‘Vegas 777’ handcrew gains regional status

Jace Radke

Tuesday, April 30, 2002 | 10:58 a.m.

Fire wars Television viewers will get a chance to experience the awesome power of wildland fires, thanks to the science program "NOVA."

"NOVA" camera crews followed the Arrowhead Hotshots, the men and women on the front line of fighting western forest fires, during the destructive fire season in summer 2000.

The "NOVA" team filmed the Arrowheads as they fought the biggest fire of the season, which burned in Idaho for almost two months.

Actor Stacy Keach narrates "Fire Wars," airing from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. May 7 on KLVX-TV Channel 10 in Las Vegas.

The program includes frightening scenes shot by the Arrowheads themselves and looks back at a century of fire policy.

"NOVA" is produced by the WGBH-TV science unit in Boston.

Three years later that has changed. The crew has gained "type one" status -- the highest level in wildland firefighting -- and the respect of crews across the country.

"In the last few years we've earned our name," said Dave Winne, crew boss for the National Park Service Firefighters stationed at Lake Mead. "It hasn't been an easy ride, and we've worked hard to get here."

The 21-man crew is a now a regional crew with responsibility for responding to fires in California, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Washington and Hawaii, Lake Mead National Recreation Area Fire Management Officer Bob Trodahl said.

"The only difference between this crew and a 'hotshot' crew is that the 777 is under regional control instead of national control," Trodahl said. "That's the next step for us."

The park service has only two "hotshot" crews, the elite in wildland fire fighting. The crews are under federal control.

In Nevada, the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service run three hotshot crews -- Silver State, Black Mountain and Ruby Mountain. The crews are all based out of Northern Nevada.

The 777 was rated by the Silver State crew in order to qualify as a type one crew. The 21 crew members, including 14 returnees and nine firefighters who have been with the crew since 1999, continually drill and undergo daily weight training and running.

Along with Winne there are four permanent firefighters with the crew, and the rest are seasonal, working six months a year. Some crew members go to college in the off-season, and others use the time to backpack around the world on the money they've made during the season.

The tools of the trade include emergency water containers known as bladder bags, shovels, chain saws and the crew's primary tool -- a polaski, a two-handed ax that has been married to a hoe.

John "Woody" Hedderman, now finds himself teaching the team's rookies the things he was learning with the crew in 1999.

"We've got some fairly good experience now," said Hedderman, who serves as one of the crew's chain saw handlers. "I've got to break one of these rookies in so that they can follow me around picking up the mess I make with the chain saw."

The crew is near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon this week doing field training, but Winne expects that it won't be long until the crew is on the way to a fire.

"We expect to be fighting fires all summer, and that's how we like it," Winne said of his crew, which includes firefighters from as far away as Ohio, Kentucky and Vermont. "We've become a family, and that's important for the cohesiveness of the crew when we're in a fire."