatever feel it as deep as you can uh liveth the moment fully [Music] those stories help me understand that what we think of as the end is just a new beginning somewhere else [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I don't know how we could have survived through that period without wff we are here at the Luke Sheehy Memorial Park I was amazed at the purpose and commitment he found in wildland firefighting [Music] you know your time was cut short but the time that he lived [Applause] yeah I'd be awfully proud [Applause] thanks to the many folks in the firefighting business years ago I can say honestly that I wouldn't be here if it weren't for a couple firefighters you saved my house and the Thomas fire and you guys have been so amazing in this fire I can't thank you enough thank you again from Westlake Village namaste thank you to all the brave firefighters I am so full gratitude for all your hard and amazing work you really you pulled off a miracle thank you so much for taking time away from your family and coming to Redding to save our community cheers to you guys cheers to you cheers to you guys thank you thank you very much cheers to you [Music] [Applause]

Channel: UPROXX Life + Adventure

Views: 953,459

Keywords: UPROXX, documentary, music, pop, culture, premier, news, digital, generation, sports, entertainment, filmdrunk

Id: XaPYvySnr5o

Length: 27min 39sec (1659 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 09 2019