Whether you’re a first timer or a seasoned crewmember, these

are the first words every Black Mountain Hotshot wakes up to each morning. Like

the Reveille on a bugle signals the beginning of the duty day on a military

base, “coffee time” has the power to stir twenty-two lumps of sleeping bags almost

instantly and has successfully done so for decades.

After boots have been laced and sleeping gear has been packed away, the crew

gathers around the campfire and source of the joy: a blue cowboy-style coffee pot

that is older than most of the group that surrounds it. While sipping from their

respective coffee cups, Superintendent Matt Gill gives the morning briefing which

lays out the operational plan for the day. The scenery in the background of this

routine changes often as the crew moves from fire to fire around the country, but

these traditions remain steady.

TraditionsTraditions. Every hotshot crew has them. For Black Mountain, one of note is their

belt buckle system. After each crew member’s first season with Black Mountain,

they receive a bronze belt buckle. Those who are part of the crew for ten years

receive a silver buckle. Unto itself, the belt buckle system isn’t unique among

crews, in fact it is fairly common. However, as of the 2020 season, Black Mountain

will be giving out the 13th silver belt buckle, signifying that thirteen people have

dedicated ten or more years of their life to this crew, an extraordinary number.

THE BLACK MOUNTAIN

HOTSHOTSGet to kn

ow

"Coffee Time"...WRITTEN BY WITHANEE MILLIGAN

PHOTO BY JAKE TIGNAC, BLACK MTN IHC

PHOTO BY KARI GREER, NIFC

What is a hotshot?The Black Mountain Interagency Hotshot crew works out of the

Carson Ranger District and is the only hotshot crew on the 6.3

million acres of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. The

crew was formed in 1988 by Superintendent Craig Workman who

chose the Black Mountain name at the advice of his wife,

Jennifer, as it is the translation of the word “Toiyabe” in the

local Paiute Native American language. The Black Mountain

name has since seen thirty-two years of fighting fire across the

nation.

 

Hotshot crews are the most highly trained and elite form of

handcrew, proficient in a broad range of fire suppression tactics

with the ability to work in remote areas for long periods of time

without logistical support. As a nationally shared resource, they

travel to the highest priority fires throughout the country during

the summer months and perform a variety of fuels reduction

treatments in the shoulder seasons. On an average year, Black

Mountain will earn over a thousand hours of overtime in the

sixth months they are operational.

Black Mountain currently has twenty-two members, though the

number can fluctuate as low as eighteen and still function

normally. The hierarchy structure consists of one

Superintendent, two Captains, two Squad Leaders, three Lead

Firefighters and the remainder of the crew which is generally

temporary seasonal employees. The crew can be broken up into

smaller squads and diversified to fit the needs of the fire

assignment. Hotshot crews are generally going to be given the

most challenging and complex assignments in the steepest

portions of the fire. Should tactics include a burnout, or

removing fuel by intentionally setting fire inside a control line,

hotshot crews are most likely the ones to perform it.

Other common tasks include felling large and/or complex

trees that may or may not have fire within them, going

direct along the fire’s edge by scraping the fuels away

down to mineral soil (also known as handline), going

indirect and putting in handline away from the fire’s edge

due to fire activity, or prepping for a burnout operation by

removing ladder fuels and creating a more manageable

area for the burnout to be implemented. An array of

tactics can be used on any fire, and it is not uncommon to

be in the middle of one and quickly switch to another. Fire

assignments last from two weeks to twenty-one days,

after which the crew will travel home and receive two

mandatory days off before they are back at it again.

They also believe in honoring those that

came before them. This year, the crew

switched their shirts from forest green

to teal, in honor of the first

Superintendent, Craig Workman, and

the very first shirts that he chose for the

crew thirty-two years ago. They don the

Black Mountain insignia that was later created by Workman’s

predecessor Matt Hoggard, the combination of which is a reverent

nod to these two former leaders.

PHOTO BY LAURREN QUINONES, BLACK MTN IHC

PHOTO COURTESY OF BLACK MTN IHC

TrainingThere are roughly only 107 hotshot crews in the entire country and the title is not easy to

come by. Stringent standards must be met for physical fitness, training, leadership,

qualification, and operational procedures and annually re-certified for any crew to keep

the hotshot qualification. Training is rigorous, and each season the crew partakes in

eighty hours of what is called “critical training” prior to setting foot on the fireline. This

includes classroom and field exercises on top of intense physical exertion and includes

things like handline construction, felling trees of different sizes and complexities, firing

and holding organization, portable pump use, navigation and maps, communications,

aircraft operations, tool maintenance, fire shelter deployment and entrapment

avoidance, among others.

In addition to suppression operations and tactics, the crew also focuses heavily on

medical training should one of their own become critically injured or ill on the

fireline. Hotshot crews rarely work in an area that is in close proximity to medical

attention. Because of this and the very nature of the dangerous work they do, they

need to be able to get an injured firefighter out of the area quickly to a higher level

of care, via air or ground transport. This specialized training includes things like

creating an extraction site, low angle rescue using a pulley system, and packaging a

patient using a backcountry stretcher, all things Black Mountain practices often.

A Day in the LifeA day on Black Mountain might begin at the home base in Carson City, Nevada, with

an hour long run or a rigorous crew hike. A high level of physical fitness is a standard

for hotshot crews nationwide and is necessary to perform the duties of the job

successfully. From there, they might go do training, or do fuels reduction work for

the district. They might end up on a local fire, or they may get a resource order to

any state in the country. That night, they might get off work and go home to their

families, but they also might be driving across the state, or working all night to put

in handline around an active fire. They might work an eight-hour shift, or a sixteen-

hour shift.The unpredictability that each day brings is often what keeps them

coming back for more. One thing that doesn’t change, however, is the camaraderie

they’ve found by being part of this team.

“The Black Mountain family is one that keeps growing. You could have been on the

crew twenty years ago or today, it doesn’t matter, you are part of this family

forever.” Said Matt Gill, current Superintendent.

Part of the intrigue of this family dynamic is that after having been together every

waking moment for months on end, most of them still spend their days off together.

They attend each other’s birthdays, weddings, kid’s parties. Bonded together by

shared experiences on the fireline and a happy mix of adrenaline and fatigue, the

Black Mountain Hotshots is a crew that the Humboldt-Toiyabe is proud to call their

own.

“The BlackMountain family is

one that keepsgrowing. You could

have been on thecrew twenty years

ago or today, itdoesn’t matter, you

are part of thisfamily forever.”

PHOTO BY LAURREN QUINONES, BLACK MTN IHC