Public Health is many things, and the work of public health is done by many people. Jesse Hauer has over 15 years of fire management experience including time spent working for Montana DNRC and Helena College as an adjunct Wildland Fire Instructor. During that time, he also served as a firefighter and leader for Lincoln’s Rural Volunteer Fire Department. Working for FEMA as a Community Relations Specialist during Hurricane Katrina/Wilma provided Hauer with additional emergency response skills. For the past eight years, Hauer has worked to expand his skillset to help prevent, protect against, quickly respond to and recover from all kinds of hazards in his role as Jefferson County’s Public Health and Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Coordinator. I am appreciative of his contribution to our public health team. Below is his message related to wildfire season.
It’s summertime in Jefferson County. The spring season was cool and damp, creating a green environment for us to recreate in so far this year. Eventually things will dry out as it does every summer and fuels will become available to burn. Temperatures will rise, relative humidity will fall into the low teens, and the wind will wisp away the moisture fuels give off through evaporation. It is the same cycle that the valley has experienced since the beginning of time. At least it’s a dry heat, right? Grasses become a duller green, start to seed out and eventually turn brown. Rotten logs will give off dust when kicked, and live vegetation’s moistures will fall to critical percentages, becoming susceptible to fire. It seems we have lived with this reality in the west since we settled here.
Fire can manifest two different ways, naturally or human caused. Nature, through lightning, starts many fires. These fires aren’t preventable, but through aggressive initial attack by wildland, volunteer, and professional fire agencies, most are kept below 10 acres and out of the headlines. It truly is a testament to the coordination of detection and suppression efforts of the paid and volunteer fire agencies.
