 Training films have been around for a long time. Many of the topics that we talk about today, communication, fire behavior, safety, for example, have been incorporated into training films since the 1950s. Even though these historic films may seem dated, there are still many lessons to be learned from them. Sometimes wildfire, especially in the West, truly lives up to its name. This one's been licking at the eastern slopes of the Cascades for well onto 24 hours. By midday, high winds turn fire against man. We've gone over the hill on the East Plain. We've got a hand. To call for help, men respond. From over a dozen states, veteran Indian crews leave the Southwest to fight a fire 1,300 miles to the north, a fire that also needs fresh suppression crews, men experienced in fire management, and material by the tons to back them up. I'm Doug Maxwell, Fire Boss, on my way to take over down there. And it's a tough one. I now call Canyon Creek Fire. Already 10,000 acres of blackened timber. Three miles out, I look over my responsibility. When? Where? Will we stop it? It's going to take know-how. Strategy. We'll work out here in the fire camp. First off, I'm briefed. I learned the number of men already out on the line. What equipment's up front? And that more is on the way. The campaign fire is just like war. And war, as we all know, is grim. Okay, what's the weather picture? Based on this afternoon's condition and tomorrow's forecast, my plan's chief brings the fire map up to date. It tells me at a glance the present fire edge and where it'll be by morning. My line boss and I agree. By midnight, the fire should begin to calm down. Now, if we can just build our control lines in the morning and connect them before 3 p.m., the heat of the day, we stand a good chance of gaining the upper hand if we can hold the lines. This is a long, thin strip. As I said, the fire is a mighty big one, so we gotta split it up into two zones. Each zone has its own boss. And I keep close contact with both of them. Camps, buzzing. Equipment's gotta be kept sharp, in tune, ready to go back out on the line. With today's frozen meals, a few hands can turn out a barrel full of dinners in no time. It's important for the men to have their chow, pipe and hot, be refrigerator cold. Roadblocks will tell the public the bad news. Recreation areas are closed. Maybe burnout. Nightfall. The work goes on. So does the fire. Food quiet down. Or will wind or low humidity keep it spreading all night. Zone 2 meets at 9 p.m. The zone is divided into three parts, divisions. Divisions 1 and 2 are handline shows. Division 3 is a tractor show. Now completing the line between divisions 2 and 3 by noon, and holding that line during the heat of the day, that's gonna be the big job. We're in luck. The Canyon Creek fire calms down. But our work doesn't. 4 a.m. Big day lies ahead. I hold the morning briefing. My idea behind it is to communicate to every level. In other words, if we don't all get the message, we're in trouble. Can't afford to miss a trick. What's the revised weather forecast? Wind speed, direction, the humidity. Where are the hot spots gonna be? Will all our forces be in the right place at the right time? And I can't stress safety for our crews too much. We don't want a casualty list. Yes, our objective goes pretty much without saying. Put the fire out quick as we can. Point is, we must all see eye to eye on how to do it best. Not enough men in zone 2? More tractors than hose for zone 1? We thrash it all out until the plan feels solid to everybody around the table. Men of Forest Service and other federal organizations, local, county, state. Total cooperation. The men move out. Mill crews, volunteers, people from town, military men, you name it. And they take with them today's training and technology. Yes, technology. For instance, the details of a fire are hard to see at night or through thick smoke. Used to be a problem, but isn't anymore. Fire research has developed an airborne electronic scanning system. It can detect small fires and map big ones. It electronically senses details of the fire. Fire's location, size, its perimeter, its direction of spread. Seconds later, a photo of these fire details is air dropped and headquarters gets the picture. The big picture. Actually in this area... Reinforcements continue pouring in. It's a mighty battle of men and machines. A battle that can take many directions and does. Air line gets hacked out. For some of these men, it's their baptism of fire. This cup trench will catch rolling embers to cool them down. More men to fill the division's needs. Winds up to 15 mile an hour now with peak gusts of 25. That could mean trouble. Might have to change our strategy. One thing's for sure, we must widen the line and clear out the fuel. Firefighting needs water. Water needs equipment. We use fire retardant chemicals too. To help the men in their battle helicopters and fixed wing aircraft knock down hotspots with retardant drops. 3 p.m. now, heat of the day. A few hours ago at noontime the fire was driving hard on division 3. Harder than we predicted. Pick up and the wind made the flames spread faster. So now we do have to change our tactics. No use giving up. We'll concentrate on hotspots and try to hang on to our lines. It's pressing our men. Pressing them hard. Now it's a case of redirecting our crews and being sure to hold the line. We've got to talk over the changes with the boss of division 3. The chips are down. Men of division 3 try to hold up their end of the exhausting battle. Control now, but we've got to be sure. We snuff out and as quickly as we mobilize for a campaign fire we demobilize to a skeleton crew. This next exercise is designed to compare and contrast the things you see in the video to how we practice firefighting today.