Dozens of small, colorful pop-up tents dot a field along a dirt road off the Tarkio exit located 14 miles east of Superior. The tents are part of the fire camp set up to fight the Sunrise and Burdette fires burning just across Interstate 90. The fires started on July 16 and have grown to be top national priorities.

“This is a very complex fire and it needs a lot of resources,” explained Jill Cobb, the public relations specialist with the Type II Incident Team. Her team left last Sunday, Aug. 6 and a Type I Incident Team came in to take over command of the fires. “This is a high priority team (Type I) because of the complexity. Type II teams are smaller with about 40 members. Type I teams are the most complex with 75 to 80 members.”

She steps over to a large board with various maps stapled to it set up next to a brown yurt which serves as a temporary command post at the camp. On the map she points to key areas, “this is a high priority because of the railroad, power lines, river, Interstate, 81 homes and 121 structures.”

Cobb’s son in a member of one of the hotshot crews fighting this fire and stresses the importance of their safety: “no structure is worth a human life.”

Next to the map is a national situation fire report which is updated daily. The first report is the Northern Rockies area, and just below the Rice Ridge fire burning in Lolo is the Sunrise Fire, “whoever is first on the list is first ranking nationally,” she said. “It’s not just the size of the fire, but also based on infrastructure.”

At the time of the report, the Rice Ridge Fire was at 9,286 acres and the Sunrise Fire was at 15,203 acres. At that point no structures had been lost to the fire and that’s due to the experience of the team. Fires change quickly and the teams need to be able to adapt to those changes. Plans are put into place with primary, secondary and tertiary contingency lines to try to control the path of the flames.

“Ultimately what we are trying to do is herd the fire along and away from homes by using controlled burns, digging lines and using water drops. We use various strategies to fight the fire, which is the enemy,” she said.

With the Sunrise Fire, spotting has been a major concern with embers flying up to a mile away when the winds kick up. Cobb said it has been running down the ridges into the canyons that line the area. The terrain is incredibly steep and difficult to work in. Which is why the fire grew so large. When it first started in July it was the result of a lightning strike. Several other fires had also started as a result of lightning and resources were stretched thin. Since the fire was not an immediate threat to structures, resources were put on fires which were an immediate threat.

As the fire spread, it continued to burn in difficult terrain and it was dangerous for ground crews to access. Cobb said the helicopters couldn’t just dump buckets of water on it because it was burning in rocky areas, “there’s a lot of fuel in between the rocks and just dumping water wouldn’t put it out.”

Hand crews were needed to be on the ground to stop the line of flames. As the fire grew and inched its way to the top of the nation’s list of priorities, hotshot crews were called in. These crews are like the Navy Seals in the world of wildfires. Five crews have been called in with another one on its way, said the Northern Rockies National Type I Incident Managers Team Commander, Doug Turman.

The crew members are in incredible physical condition and train year-around. They run, lift weights and acclimate themselves to the stresses of heat and altitude when fighting fires. The firefighters come from more than 18 states and most of them will stay on this fire until the end even when the incident teams transition out.

Turman said that helps because then the crews are familiar with the area and the history of the fire. Some of the crew members sleep in the tents that dot the fire camp. Other “day sleepers” are staying in the gym at Superior School where it’s cool and quiet. While some crew members are in spike camps. These remote camps are usually in roadless areas like those found on the Burdette Fire, where food and supplies are often dropped in by helicopter.

The fire camp itself is like a small town. Modular buildings and yurts line the main road through the facility. There’s an incident command post, a communications hub, a medical clinic and a map-making building. Also, a situation room where major planning is done, an IT building and human resources. There’s a building for ordering supplies and a firefighters “Walmart” which is a tent filled with daily supplies, including toiletries, clothing, gloves, tents, sleeping bags and anything else crews may need. There are sinks, showers and even a small post office set up for the more than 500 personnel who make up the temporary town.

Breakfast and dinner are served in large mess halls where nearly 20 cooks create high-protein meals to keep the fighters energized. Cobb opens up a typical brown paper bag which feeds the crews lunch. There’s a large tortilla filled with a hummus mixture, a bag of candy and high-protein snacks, fruit, and vegetables and of course, plenty of water to keep them hydrated as they fight in 100-degree temperatures.

“The incident teams come in and make order out of chaos,” said Cobb.

It resembles a well-oiled machine as each member executes their order of business, from the human resource specialist who deals with hundreds of personnel and their issues to the order clerk who makes sure the camp store stays supplied and the caterers who feed the crew three-square meals a day.

That’s why the small luxuries like having a small post office is important. Getting letters and items from home can mean a lot to crews and team members who maybe away from home for months at a time.

The fire costs now exceed $14 million.