As firefighters across the state prepare for another wildfire season in Washington, one man is preparing for his 50th and final season on the fireline. Brock Shero is on the Northwest Incident Management team and has decided to retire after he finishes his fifth decade of service later this year.
“I’ve seen a lot of challenges, I’ve seen a lot of changes, the one thing that hasn’t really changed is the hand tools we use, they're the same we started with 50 years ago,” Shero said.
Shero said he is often asked what he expects from the upcoming fire season and he said he always tells people the same thing.
“As I tell everybody who asks me that, I’ve been asked that for about 50 seasons, I tell them ‘I’ll tell you in November,’ because there is no way in the state of Washington that you can predict what the weather is going to do,” Shero said with a laugh. “I just have no idea what it’s going to be until the end of the season.”
Shero said he always thought 1970 was going to be the worst season that he fought, but he said the last five have been pretty bad. He hopes as things continue to get worse that more people continue to think about becoming firefighters. The need is great.