Alaska:

Fire fighting in the 49th state is a world unto itself. Cut off from the supply lines that dominate fire in the lower 48, Alaskan firefighters travel by air, get resupplied by paracargo, and communicate with dispatch via airplane relays and satellite phones.

Beating flames with spruce boughs

Fuels are different in Alaska, too.  The fine fuels dry quickly after rain, and are soon ready to burn again. The black spruce burns hot and fast, and the tundra almost always precludes line-digging. Tactics focus on herding fires into the slow-burning hardwood stands. In many parts of Alaska, fires burn unchecked, far from human improvements. The fire season runs from snowmelt in mid-April to the rains in late July and early August.  For more information, visit the Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Fire Service.

West of the Cascades:
Monstrous trees and thick undersbrush dominate the landscape and the fire behaviour. Fireline must be dug up to four feet deep to reach mineral soil. Fires start when the forests dry in July and end in the snows of October and November.

The Great Basin:
Sagebrush, pinyon pine, and juniper dominate the lower elevations (3000-5000 feet). Much of this terrain is accessible to engines. Fires in these fuels are wind-driven; they burn fast and often lay down when the wind stops or the relative humidity comes up. Oak brush, then mixed pine and fir forests cover elevations about 5000 feet.

The Rocky Mountains:
From Northern Idaho to Southern New Mexico, the Rockies are dominated by timber. The treeline is about 5000 feet in the north, 10000 feet in the south. Forests are mixed pine and fir. The fire season starts in late April in Arizona and New Mexico; it's brough to a halt by the monsoons in early July. Futher north, the forests are rarely dry before July, and they burn until the snow flies in September and October.

The North Woods:
Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan have an early fire season in June, and occasionally burn again in September. Much of this area is second-growth pine and hardwoods.