Charlie Denton
Retired career firefighter and district ranger for the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest

"Some people would come by and say, ‘The wind's really going to blow. We want you to cover up all these stumps and all the logs and all that, so sparks don't blow everywhere and start new fires.' So we spent some time doing that. Then some other people come by and say, ‘What are you guys doing? We want all this stuff uncovered, get it cooled off (unclear).' So we'd dig it all up again."

Claudia Mazuros
Retired firefighter, former crew boss on the Color Country Class 2 firefighting team

"What was your favorite part of the job?" "I think partly knowing that you went to places where no man has gone before, and no man will be back to."

Bruce Koyiyumptewa
Silviculturalist, past helitac crew member

"We didn't really try to go out there to patrol the fire lines, because it was just an impossibility to see anything… I was really afraid that I might not be able to see all my crew the next morning."

George Sheppard
Past wildlife biologist, Kaibab National Forest

"I remember the fire getting up into the trees and racing through the crowns, and somebody yelling for us to get out of there, and so I just went running back through the forest to the opening, and before I left the forest itself, I looked back and took my camera out and took a picture. To this day, that's the best photo I've ever taken of fire."

Paul Summerfelt
Fuel Management Officer, City of Flagstaff

"It's the type of people that are attracted to this kind of a job, that do this kind of work. I like the work ethic of those folks. I like their view of life."

Cathie Zettler
Fire management officer for Mormon Lake Ranger District, Coconino National Forest

"I think people just didn't know how to deal with mixing people in fires."

"We just hit a down draft, and it was a severe down draft, pretty severe. And it just pulled the nose of the airplane almost straight down."

"As I was looking out, it was really pretty, but there would be—it was real smoky, and then through the hole—there was a hole where this whole thing is going on, and smoke kind of around it—and you could see these flames that would come up higher than the aircraft."

"For whatever reason—I have no clue what compelled me to say this—but I went, 'Mom! Mom!' And here you are trying to lead like nine guys behind you. Your credibility just went right down the drain."

Susan Billingsley
Former forest technician and Grand Canyon river guide; first female NAU Forestry graduate

"…instead of fighting the fire, they just stood around and watched me…I felt under a lot of pressure to do good."