Smoke, and the blurring effect of rising waves of heat, combine to obscure the figures.
But their bright yellow shirts, made of fire-resistant cloth, are visible as they bob along, rather like nightflies flitting among the ponderosas and the sage and the occasional clump of bitterbrush.
The firefighters are here on the north side of Phillips Reservoir on the blue-sky morning of Thursday, April 15 with multiple goals to accomplish with their flaming torches and their flat-bladed tools designed to scrape away the forest duff to mineral soil.
One reason theyâre here, while a few scraps of snow still shelter in the north-facing gullies, is to reduce the chances that theyâll have to come back on a scorching day in July or August.