Oregon Public Broadcasting

Over 200 firefighters are gathered in Sweet Home for the start of the annual Wildland Fire School.  The inter agency school is designed to give firefighters training both in Oregon’s forests and in areas that threaten rural homes.

The school is put on each year by state, federal and tribal land managers.

It’s provides basic fire training to new recruits while allowing veteran firefighters the chance to brush up on their skills.

Jennifer O’Leary is a spokesperson with the Willamette National Forrest.

Jennifer O’Leary: "The beginnings of each day will pretty much be spent in the classroom.  In the afternoons, the firefighters will be heading out to a field site where they will actually have an opportunity to practice and apply what they learned in their courses."

For example students will use hand tools to construct a fire line and will learn how to construct a hose system to move water.

Students will also sleep in tents and eat their meals together to give them the sense of what it’s like to live and work in a fire camp. The Wildland Fire School runs though Friday.