Small plumes of white smoke rise out of the dense forest of ponderosa pines, feeding into a giant haze that has settled like a blanket over this picturesque tract of the mighty Rocky Mountain Range. The view from up there would be spectacular. Anyone overhearing this conversation about the aesthetics of fire could be excused for mistaking these men as pyromaniacs. Yet, they are among the world's most accomplished fire-fighting strategists, out on a reconnaissance mission at the end of another long day battling America's worst bushfires in more than a century.
Fire is their obsession.
They live it, and try not to breathe it. They respect it, sometimes even marvel at its ferocious beauty. But their objective is to control it. We've got to try to corral it up into the wilderness where it won't threaten any homes, and let it burn there for a few weeks until the snows come. Strand is a fire behaviour analyst from neighbouring Washington State.