Drought season coming in fast; Are firefighters ready to face epic fire blazes?

Firefighters are busy with fire drills and intense training, as bushfires this year are predicted to be worse than the previous year.

A firefighter's job is more perilous than you think, as each dry season brings new threats of hard-to-control epic fires that usually strike without warning. Raging bushires are a burning threat for any firefighter.

With every raging bushfire, a firefighter's life is always at risk. Recent interviews with firefighters state that at all times,they must be equipped with proper firefighting skills, gear and the right presence of mind, to avoid serious fire injuries and worse death.

Annually, a team of elite firemen conduct training exercises and tough fire drills such as parachuting into sun-scorched bushes to see how they will battle-out unexpected bushfires that normally happen during drought season.

The parachuting smokejumpers are the first ones on the ground tasked with immediate fire control to stop the epic blazes from occurring. Such exercises are quite necessary to evaluate a firefighter's response in handling dangerous bushfires.

With base operations in parts of the Redding area, the courageous smokejumpers train intensively for several weeks, with high hopes of mastering the right fire control techniques.

Such training is held each year in preparation for blazing bushfires that reportedly damage crops, livelihood, property and in worst cases, take lives as well.

In an interview, with firefighter Mark Garland, he attested that fires are increasingly bigger and harder to control each year as the dry season keeps getting drier and longer.

"Nowadays fires seem to burn so much bigger and so much hotter. And our warehouse is staying the same size", Garland said.

Garland believes that each team of firefighters must be equipped with the right set of tools, knowledge and proper training to fight 'epic wild fires'.

He added, "The way I see it, if I have a fire that doesn't get their order that same day, then I feel like I've failed. That's not an option."

Firefighters believe that fierce blazes, such as the one that happened in Arizona in 2013, can either injure them badly or get them killed.

Reports show that 19 firefighters had tragically died in that incident alone.