Backhauling: CCC Crews Prepare Hose for Boise Fire Cache

Hose from plumbing fireline is backhauled and returned for cleaning and winding.

CCC crews at the Station Fire prepped hundreds of miles of hose.

Images: Alexis West

Operation Backhaul

Firefighters out on the line often require additional equipment or supplies to do their work. An army of people works to support the firefighters by ordering, tracking and transporting to them everything from drinking water to generators. And what goes into the fire area must come out! While the fire is active and when it starts to wind down, the materials no longer needed must be transported back out of the fire area. This process is called backhauling.

A common item that is backhauled is 100-foot long fire hose. During the peak of activity on the Station Fire, over 13 miles of hose per day were delivered to firefighters on the line. After firefighters use the hose, it is backhauled, pressure tested for leaks, washed, dried, and rolled up.

Other items often backhauled are communication radios, repeaters, generators, packs, portable tanks, pumps, hose fittings, nozzles, ice chests, empty fuel canisters, lights to illuminate night operations, and garbage. Any broken or damaged equipment that is repairable is sent to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, where employees repair it for reuse.

Whatever firefighters can’t backhaul in their fire engines is transported from the fire site in stakesided trucks and pickup trucks. Sometimes firefighters and equipment are delivered by helicopter to remote locations, and the backhaul operation must be carried out by helicopter.