Alaska Fire Service: Managing wildfires in the great state of Alaska, part one

The BLM Alaska Fire Service (AFS) was created in 1982 to provide efficient and cost-effective fire suppression services for all U.S. Department of the Interior and Native lands and assists those entities with other fire management activities.

In this two-part series, six AFS employees talk about how they got into wildland fire management, what they do now, and what they like most about working for AFS. Kent Slaughter, Deputy State Director of Fire and Aviation, kick starts this episode with a little history of AFS explaining how BLM manages wildfires for the state along with some challenges and successes he has witnessed in his career. Tasha Shields, Tanana Zone Fuels Specialist, explains the Fire Specialist position, unique to AFS, and her move to fuels management. She talks about the importance of logistics and what it is like to work on wildfires in Alaska including how to build a tundra "refrigerator." The episode wraps up with Bjorn Burgeson, Upper Yukon Zone Wildland Fire Operations Technician, providing his perspective as a new employee of AFS, but not new to wildland fire. He offers insight on building a wildfire career, the importance of the people you work with, and taking care of yourself and each other.