CrewBoss

Fire Management at the Edge of the Map 🔥

When wildland firefighting takes you to a remote coral atoll in the Pacific, the mission becomes about much more than just clearing brush.

Personnel from the U.S. Air Force Wildland Fire Branch (Alaska and California modules) recently deployed to Wake Atoll for a highly specialized prescribed burn.

Working shoulder-to-shoulder with the U.S. Army, USDA Wildlife Services, and Wake Atoll National Wildlife Refuge staff, these crews treated roughly 140 acres of invasive ironwood.

This crucial interagency effort accomplishes two massive goals at once:

Restoring native seabird nesting habitats and directly improving airfield safety by reducing bird strike risks.

It’s an incredible example of how far our wildland community will go to protect both operational readiness and ecological integrity.