NPS Photo
Wildland firefighters
The Cumberland Gap Fire Use Module (commonly referred to as CuGa FUM), is based in the beautiful mountains of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia in Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. The goal of CuGa FUM is to provide a highly skilled professional and technical resource for prescribed fire, wildland fire use, and wildland fire suppression assignments.
The Cumberland Gap Fire Use Module is a 7 person crew that was established in 2001. The Module is based in the National Park Service’s Southeast Fire Management Program and is a national resource. This means that, although most of their prescribed fire and fuels projects are based in the southeast, they are available to respond to and assist with incidents anywhere in the country. Cumberland Gap Fire Use Module is one of only two Fire Use Modules in the southeast region.
The fire season usually starts in the beginning of January and runs through mid-November. During the busy fire season module crew members are often home as little as one hundred days a year!
CuGa FUM’s year typically consists of prescribed burning preparation and implementation assignments in the spring and fall with the majority of the module’s time spent assisting our hosting parks. Although the module will provide interagency assistance, it is assigned to help parks with smaller fire staffing in the southeast complete fuels treatments.
These parks include but are not limited to: Big South Fork National Recreation Area, Congaree National Park, Cow Pens National Battlefield, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, and Mammoth Cave National Park.
During the summer when the module is not burning they spend their time supporting national incidents and disasters; wildland fire use incidents (WFU’s), wildfire suppression, prescribed fire and fuels projects.
