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.
His job is to study the new fires and report back to the central command on what they are likely to do over the ensuing days. McBain, the fire management officer for the Hunter Region, is one of 82 Australians who have been flown in by the US Government to help co-ordinate the effort against the line of fires that has scorched the American West for the past four months. Behind the wheel of the car is Paul de Mar, the fire prevention manager for NSW State Forests and team leader of the Australian and New Zealand contingents in this multi-national firefighting force. It is more 'fire management'. You can't hope to put them all out.