Talk botany to me

"But I do not have the time to study so much!" The girl cried, and then a little creature appeared behind her.

"I can make sure you pass the test, but what would you give me?" Said the creature.

"My healthy sleep schedule," said the girl. He accepted the bargain, and she passed the test.

But then she was put into honors classes, and again found herself locked in a room with only a pencil and a Scantron.

"What would you give me if I help you pass?" Said the man, appearing behind her again.

"I would give my active social life," said the child, and the bargain was again struck.

Then the girl was put into another room, with more tests than she knew what to do with. When the creature appeared again, she said she had nothing left to give.

"Of course you do," said the creature, "simply give up your identity and self esteem, and you shall pass the tests!"

The girl gave it up, and she graduated with high honors. But she was not happy, and neither was her cruel father, for his prized child was no longer in school and so he could no longer brag about her.

Finally, she went to therapy and the therapist helped her name the creature: he was guilt and shame, familial expectations, a system designed to crush children to pick out the "gifted," the melancholy of lost opportunities and the anxiety of the future. Knowing the creature's name, the girl was at last able to reclaim her sleep, then her friends, and finally her sense of self.

"What you really need," said the therapist, "is a hobby."

“As we work toward a full respiratory protection program, we’re not going to wait any longer. We think N95s can be used in a practical way that can provide some level of protection and if people are getting overheated, they can take it off,” said Evan Burks, a Forest Service spokesperson. “This is not a requirement, but we are allowing it and basically encouraging it.”

The thing about respiratory protection when wildland firefighting is that a lot of the decisions about it are being made by people who have never done a single day of wildland firefighting. A lot of those people are well intentioned, but without that knowledge their suggestions are going to be pretty useless.

Even when wildland firefighters are basing themselves out of an engine, they are still carrying at least 30lbs of gear and hiking through at least some amount of rough terrain to access the fire. And if they're not basing themselves out of an engine they may be carrying twice that weight, if not more, significantly farther distances in significantly rougher terrain. Adding a full structural fire breathing setup to that is not feasible. It is way to much extra weight.

Then, of course, there's the fact that structural fire breathing setups require tanks that don't last all that long, so to cover the whole time of a wildland fire you'd probably need dozens if not hundreds of tanks per person. Some wildland assignments involve people being in the woods with no access to civilization for days, if not up to two or even three weeks. A tanked system just does not work for wildland.

Okay, so, what about N95s? Probably better than nothing, but they still come with a lot of drawbacks of their own. I've only had a chance to do a quick bit of research, but there seems to be limited public information about flammability testing of N95 masks. There's various FDA standards, and internal testing at companies like 3M, but I could not find a good breakdown of how that testing works. (Could be out there though! Happy to be corrected if it is.) Is it testing every single component of the masks from the elastic straps to the staples holding those straps on? What are the exact temperatures and conditions they are being tested under? A sustained wildfire/shower of sparks from a wildfire is very different than short-term welding sparks or a quick surgical oxygen fire, so how do N95s react to those conditions? (Some of what I found suggested that N95s melt rather than burn, but when the thing is on your face I'm not really sure if that's...better?)

Then there's N95s (or regular respirators with filters) getting clogged. You're not going to be able to just carry a handful, you're going to have to carry A LOT OF THEM, and swap them out consistently. And yes, letting that stuff into your lungs instead isn't better, but the amount of masks you'd need still has to be considered in these discussions. Sure, N95s are much lighter than a full tanked setup, but they still take up space that could be used for other critical needs like water and food (because you've got to carry all that for yourself too!).

And of course you've got the metal nose pieces, which I'd guess aren't going to do anything pleasant to your face in the event flames get close enough to melt the mask.

Point is, with current technology, breathing protection for wildland firefighters is a much more difficult problem than it seems to be on the surface. A lot of the conversations I'm hearing currently are less around encouraging use of them on the line while actively engaged with the fire and more about encouraging them all other times like travel to and from where you're working, and in fire camps, to at least better limit overall exposure.

There ARE some other options out there, like this thing, which is meant to go over an N95:

Source: https://shop.darley.com/product/hot-shield-hs2-wildland-firefighter-face-mask/01t2E00000QZdkVQAT

But they haven't really taken off in any way, and IDK what sort of testing they've undergone either. Also, looking at this one specifically, it kinda seems like it would be a pain in the ass to change out the N95 when it started to get clogged.

There's also these things:

Source: https://o2armor.com/

Which would at least keep gunk out of your nose, and be much smaller, and not be something covering your face and trapping a ton of heat. But I honestly don't know anything else about them when it comes to what they're rated for, how well they work, and how long they last before they're too clogged to breathe through.

One thing people don't realise is the level of heat your body is exposed to. We can't have metal touching our skin because that can become heated enough to burn our skin. We can't wear jewellery, wire bras, etc. We can't have any plastic or synthetic materials that can melt onto our skin. That's why we're not 'allowed' to have any old thing on us while attending a fire - those rules are for our protection. Then there's how physically demanding the job is. Having something on your face, impeding movement, vision, respiration, etc... I can't describe to you how impractical that is in the moment. I can tell you right now I'd last about ten minutes with one of them on my face while actively fighting a fire.

“As we work toward a full respiratory protection program, we’re not going to wait any longer. We think N95s can be used in a practical way that can provide some level of protection and if people are getting overheated, they can take it off,” said Evan Burks, a Forest Service spokesperson. “This is not a requirement, but we are allowing it and basically encouraging it.”

The thing about respiratory protection when wildland firefighting is that a lot of the decisions about it are being made by people who have never done a single day of wildland firefighting. A lot of those people are well intentioned, but without that knowledge their suggestions are going to be pretty useless.

Even when wildland firefighters are basing themselves out of an engine, they are still carrying at least 30lbs of gear and hiking through at least some amount of rough terrain to access the fire. And if they're not basing themselves out of an engine they may be carrying twice that weight, if not more, significantly farther distances in significantly rougher terrain. Adding a full structural fire breathing setup to that is not feasible. It is way to much extra weight.

Then, of course, there's the fact that structural fire breathing setups require tanks that don't last all that long, so to cover the whole time of a wildland fire you'd probably need dozens if not hundreds of tanks per person. Some wildland assignments involve people being in the woods with no access to civilization for days, if not up to two or even three weeks. A tanked system just does not work for wildland.

Okay, so, what about N95s? Probably better than nothing, but they still come with a lot of drawbacks of their own. I've only had a chance to do a quick bit of research, but there seems to be limited public information about flammability testing of N95 masks. There's various FDA standards, and internal testing at companies like 3M, but I could not find a good breakdown of how that testing works. (Could be out there though! Happy to be corrected if it is.) Is it testing every single component of the masks from the elastic straps to the staples holding those straps on? What are the exact temperatures and conditions they are being tested under? A sustained wildfire/shower of sparks from a wildfire is very different than short-term welding sparks or a quick surgical oxygen fire, so how do N95s react to those conditions? (Some of what I found suggested that N95s melt rather than burn, but when the thing is on your face I'm not really sure if that's...better?)

Then there's N95s (or regular respirators with filters) getting clogged. You're not going to be able to just carry a handful, you're going to have to carry A LOT OF THEM, and swap them out consistently. And yes, letting that stuff into your lungs instead isn't better, but the amount of masks you'd need still has to be considered in these discussions. Sure, N95s are much lighter than a full tanked setup, but they still take up space that could be used for other critical needs like water and food (because you've got to carry all that for yourself too!).

And of course you've got the metal nose pieces, which I'd guess aren't going to do anything pleasant to your face in the event flames get close enough to melt the mask.

Point is, with current technology, breathing protection for wildland firefighters is a much more difficult problem than it seems to be on the surface. A lot of the conversations I'm hearing currently are less around encouraging use of them on the line while actively engaged with the fire and more about encouraging them all other times like travel to and from where you're working, and in fire camps, to at least better limit overall exposure.

There ARE some other options out there, like this thing, which is meant to go over an N95:

Source: https://shop.darley.com/product/hot-shield-hs2-wildland-firefighter-face-mask/01t2E00000QZdkVQAT

But they haven't really taken off in any way, and IDK what sort of testing they've undergone either. Also, looking at this one specifically, it kinda seems like it would be a pain in the ass to change out the N95 when it started to get clogged.

There's also these things:

Source: https://o2armor.com/

Which would at least keep gunk out of your nose, and be much smaller, and not be something covering your face and trapping a ton of heat. But I honestly don't know anything else about them when it comes to what they're rated for, how well they work, and how long they last before they're too clogged to breathe through.

Drone incursions are becoming more and more of an issue when it comes to wildfires, so last year I designed these graphics, but I never got around to sharing them anywhere.

If you send your drone up during a wildfire, even if you don't feel like you are that close, all planes and helicopters in the area may have to be grounded which can have a massive and detrimental effect on first responders' ability to manage that fire.

If you send your drone up and a plane or helicopter hits it, no matter how small your drone is, it could crash that aircraft injuring or killing those on board and potentially people on the ground as well. Even if the aircraft stays up, it will have damage that could ground it for an indeterminate and potentially extensive amount of time, meaning one less resource is available for that fire and other fires.

Just don't do it.

These graphics are free to use and distribute for any non-profit uses! You can check out my Payhip store to download (for free, or pay what you want) a package of files that include vertical versions of each design, print sizes, and social media sizes.

Another design is using 2 20x25x1 filters, taping them to the sides of the box fan and then to each other so they sort of make a triangle, then cutting cardboard to make a top and bottom to the triangle.

This was discovered as a more effective design during the 2020 US west coast fires.

https://tombuildsstuff.blogspot.com/2013/06/better-box-fan-air-purifier.html