firefighters

Nationwide, both urban and rural areas are struggling to keep enough firefighters on call. A survey of Arizona firefighters found most want to stay in their jobs, but also have concerns about long hours and stressful working conditions.

A yearlong effort to craft recommendations for federal fire policy comes to a close today. The new report, submitted to Congress, focuses on ways to step up so-called “beneficial fire” that is managed for ecological health. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny spoke with one of the authors, Neil Chapman of the Flagstaff Fire Department.

Arizona’s ongoing housing crisis has worsened staffing problems for firefighters and first responders in the Prescott-Quad Cities area. They’re finding it more difficult to land affordable homes near their jobs. It’s causing positions to go unfilled and forcing departments to hire from elsewhere. Officials also say it chips away at local communities and is a financial drain on city governments and fire districts. A study at Northern Arizona University seeks to find a solution to the issue.

The University of Arizona has been awarded a $4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to test worksite sleep coaching for Arizona-based firefighters.

Friday marks the 10th anniversary of one of the grimmest days in wildland firefighting history—when 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots died fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire. Only one crew member survived. The news was unbearable; the magnitude of it nearly impossible to absorb. Those closest to the fallen firefighters will reckon with it for the rest of their lives. For some, the last decade has been about confronting deep PTSD and focusing on mental health.

A board member says Chief Dennis Hoke failed to accept direction on various issues and personnel matters. Hoke, however, said multiple board members retaliated against him over personal differences.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer has upgraded how it classifies the risks associated with firefighting. The group recently released a report based on studies led by the University of Arizona Health Sciences and the Tucson Fire Department that lists the occupation as carcinogenic.

The Biden administration has signed off on a temporary pay increase for wildland firefighters throughout the U.S. It comes amid a national labor shortage of fire personnel and the growing threat of climate change-fueled wildfires.

Nearly all evacuation orders have been lifted for the Crooks Fire burning in the Bradshaw Mountains south of Prescott. An Emergency Response Team has completed a Soil Burn Severity Map for the Tunnel Fire. Crews are conducting mop up operations on the Antelope Fire north of Sunset Crater near Flagstaff.

At a community meeting Saturday afternoon in Flagstaff, residents demanded answers from forest managers about why the Tunnel Fire wasn’t suppressed completely last Sunday when it was first called in and why the fire wasn’t monitored overnight, especially with strong winds in the forecast. The Coconino County Sheriff was hopeful evacuees could return home Sunday.