Everything I Carry in My Fire-Issued Fireline Pack

Field LifeGear Lists
Written By Ellen Brown
Wildland firefighters carrying line gear towards a smoke plume

Wildland fire line gear

We carry a lot of stuff.

My fireline pack (commonly called line gear) weighs around 30-50 pounds depending on how far we have to walk away from vehicles and what we need to accomplish that day.

If you’re a member of a saw team, which means you are cutting down trees with a chainsaw, you will have a saw repair kit with extra chain and chainsaw parts and carry fuel and oil for the chainsaw.

Other crew members will also carry additional fuel and oil, drip torches or drip torch fuel mix, drinking water, or medical supplies (like trauma kits or portable stretchers) for the crew, which is why your pack can vary in weight so much day to day.

Your duty station will issue you a fireline pack and everything you need on the fireline, so I have noted below what things are usually given and/ or issued and which things I had to buy.

I ALWAYS CARRY (GENERALLY GIVEN OR ISSUED TO YOU):

  • A fire shelter, which weighs about 5 pounds

  • MRE/ Food for 24+ hours

  • Water (minimum 5 quarts, some crews carry 8+, a quart of water weighs a little more than 2 pounds). I carry a 100-oz CamelBak with an insulated hose, a 48-oz water bottle, and a 1-quart container so I can mix electrolyte powder in it.

  • Personal first aid kit (issued to you by your station/ module). I’m an EMT so I carry more medical supplies like a tourniquet, Epinephrine, meds, bleeding control, burn sheets, etc. And sometimes I carry an additional trauma pack or Mega Mover (portable stretcher) out on the fireline.

  • Headlamp this Black Diamond Cosmo is rechargeable which is rad and it doesn’t turn on in my pack and is super bright and had red light mode for nighttime, but you can find many headlamps that are rechargeable and/or take AA or AAA batteries that are good too (You will be issued a headlamp by your station/module, but I like these the best). Make sure to have extra batteries if it’s not rechargeable.

  • Compass with signal mirror (usually issued)

  • Flagging (issued colorful thin plastic tape that you can use to mark an area or path)

  • Fiber tape (a type of clear tape that has good tensile strength, but I’ve never used outside of fire)

  • Ear plugs (issued)

  • A large file (issued for sharpening hand tools)

  • Fusees (issued firestarters that look like road flares)

AND THESE ITEMS THAT I PERSONALLY HAD TO PURCHASE:

ON MY PERSON AT ALL TIMES I CARRY (ALL PERSONALLY PURCHASED UNLESS NOTED OTHERWISE):

  • Pocket knife

  • Lighters (Get at least three to stash in various pockets. Bic brand is classic and I just bought a Zippo, which I got engraved and hope to never lose)

  • “Man Purse” (look here and here), which keeps my pens and Sharpie, my “Smokey Calendar” (a tiny planner/ calendar given to you to track fires you’ve been on and your hours so you can get paid accurately)

  • Waterproof paper for notes (Rite in the Rain notebooks are great and 3x5 fits in a man purse, but 4x6 is better IMO)

  • My Red Card (an official card issued to you every year saying you’re wildfire qualified and what qualifications and trainee roles you have)

  • Incident Response Pocket Guide. The IRPG, (as it’s known) is a reference guide for wildland fire operations that includes checklists and best practices. A wildland firefighting reference guide, if you will. The current 2025 pink has a pink cover. It’s also given to you.

This is my personal line gear, if you ask any firefighter they will probably have different things they have to and like to carry.

 

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Ellen Brown
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