A CUT ABOVE
Field experience equips students for career advancement Story by Melea Reicks Licht Images by Matt Van Winkle and Melea Reicks Licht
ISU alum and engine boss Ryan Harr is a regular instructor of S-130 Federal Firefighter Training. He finds creative ways to engage current Iowa State students in this hands-on training.
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“Hold! Clean up your line,” Ryan Harr shouts into the wooded hillside. “Make sure you’re leaving six to ten feet between each other to allow a safe distance to swing your tools.” The group of 21 Iowa State University students look to the left and right and adjust spacing as they align themselves beneath the colorful fall foliage of the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge near Prairie City, Iowa. The students are attending S-130 Federal Firefighter Training. Harr (‘00 animal ecology, MS ‘05), a special projects wildlife biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and engine boss with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is their instructor. “It’s tougher to make a straight line than you think,” he quips. “This exercise is all about communication.” The group is learning to grid search. In this exercise they’re searching for fire, but the technique can be useful in a number of situations ranging from searching for missing persons to cleaning up plane crash sites. “If you find the fire, you get to keep it,” Harr calls out with a smile. The students carefully advance through the thick brush clearing a path with rakes and hoes as needed. “Fire!” The team surrounds the location of the spotter and digs a quick and complete circle isolating the area. A student raises a 20-ounce Mountain Dew tied with bright orange plastic strips above his head. The “fire” has been contained. While the mood is lighthearted, the learning is serious business. This field day introduces students to the basics such as learning the names and uses of hand tools, operating water pumps, digging fire lines, and other techniques like the grid search. Once completed, this certification will help these Iowa Staters successfully compete for careers within federal agencies including the Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and National Forest Service. 21
