Little Bear Fire Detail

So, I went to New Mexico and fought the Little Bear fire.  The 10-day detail was quite the experience.

I had plans to spend the weekend in Conway, AR with Leigh and was looking forward to a relaxing weekend.  I had been in Leigh's apartment for no more than 30 minutes when Nick, my Team Leader, called and said we were going to New Mexico and asked what I thought.  I said I'd hop back in the rental car and be on my way.

From Saturday June 9th to Sunday June 10th I went from Oklahoma to Texas to Arkansas to Texas to Oklahoma to Arkansas to Texas to Arizona and then Finally to New Mexico.

I took a few notes in a notebook each day to help me remember.  According to the notebook, the detail went like this:

Saturday, June 9th: I spent 15 hours in a car.  From driving to get the rental car, to Leigh's, back to the rental place, back to our housing, and then up to Fort Smith to stage for our flight the next day.  By the time I got back to housing I had a total of 20 minutes to pack my bag for the next two weeks.  We finally arrived in fort smith late at night and were briefed by our Crew Leader, Dwight, and Crew Leader Trainee, Tim.  We finally crawled into bed at midnight.

Sunday, June 10th: 3:45 am wake up to get to the hotel by 5 am!  We flew from Fort Smith to Dallas to Phoenix.  When we arrived in Phoenix we staged at the airport for close to 9 hours waiting for more news while Dwight and Tim worked on logistics.  Sunday definitely started our 16 hour days.

Monday, June 11th: We started the 5 am wake up that would be a reoccurrence for the rest of the detail.    We had a 7 hour drive to the Little Bear fire.  We arrived, went through mobilization, and headed to dinner.  Meals were all 3,000 calories. So much food!  I never was able to finish, but most of the guys did.  We worked hard for those calories.

Tuesday, June 12th: First actual work day!  We worked in a division where the fire was backing down to.  We strengthened the fire line by cutting trees and dragging brush out of the fires path.

Wednesday, June 13th: Mopping up.  A crew lit a backfire and our job was to mop up the line.  Mopping up is making sure all of the hot spots and embers are out and there isn't a danger of them crossing into the unburned areas and relighting.  We also moved to spike camp.  Spike camp is an area away from the big Incident Command Post.  We were closer to where we were working, in an area of burned forest that isn't in danger of relighting because all of the fuel is gone.  Dinner came to us in 5 gallon buckets.  It was still pretty tasty.  I also decided to forego setting up my tent along with most of the crew and enjoyed sleeping under the stars for the rest of the detail.

Friday, June 15th: More mopping up.  We were doing tons of hiking and at a pretty high elevation.  My feet were holding up but starting to hurt.  My pack seemed to get heavier each day, even though it stayed a constant 25ish pounds.  We had such a great crew.  So thankful for them.

Saturday, June 16th: Sleeping outside again.  It definitely got cold at night, but not unbearable.  I'll pack another sweatshirt next time.  We did so much hiking!  So much.  It was tough but I could tell I adjusted more and more each day.  It also rained today.  We through our gear in garbage bags that morning.  Such a good idea, considering it started pouring.  We were pulled off the mountain and hiked down.  The rain steadily started getting heavier as we hiked down.  By the time we were back we just climbed in the trucks and waited out the rain.

That's the end of my little notebook notes.  Days were so tiring, and we got a maximum of 6 hours of light sleep a night.  We all loved it though.  So much.  No one could believe we weren't getting paid (except for our AmeriCorps salary).  The guys on the crew made more in one day than we made the entire time.

We spent the rest of the detail mopping up in a new area.  Not the most exciting thing, but an essential thing.  Details usually last 14 work days, but because containment on the fire was going so well we were cut at day 10.  We drove back Oklahoma in the rental vehicles and besides the van breaking down on the side of the interstate just outside of Amarillo, it was fairly uneventful.

So many more details, but I'm starting to forget.  And it's late and I'm tired.  Did I mention I'm in a hotel on the way to the Waldo Canyon fire, getting ready to do it all over again?  Definitely going out of AmeriCorps with a bang.  Wish me luck.

Squad 2

Sorry for the blog absence.  I've been fighting fires in New Mexico.  No time for a full update right now.  We're off to the beach to enjoy our rest, but I'll leave you with a picture of my squad from the detail.

We had the best crew from all over Arkansas.  They taught us so much and I miss them already!

I love free internet!

Our new laundromat has wireless internet.  I'm in love.  Laundry is no longer an hour or two of wasted time, we can get things accomplished while we get clean.  Which is currently what I'm doing in preparation for my weekend away.  I'm headed to Conway, AR to see Leigh this weekend, and to say I'm excited is an understatement.  I'm ready for a weekend away from work and the team, so this couldn't come at a better time.

Work this week has been varied, but I feel like we're actually doing useful things to help the Forest Service so I'm happy.  Monday I felled two trees!  One of them didn't go exactly where I wanted it to go, so that was a bit scary, but I felt pretty accomplished when they were down.  Tuesday and Wednesday we did some aerial photo archiving with the Forest Service archaeologist.  And today and tomorrow 5 of us are working with Eric, the Forest timber guy preparing for a lumber sale.

We had two truckloads of big aerial photos of the forest.

We worked in the office basement, and boy, it got dusty down there.

Our finished product.  The photos are no longer in a work center shed, but instead they are organized and laid out nicely in the basement.

After two days we got a little crazy and started hanging from the rafters though.

Today we marked a boundary for a timber sale.  The forest sells lumber to make money, so we helped out a bit.

We followed the laid out pink ribbons and painted the trees on the boundary with bright orange paint.

Max and I.

I was in charge of scouting out the ribbons out in front.

And this is what has been getting us through the weeks.  Starbucks iced coffee packets!  So tasty.  Except I just broke my cup :(  I'll have to look for a new one in Little Rock this weekend!

Pictures

My new home!  

The top bunk is mine!  

Just about all of my belongings fit in this chest of drawers.

Our humble little kitchen.

The girls' food for the week!

The 5 boys have two campers to live in.

Instead of long horns, we have goats in our backyard!  3 in the pen behind out house and 4 in another pen nearby.

Yes, we have an outhouse, but no, we don't have to use it.

We also have dogs next door.  The little one's name is Princess.

The older one is named Dutchess.

They're awfully friendly.

Our beautiful garage accommodations last week.

I've moved!

I'm writing to you from Idabel, Oklahoma.  We moved, yesterday.  Coming to Oklahoma this round we knew we were going to be camping the first few weeks, with the AmeriCorps NCCC requirement that we would moved to an air conditioned location in a timely manner.  The temperature keeps rising and with the possibility of us going on fire, AmeriCorps wanted to make sure we had an air conditioned place to sleep at night.  I'm not complaining!  I was sick of going to sleep and sweating in my tent.  Our last week has been eventful, not necessarily in the work, but in everything else.

Tuesday night we had a storm!  Living in a house, I maybe wouldn't have even woken up for it, but living in a tent is a different story.  I woke up to Alex shining his light through the screen door on my tent telling me to wake up, that Nick (my TL) wanted us all in the camper.  I headed down to the camper and saw the radar on Nick's phone and knew we were in for some not-so-fun weather.  About 30 minutes after he had us all corralled in our itty bitty camper we got hit with rain, thunder and lighting that lasted for 2 hours or so.  The thunder was so LOUD!  Around 3:30 it subsided and we all ventured back to our tents to assess the damage.  I had some water in my tent, but nothing too bad, so I went to bed and work the next day.  When I got back from work on Wednesday, Melinda and I realized we were definitely hit the hardest.  Both of our tents were soaked.  And we were two of the people that prepared the most for the rain, we had tarps tucked under our tents and our belongings in bags.  Some of my team mates didn't even have tarps and their tents were dry.  We were definitely jealous.

Wednesday we were supposed to get another storm (this time with hail), so Nick decided we were packing an overnight bag and getting out of our tents.  We went to one of the work centers and parked our sleeping bags in the garage where the Type 6 Engine usually resides.  It was basically a team sleep over.  We played cards and had made the best of it.

Friday (yesterday) we moved!  We are now in Idabel, about 90 minutes south of our prior housing.  We're still in the Ouachita National Forest working for the USDA Forest Service, but now we're focusing more on working with the south office.  We've met and worked with all of the south employees previously on prescribed burns so it's basically just a new location to us.  We report Monday at 10 am for a staff meeting, and we'll see where the week takes us from there.  We still have our team in the computer system to go on a detail, so it could happen anytime.  And with the way wild fires are going this summer, I feel like we could get that call any day.

Internet is much more accessible now.  We're a 5 minute drive to it, as opposed to the previous hour drive so I'll do my best to post a bit more frequently.  And I'm going to try to remember to put my camera in my pocket every morning to spice these posts up with pictures!

It's currently 92 degrees.

As promised, here are the pictures of the 3 mile trail around the lake at our camp ground.

Most parts are right along the water.  Sometimes I get nervous I'm going to trip and end up in the water!

This is the first of 4 bridges I encounter on the run.

The second and third bridges have great views.

This is the view!

And the final bridge, a cute little one I always make sure to watch my footing on.

In other news, It's a scorcher outside today.  I've never been so glad to have an ice machine at my disposal.  We're on call for any fires this weekend, so anywhere we go we have our fire gear with us.  Last night we went to The Avengers (Janet: the movie you recommended wasn't in the theater :(  )  and we all had our fire packs, nomex clothing, and fire boots lined up in the back of the truck.  It actually makes me feel like a real fire fighter.  Who woulda thought this would be my life!?!