Angora Peak Fire Crew Priorities:
1) Suppress all wild land fires that threaten the communities within the LVFPD
2) Reduce risk of fire entering, or leaving communities inside of the LVFPD
3) Improve native forest composition and structure in and around the communities of the LVFPD
4) Increase canopy base height and reduce crown density in and around the communities of the LVFPD
5) Reduce the amount of dead and down material that can carry a wildfire within the LVFPD
6) Provide a highly trained and skilled Type II Initial Attack hand crew to neighboring Fire Districts and Departments, the Forest Service, and the Lake Tahoe Regional Fire Chiefs
Fire Crew Work Environment:
From the low teens to highs above 90 degrees in the Lake Tahoe Basin crewmembers will work outdoors. Crewmembers work in an environment characterized as noisy, dusty, smoky, and dirty. Employment on the Angora Hand crew is not for everyone. The job is anything but glamorous.
For the safety of the entire hand crew, members must be able to follow both written and verbal directions with the highest personal accountability and self discipline. Crewmembers must be in excellent physical shape. A 20 person hand crew is only as strong as its weakest link. The nature of our work is very physically and mentally demanding. Physical training is incorporated into the work schedule.
Crewmembers cut, chop, stack, and move brush and trees to a strict prescription to reduce hazardous forest fuel loading conditions. Crewmembers prepare, ignite, hold, and monitor prescribed fires. Crewmembers will operate, maintain, and perform minor repair of assigned tools, vehicles, and equipment.
At any time, without warning to ones personal schedule crewmembers may be dispatched to a fire assignments. These assignments can, and often do, last for an extended period of time. With very physically demanding work requirements, only those with strong character, high strength, agility, coordination, and stamina can cope. Crewmembers will carry heavy loads up hill, cut, scrape, chop, and dig fire line. Dig and scrape at hot spots, with little more than dirt and a hand tool to extinguish it. Crewmembers may install hose lays thousands of feet long. Where water doesn’t exist crewmembers will carry “bladder bags” of water weighing 40lbs along with a 30lb fire pack, up down and across steep slopes. Crewmembers may support burning operations, patrol lines, search for spot fires, and walk further than most people ever have.
Angora Fire Crew Member Standards:
Primary Duties:
* Participate fully in all required activities of the Fuel Reduction Program.
* Work as an essential member of a 20 person crew on fuel reduction projects located at various job sites in the Lake Tahoe Basin.
* Independently engage in labor-intensive, physically demanding, manual work. Work involves hiking, lifting, bending, and carrying heavy loads in mountainous terrain.
* Use power and specialized hand tools to reduce, remove, and modify forest vegetation and fuel conditions.
* Assume responsibility, care, maintenance, and security of Lake Valley Fire Protection District tools, property, and equipment.
* Display good judgment, and safe work practices and correct unsafe work procedures.
* Drive workers to and from work site in official vehicle.
Minimum Qualifications:
* Graduate from high school or successful certification of equivalency (GED).
* Minimum of 18 years of age.
* Ability to work safely and cooperatively in a group setting and work within a variety of working conditions.
* Ability to perform manual labor in rough terrain, lift heavy loads, and work for extended periods of time in various weather conditions.
* Basic wild land firefighter S110, S130, S190, I100
Desirable Qualifications:
* Working knowledge of the principles and practices of fuels reduction.
* Operation and maintenance knowledge of chainsaws, chipper, and hand tools.
* Faller Class A or B
* Good public relations skills
* Good organization skills
* Ability to follow written and verbal directions
* Ability to identify tree and brush species
* Fire Line Experience