Firefighters from the ANF, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry participated in last Thursday’s burn.

“The Jakes Rocks prescribed fire has been successfully completed at 247 acres treated with fire,” according to ANF Public Affairs Officer Christopher Leeser.

The effort removed hazardous fuels, knocked back overgrown and less-desirable species, created new habitat for numerous wildlife species, and improved growing conditions for oaks.

It also served as good practice for the firefighters.

Fire militia need to learn the ropes in order to work effectively on wildfires.

Fire staff are regularly deployed to wildfires on other forests.

Although it was a prescribed burn and generally very safe for those creating and tending it, firefighters know any fire can turn on them. Everyone at the scene had to carry a wildland fire shelter.

“A fire shelter is a last resort,” Duty Officer Craig Kostrzewski said. “We should never be in a situation we should have to use it.”

Still, conditions change, winds shift, and the unexpected can happen.

“We train with the shelter each year,” Kostrzewski said.

The shelters are elongated domes — a little oversized for one person. They are made of four layers of foil and fiberglass to turn away heat of different types.

The packs containing the shelters weigh about five pounds. In an emergency, a firefighter would remove the shelter from the pack, shake it out to its full size, and climb into it.

After that, the firefighter would lie face down on the ground, holding the edges of the shelter under them, covered as if by an oversized sleeping bag.