Abstract: At approximately 5:00 p.m. on October 21, 2003, Employee #1, a firefighter, was battling a brush fire. He was performing a procedure to fight fires on steep slopes referred to as wildland hose evolutions. This procedure is used to advance hose lines up steep slopes without interruption of water flow. He was using this procedure for approximately five hours. The next day, Employee #1 notified his captain that he had a sore back. The Captain logged his condition into the Daily Station Log and asked if he needed medical attention. Employee #1 declined medical attention at that time. Approximately five weeks later, on November 11, 2003, Employee #1 was instructing a HAZMAT drill training session. During the training he moved a steel drum, weighting approximately 200 to 300 pounds, for one of the training exercises. After completing his training session the soreness in his back become very sharp and he experienced numbness and tingling in his foot. He was hospitalized with a herniated disc in his lower back.