All photos copy-righted Jimmy Jeong 2011.

If you look into those hills, most people would never know that there are hundreds of men and tonnes of heavy equipment fighting in the trenches to contain the fires. A true statement about a lot of the firefighting efforst that go on in Alberta forests - their efforts go unnoticed for the most part. But I was fortunate to spend a day on the ground, in the air and among these brave folks who consider their work a calling rather than a job.

I never knew how regimented a wildfire campaign was until I saw the army-like operations for myself. Similar to a general, the incident commander has several unit commanders below them. Information is a key ingredient to waging these campaigns with fire behaviourists using aerial photos, maps, and computer generated predictions to recommend the next course of action. Giant tractors, custom built off-road water trucks and air support all aid in the battle. Each unit highly coordinated. They have to be, the time and resources are precious. Each load from one of the heavy air tankers costs $50, 000 per drop of fire-retardant. So air drops usually consist of a lead scout plane and a in-the-air traffic controller.

These photos were all taken around Slave Lake, Alberta after huge fires destroyed nearly 40% of the town.

Thanks to Morgan Kehr, from SRD, for the tour and the chance to share this with you.

cheers

Jimmy