I almost forgot!!!!!

I can't believe that I almost forgot to post about this.......I have gotten my 50 fires!!!!!! I will soon be the second girl to make the 50 fire board...the first since 97.

Normally when we go back to a fire it doesn't count as a new fire but for some strange reason the Zaca fire did. After we left it went under different management and the started calling in the Zaca 2 fire. I didn't think we would count it as a new fire but I guess we did!!!!! That is the only good thing that came out of the zaca fire!!!! ok maybe there area few more but not many

My oh my

Well for some reason we haven't gotten reassinged and we are back in station for the time being!!
There are lots of fires so who knows why we are sitting I have given up trying to figure out the way things work

now on the the my oh my part of this post......well like I said we got to stay in a hotel last night but what I failed to mention is that there was a brewery a short walk away....The brewery had yummy food and tasty beer. It was nice to go there and relax. It was to bad that it closed at 9:30..... I was going to head home when it closed but everyone decided to go to another bar that was nearby so I figured why not. Well after we had been at that bar for awhile a bunch of guys from another hotshot crew came in and after a while they started talking to me and my roommate. It was quite fun to get some attention from guys that I dont work with......all in all it was a fun night and I didn't end up getting much sleep. Both jessica and I hope that it happens again

well off to waiting again. we will see

Zaca Redo

Well we went back to the zaca fire.....the one thing that I didin't want to happen...

But it turned out better than I had expected...we only worked three shifts on the fire line and we didn't have to hike as much as last time because we ended up "spiking out" as we call it. which means that we just sleep on the fire line and eat MRE's (which are the military rations) but lets just say we did a lot of handline construction and in lots of brush..any way we pretty much got the fire under control or at least we hope. Oh yeah I almost forgot we got to ride on a blackhawk helicopter today so that was something new


how you may ask am I on the computer telling you this...well we got demobed from this fire and are now available for reassingment and since we got demobbed late in the afternoon they put us up in a hotel room . Yep I am staying at a hotel...it is a super nice one too so that is pretty exciting......well that is all for know hopefully we go someplace out of state next!!!!

Part three Zaca Fire

Well this is where we spent the most of the time that I was gone..... the fire is still burning and there is a chance that we may go back....I do not want to go back!!!! So please think good thoughts about us heading to Idaho or Washington or even Nevada


anyway here is the best way to sum this fire up:


STEEP, STEEP STEEP= great looking leg muscles


HOT, HOT, HOT= one very sweaty sexy amy


LOTS & LOTS & LOTS & LOTS OF BRUSH= lots of work (very hard shifts with not much sleep and food)


EVEN MORE POSION OAK = one very itchy amy with not so nice looking skin



LOTS & LOTS & LOTS OF FIRE LINE TO CONSTRUCT= one very tired hotshot crew, especially since the commanders of this fire couldnt make up their minds about what strategy and tactics they wanted to use so they kept making us do all sorts of stuff

LARGE OF AMOUNTS OF POINTLESS WORK (or at least some of it seemed like pointless work= one hotshot crew that wants to go to a fire anywhere other than Southern CA.......if we go back I think that attitudes will hit a major low and that makes things not fun


Here is the link to most of the photos that I took


We go back available tomorrow so who knows when I will post again

P.S for all of you keeping track I need one more til I reach 50.......but if we go back to zaca it doesn't count it has to be one we haven't been to yet

part 2

The Rancho fire.....that would be the second fire that we went to in my time away from blogging..... Not much to say about that fire...we drove down to near santa barbara and got some sleep and then went out to the fire the next morning.....lets just say I dont think I saw any flames on this fire.....yep it was pretty much out. they used us for one shift we held the line and took care of any spots of heat that were near the line. IT was super hot out that day and it turned out it was cooler to stand out in the sun rather than be in the shade....there was a wind coming up the ridge so the wind made the day bearable. we were up on a hill where you could see a little RV park where there was a swimming pool so all day long we made up stories about what was going on at the Rv park. We drove home the next morining and got ready to wait for the next one...it wasn't to long that we had to wait....less than 24 hrs actually


stay tuned for part three and the pictures that go with it

The Fires Part 1

As promised I said that I would tell you all a little bit about the fires that I just got back from....well anyway the first fire that we went to was called that Angora Fire....it was located near lake tahoe. I am sure that most of you saw or read about it on the news. It was probably got the most media attention of all the fires that I have been on....since a bunch of house ended up burning...but if you have ever been to tahoe you will realize that the houses are in the forest and have tons of trees around them and even though it sucks that the houses burnt down sometimes you have to realize that when you build your house in the forest stuff life fires can happen

Anyway we got to the fire on the second day of the fire, after all the houses had burnt so it was pretty crazy. Anyway we helped prep some dozer line which is what we are doing in the photos below.



The second day was when things got kind of crazy. The fire did what we call "blowing up". Pretty much means that it got over the line and was running out of control for a little while. It was kind of crazy because everyone pretty much left the line and got out of the area in case the fire did anything else. when we noticed that things were changing somyself and 2 others hiked down to the trucks to move them in case the fire started moving our way. anyway it was interesting to me to be able to watch everything that was going on. The pictures from the previous post are when the fire was blowing up.

The craziest thing about this fire was that there was so much media around. this fire was right next to a town and it attracted people like crazy.....there were photogaphers hiding in the woods, walking on the fire line not wearing the proper clothing and all sorts of stuff. it was funny but annoying at the same time.



well stay tuned for more on the other fires

where have I been

Is what I am sure you are all asking...well to put it simply I have been working for the past 23 days....yes that is correct I just worked 23 days in a row...without any time off.

But the good news is that I have the next two days off...and I am getting paid for having them off.

We just came back today from the Zaca fire which is down by Santa Barbara. Before that we were on the Rancho fire which was also near Santa Barbara. and before that I was up on the Angora fire near lake tahoe. I have lots of pictures and stories to tell but I will tell them tommorow tonight I am going to go drink me a little and just chill. Stay tuned for more pictures and stories

but here are 2 photos from the angora fire