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SiG MT 57 e previous fire chief, Raymond Courtnage, has fought fires with BSVFD for over 46 years. He is keenly aware that every ag-related fire has potential to explode, and that "if you have a roaring fire and the winds are roaring, it is always hard to plan your initial aack." e region's winds can be the single greatest challenge, and why no one here with any fire savvy hesitates to extinguish flames during summer. "Our farmers are doing a really good job fighting fires, and every year gets beer as they get bigger [water- hauling] equipment for spraying chemfallow," says Courtnage. "Farmers' newer [water] trucks oen carry powerful pumps with greater output than some of the department's trucks. And you can't beat a tractor pulling a good disc. When fire gets into tall wheat, you can't do much else to stop it." Farmers' capacity to store and transport large amounts of water tied to the area's no-till farming has been a major step forward in fighting wildfires. BSVFD truck tanks can be empty within 20 minutes at a fire. Although there is a county tanker parked in Fort Benton, the Big Sandy crews instead rely on farmers' resources to keep trucks pumping. Ag producers' fire readiness, especially during harvest, has definitely advanced beyond covering tailpipes with window screen or tying five-gallon buckets with wet burlap sacks atop combines. Grain carts and larger trucks with vertical exhausts also have noticeably reduced the number of field fires. Cell phones, texting, and Facebook have transformed fire alerts and updates among neighbors. Newer ag practices also have altered local fire risks: chemfallow has more combustibles than summer fallow and lacks the laer's firebreak prowess; fertilizer yields thicker grain and stubble to burn; and the Conservation Reserve Program has cultivated large blocks of thick fuels. Other complications are the ubiquitous fuel tanks and ag chemicals stored at area farms and ranches, as well as stacks of tires, garbage pits, and scaered ag equipment that make firefighter egress difficult or impossible.