Alta Hotshots train for fire season in Spanish Fork Canyon

SPANISH FORK, Utah (ABC4) — Fire season is upon us and crews who battle flames year in and year out are getting ready.

Wednesday was a field day for the Alta Hotshots in the Spanish Fork Canyon. Crews spend all day simulating a response to a fire by clearing debris, sawing down dead trees, and digging fire lines.

The job as a hotshot is a physically demanding one. As they hike for miles to even get to a fire, the real work begins when they get there. Kayli Guild of the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands explained, “The guys have to be in excellent shape. They have to be able to dig and scale mountains and do all these things at very hard, arduous levels.”

Austin Wilson is the Alta Hotshots Captain. He detailed that the training goes beyond the physical. His crew needs to be mentally prepared for the fights ahead.

He said, “This job is going to be hard regardless, and it’s up to you to decide whether you can put yourself through it or not.”

Every year the new campaign is even more daunting. The fires are changing and even intensifying. Wilson described, “We’ve seen fires get larger, quicker with more fuel loading, drought conditions. And I think really the challenges that we face are the challenges every firefighter faces is the fact that we’re dealing with fires we haven’t seen before in some cases.”

Wilson explained that the Hotshots work a fire season from May 1 to October 31. It includes 16 hour shifts for 40 hours a week. However last year they clocked 1,380 hours of overtime. That’s because the Alta Hotshots are a national crew. They are called to blazes all across the country. It means weeks at a time away from their families.

Alta Hotshots train for fire season in Spanish Fork Canyon. Courtesy: Jordan Tracy/KTVX

“It’s really important to have a good support system and take care of the things you need to do when you’re at home, make it quality time at home,” said Wilson.

Despite the challenge, hotshots like Wilson are mounting up for another fiery campaign. “What keeps me coming back as the guys. We’ve got an incredible crew culture and it is definitely a family to me and it’s really fun to watch them grow and succeed in this job as well.”

The training Wednesday took place on private land in the Spanish Fork Canyon where their work helped with fire mitigation and clearing potential helicopter landing spots for future fires.