I remember getting woke up out of bed any time between 1 and 4 in the morning after working a long day pre-commercial forest thinning. I knew what time it was, I knew what I had to do and I knew what I was getting ready to face, this hot time of year. Most of the calls we got to attend a wild fire was to eastern Washington, so I also knew the temperatures I was going to face. I remember boarding the crummy, or Crew Bus for a 100 mile or more trip. Sometimes we were first to arrive at the fire camps, sometimes we were last. If we were there first and our camp was selected for the first fire kitchen, we helped set it up for the hundreds of people who were going to be fed there. At the time there were five camps that provided portable kitchens, each camp would take turns at the base fire camp. Normal fire crew schedule was getting up at 4:30am, getting dressed, eat breakfast, get your lunch, grab your gear, on the crummy by 5am, on the fire line before 5:30am, and that all varied based on how under control the fire is at the time. Wearing long sleeved shirts and pants, hard hat and heavy boots with two three or four gallons of water and what ever tools we could carry, tromping up hills and in dusty sand and dirt from a freshly made fire trail in 80+ degree conditions, made for a long and hard day. The day that really made all of that dangerous and hard work worth every second, was the only day in which I got back to camp and was in line to eat and I saw pictures that grade school children drew and colored of fire fighters thanking us for what we were doing hanging all around the kitchen tent. -Thank you to all of the fire fighters who are, or have fought fires for all the work that you do! My heart goes out to the 19 men who lost their lives fighting the Arizona wild fire saving the lives of others!
Posted on: Tue, 02 Jul 2013 04:12:49 +0000
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