Ground fuels such as grass or tree litter can ignite rapidly in front of intense flames. Deployment areas should be as free of fuels as possible. Suggested areas for deployment include paved, gravel, or dirt roads, burned areas that will not reburn (Figure 3), rockslides (Figure 4), or areas cleared by dozers.

Figure 3: A burned area with no residual fuel can be an effective deployment site.

Figure 4: Large rockslides make excellent sites for deploying fire shelters, but firefighters must deploy their shelters well away from grass, brush, and trees.

A bench or a roadbed on the side of a hill can be a good deployment site. Level areas like these can keep you below the path of flames and convective heat (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Four firefighters deployed their fire shelters on this road during a burnover. All four survived with only minor burns.

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