Patch Asks Intermountain: How Do Structure and Wildland Gear Differ?

In January, we asked readers what they would ask one of our volunteer firefighters over at Intermountain Fire and Rescue.

The department was established by "a concerned group of citizens who wanted to provide better fire protection for their community" and serves an area of 125 square miles bordering Ramona, Julian, Lake Henshaw and Palomar Mountain.

Readers submitted a variety of questions on the comments, like "How does it feel fighting fire?" and "How many calls do you get on a weekly basis?"

This week, Capt. Adam Pollock describes the main differences between structure gear and wildland gear:

"My name is Adam Pollock and I'm a Captain at Intermountain. I've been here since 2008 and I currently just plan to continue serving Intermountain. I'm a small business owner and I enjoy what I do here.

What's the difference in your structure gear and wildland gear?

Today we're talking about different types of firefighter gear. A Lot of poeple don't know that we actually have two different full sets of gear.

The first one here, this is structure gear. It's a lot heavier, has a very heavy inside liner and has a vapor barrier—pretty much similar to wearing a snowboarding jacket.

We also have to wear this anytime we're on the street. This is a vest, just for visability.

Over here we have a completely different set of gear. This is our wildland gear, which we use for brushfires. You can see it's a lot lighter, a lot more lightweight, than that structure gear over there. It basically doesn't have all that inside liner, because it's just too hot to be hiking around with that type of gear.

We also have what's called line gear, or web gear. Our firefighters can care water with them, clothes clamps and even toiletries, because you may be away from all the necessities for a long period of time.

Have a burning question? Submit it in the comments below or to melissa.phy@patch.com

Patch would like to put out a special thanks to the Intermountain Fire and Rescue Department for not only volunteering their efforts as firefighters, but for also giving time to Patch and the community for Firefighter Friday!