BIG TIMBER - What does it take to run a fire camp?

For starters, 5,000 pounds of ice cubes. That's 2 1/2 tons of ice - every day.

Add to that 1,600 gallons of fresh water, 30 networked computers, thousands of AA batteries and almost 200 pounds of steak - for just one meal - and you begin to get an idea of what goes into supporting the hundreds of firefighters who battle Montana wildfires every year.

"The firefighters are really critical, but they couldn't be on the ground if it weren't for these folks," said Kimberly Nelson, lead public information officer for the WH complex of fires south of Big Timber.

A support crew led by a Type One incident command team provides firefighters on the WH complex with hot meals, hot showers, free medical care and a vast inventory of supplies - from sunscreen and Band-Aids to maps and protective fire gear.

It all happens at fire camp, an instant city of sorts that, for the WH complex, sprouted out of the earth at the Big Timber fairgrounds.

"Typically, we can have a camp set up in a day and a half for 1,000 people," said Harv Skjerven, chief of logistics for the two fires in the complex, the Wicked Creek and Hicks Park fires.

At its peak, 530 firefighters were attacking the 28,550-acre complex.

The dozen or so cream-colored yurts and the trucks and trailers that make up the fire camp began appearing three days after the flames ignited.

"We were the first ones here, and we'll be the last to leave," said Jeremy Tincher, a member of the camp's supply crew. "When we got here, all there was was a semi."

As Tincher helped unload pallets of bottled water and other gear, another team trenched in lines for high-speed Internet and electricity - amenities that will remain after the fires are out.

"They're pretty quick," said Fred Johnson, a computer technical specialist. "I think we had DSL and power the second day we were here."

Johnson oversees a network of about 30 computers used to keep track of firefighter hours, costs and - perhaps most importantly - to produce maps.

As many as 70 full-color maps showing the fires come off the printers every day in the geographic information systems, or GIS, trailer.

"We get a 300-foot roll of paper, and we go through at least one a day, and that's not counting what we print on 11-by-17's," said Steve Snell, a GIS specialist.

Next to paper for maps, batteries for radios top the list of must-have supplies for wildland firefighting.

"You do not engage (a fire) until you have communication," said Dennis Kirkpatrick, a communications technician.

Kirkpatrick and his crew sort and box thousands of partially used batteries from firefighters' handheld radios and the repeaters that carry signals through the wilderness.

Firefighters begin every day with fresh AAs in their radios, but a day's use typically does not drain all of their power.

"Most still have 60 to 80 percent of life left," said Sarah Spark, communications manager. "I'll take a box home for my grandkids for all their electronic toys."

Firefighters are dirty and hungry at the end of a day on the fire line, and in a modern fire camp, they can get a hot shower and a hot meal. Both services are provided by contractors.

There are 12 showers in the trailer Pete Meskiman of PM Construction hauled from New Mexico to the WH complex fire camp.

Meskiman has 1,600 gallons of fresh water trucked to the camp each day. The water is heated on demand with propane, collected after it's used and hauled away again.

Food is prepared by a 20-person crew employed with Stewart's Firefighter Food Catering out of Oregon. It costs about $45 a day to feed one firefighter.

The kitchen crew must be able to serve 350 meals per hour for breakfast and supper, and each meal carries certain dietary requirements, such as serving 10 ounces of meat on each supper plate.

Lunches go out to the fire line in paper sacks. On a recent day, sacks were filled with a sandwich on wheat bread, two boiled eggs, a peach, a candy bar, a roll, a bag of cookies, and two juice packs.

Kitchen manager Anita Hyde wakes at 3 a.m. to begin preparing breakfast, and the last of the kitchen crew turns in after 11 p.m.

"I take vitamins" to stay alert, Hyde said.

Spending 15 hours a day on the fire line is hard work, and firefighters are plagued by blisters, bronchitis, athlete's foot, sunburns, strained wrists and twisted ankles.

Most complaints can be addressed in the medical tent, although people with serious injuries or ailments - one person had a heart attack at the WH complex - can be airlifted to a hospital.

"When we come into a community like Big Timber, we double the size of the community," said Gary Moser, leader of the medical unit. "We put people into high-risk jobs in (dangerous) terrain, and we can't expect the local EMS to handle that."

With the WH complex of fires 60 percent contained on Friday, the Type One incident command team planned to pull up stakes on Monday.

And almost as quickly as it appeared, the fire camp will vanish.