Time for picture!!

I figured I couldn't just post about nothing so here is a photo of our 2007n Crew.... This was taken towards the start of the season....I don't know if it will become the offical crew photo or not we will have to see!!

Not much new

Well it seems like I dont have to much to report these days. Things have died down, but we are waiting to see what the rest of the season will hold. Right now the park is keeping us busy, they have some perscribed burns planned and they want us to help them with that. So hopefully they all happen because then that will keep us busy. I like getting the paychecks with lots of overtime on them...it is hard to go back to normal paychecks.

Well that is all I got, time to go back to having a lazy day off

Where oh where does the time go

I can't believe that it is almost the end of september.......time has flown by the last few months, but that is probably because we have been busy.

Here are some fun facts...

1. I have had 10 days off since june 24 (someone who works mon-friday has had 26)

2. We have worked almost 800 hrs of overtime so far.

3. Fire season is not over yet

4. On our last run we worked a 32 hr shift. yep 32 hrs in a row.

5. When I flew to idaho I drove 20 miles in 3 hours (more on this later)

6. It is supposed to snow today


Now for more on my last fire run.

Idaho:
Well getting there went smoothly........then I get on the freeway and am like crap why is there all this traffic....seee light up ahead decide it is just an accident no prob i will be moving soon....start moving and drive about 1/2 mile and get stuck in stop and go traffic....normally this wouldn't be a big deal but I am not driving a small truck and also it is not automatic.....plus with the seat pulled all the way up it is still hard from me to push the clutch all the way in and keep it there. Ok back to what happened. Turns out the freeway was closed a few mile up but I had no clue if my exit was between where I was and where the freeway was closed....finally I realize the cops are gonna make me get off so I exit, stop at a gas station and ask about the back roads... I think sweet I'll be moving soon. Nope everyone and thier mother was on the backroads...eventually I get moving but realize that it is to late to make it to where I wanted to stay (there are limited options on place to stay since there are no towns on thie hwy I was going to take) so I ended up staying about 25 miles outside of boise....no prob just had to get up and start drving earlier than I had planned

Moonlight fire:
This fire was on the plumas N.F. It was going pretty good when we go to it and it didn't want ot go out...we kept putting line in and it kept spotting over the line so we had to keep chasing spots...It ended up that we had to pull a 32 hour shift to watch the line to make sure it didn't spot anymore, there weren't that many resources there so that is why we had to stay and watch it. Dont worry after a few days of hard work we got the fire under control, well mother nature helped.

Butler 2 fire:
after about 8 days at the moonlight we go pulled off of it to head down south to a fire in the Mountains East of L.A It had potential to get big, but the winds helped us out and let us put line around it. Well it also helped that they were scared and called tons of hotshot crews to it. There were so many crews that is seemed like people were fighting to get a piece of dirt to work. Anyway there was a big storm coming in and we got rained on so they sent us home.


Now I am on day two of three days off. I am waiting for it to snow and enjoying being a bum.

Im back

Well we are back from the last fire run. .....and it has turned cold here in the park. It is supposed to snow today we will see what happens. Anyway just wanted to say hi. I will write more soon. I am off to town for the day.

My newest adventure

When I told you all about my trip to Idaho I suppose that I forgot to mention something.

Now I know you are all thinking that it is something fun and exciting............


well nope not really i just have to tell you about it because my newest adventure wouldn't make sense if I didn't

Anyway. On our way home we stopped in Boise to get our big crew rigs serviced. Right before we got to the place to fix them one of them started making a strange noise. When ever they would try to shift. Anyway we had them check it out and they didn't think that it would make it home. They weren't 100% sure what was wrong with it, but had a good idea it had something to do with the transmission. Anyway this was saturday of course no one would be working sun or monday so we had to leave the truck there for it it get fixed. We wented 2 minivans and that is how the 9 people who normally ride in the truck got back to our station.

So this leaves us down 1 truck and we really need those trucks to survive. So as soon as it is fixed we have to fly someone up there to get it and drive it back to wherever the crew may be at that time. Turns out that someone is me. I am leaving tommorow morning flying up to boise and starting to drive the trucks back. who knows where I will find the crew.

I am not a big fan of driving these trucks they are big and old and clunky and I am always afraid that they are going to die. But it will be good for me. I get a plane ride a hotel stay and lots of driving time.

Southern Cali is starting to burn again so I am sure that we will end up there. The crew goes back available at 8:00am so we will see where the dispatch is for.


Wish me luck on my driving adventure!!!!

Wildland Firefighters Foundation

So on our way home form idaho, we stopped in boise where the National Interagency Fire Center is located. It was saturday so most of it was shut down, But we got the chance to go in and see the Fallen Firefighters Memorial. I have always wanted to see and it was very moving to be able to go there. I wish it would have been spring so I could have seen all the wildflowers in bloom.





It was especially nice because the day before we got to meet the woman who runs the Wildland Firefighters foundation. Let me tell you she is a wonderful person...who cares so much about firefighters and the families that lose loved one on fires. She is amazing, I got the chance to see all the she does in 2004 when we lost Dan.....it just amazes me how much she does and how much she cares about everyone. It was awesome to see the WFF booth at a fire camp and to be able to meet some the people who do so much.




I was so excited to see a lot of the guys sign up for their 52 Club (which I have been a member of since 2004). Anyway this is my little plug...if you have a little extra cash just sitting there, the foundation could really use a little help. I normally don't go out and ask people to give their money away but this is something that I really care about.

Anyway if you wan't to learn more go here Wildland Firefighters Foundation

The proggession of a fire on the hill

Here are some photos of what I fire looks like as it progresses over an area. We were putting this fire on the ground what we call a burnout. Its purpose is to stop the main fire when it gets to the area that has already been burnt.

Multi Multi Multi Million Dollar Homes

Yep that pretty much sums up my last couple of weeks.

We were assigned for most of the two weeks to the Castle Rock fire near Ketchum Idaho.....or should I say Sun Valley Idaho (sun valley is the ski resort). Ketchum is a town where there seems to be a lot of really expensive houses and lets say that they drove the tactics that were used on this fire. It was a good run. There was lots of media attention. One morning we were in line for breakfast and there was a a CNN news reporter there reporting live....we could see our selves on his little TV it was kind of funny......as we were wating for eggs and potatoes and whatever else they had for us that morning lots of people were watching us.

Good news is that there weren't any homes lost to the fire.

Hmm what else can i say...besides that I wish I had enough money to afford on of the many beautiful homes that I saw.

ON the way home we stayed in Nevada...at one point on the run we were talking about drinking games and I introduced some of the guys to the idea of century club......I couldn't believe that most of them had never heard of it before. Anyway a group of them wanted to attempt it and thought that I should do it with them since it was my idea... I said what the hell.... I didn't think that I would make it to the end but I did...guess all those years at tech paid off

pictures to follow at a later time