Steve Pollick: A rookie’s first prairie burn is a learning experience that impresses

Prairie fires are serious business.
All you have to do to understand that statement is volunteer to tote and deploy a drip-torch – a heavy metal canister with a thick handle and curly-Q spout, filled with a 60/40 mix of diesel fuel and gasoline. But first be sure to don a Nomex protective suit, a fire-resistant balaclava, a cumbersome, but necessary, helmet with Plexiglas face-shield, and heavy leather boots and gloves. Then you also may shoulder a Fire-Pump – a five-gallon metal canister with shoulder and chest straps and a brass hand-pump on a red hose, all weighing about 42 pounds when topped off with water.

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