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!?!

Mail

Just in case you feel so inclined:


Nathalie Besse
c/o AmeriCorps NCCC
52175 US Highway 59
Hodgen, Ok 74939

Next year I get a green shirt.

As mentioned previously, I'm going to be a Team Leader for AmeriCorps NCCC Class 19 based out of Denver, Colorado.  I guess I'll have to keep the blog going for another year, except this time you'll see me in a green AmeriCorps shirt.

I'm very grateful as quite a few people applied, and there were only 9 spots to fill.  I feel even more grateful that I received my first choice, to be in the office.  I love AmeriCorps, but would go crazy leading a team for the full 10 months.  As an office Team Leader, I will work in the office for first, second, and fourth rounds and then take a team out in the field third (shuffle) round.

My area of concentration with will be Operations (ops).  I had my choice between media and ops, and took ops without a second thought.  I will work with Brian and Paul who are in charge of all the supplies (from vehicles to tools), Eric who is the finance guy, and Vanessa in member support.  Should be a nice variety.

The blog may not be as exciting with work related tasks, but I'll have plenty of time to explore Denver, which I am pretty excited about.

Oklahoma Week 2

I wish I could start this post off with a picture I took of the 3 mile trail around our lake at the campground, but I seem to have forgotten my camera back at camp.  Instead, I'll start off reviewing our work week, which just isn't quite as pretty.  Anyway...

We became the U.S. Forest Service maintenance crew this week.  Not exactly the most exciting thing in the world, but we were occupied and working so we were happy.  Tasks included trail maintenance on the above mentioned trail, priming and painting a water tower, and lawn mowing at the campground.

I'm actually pretty happy with our trail maintenance task.  The trail around the lake is beautiful, but I was always absolutely freaked out on it because of the overgrowth.  I thought some rabid animal was going to come out of the brush and bite my ankles.  Now it's maintained and I have been taking advantage.  It's tough after a hot work day to get my butt in workout clothes and around the lake, but I feel great after.  And let's be real, I walk a lot more of it than I run.  But it's the effort that counts, right?!?  I'll get the pictures up soon.

Another AmeriCorps NCCC team is working twenty minutes from us in Heavener, Oklahoma so it's been fun to have some friends nearby.  Last weekend we had them over for a barbeque, and Wednesday night we went over to their place for dinner.  This will sadly end soon though, as we move 1.5 hours south come Friday.  Supposedly we're moving into air-conditioned Oklahoma State University housing.  We don't know many details, besides we're moving on Friday.  I'll believe it when I see it.  Although I am excited, camping has been great but it's getting a bit too warm for this Minnesota girl.  The past couple of nights I have abandoned the comfort of my two sleeping pads for the ground inside my tent, it's much cooler.  When I wake up around 3 am I move back to the sleeping pad because it's cooled down enough, but I'd rather just sleep through the whole night.  Conundrum.  It'll be over soon.  

As you may have inferred, we never headed to Arizona to fight the wildfires there.  They had them contained enough by Monday that they didn't need the reinforcements.  We're still in the system though, so we could be called for any fire anywhere in the states.  Our sponsor, Justin, says it's a decent probability we'll get called.  We'll see.  

Speaking of fires, we're definitely on call this weekend.  Being Memorial Day weekend with hot and dry conditions, they told us to be ready just in case.   The campground started filling up this past Wednesday/Thursday and as of Friday night last night, it's pretty well full.  We've got neighbors!!  We're keeping our fire packs and boots in the trucks so we're ready.  We're all itching to get some real fire experience.  

Stay tuned next week to find out if we get a fire this weekend!

Oklahoma. Part 2.

My round in Eudora ended with less than fireworks.  The rest of my team loved the project and really felt like we were making a difference.  Not so for myself, I felt like I spent the mornings babysitting 20 toddlers.  Alas, it's over and done and I have moved onto more interesting things.

Transition week in Denver was fun, albeit a bit overwhelming.  It was my first real transition week, as we missed the last one while we were in Branson doing disaster relief, and I found it mediocre.  It was great to see friends from other teams and especially Paul, but there was a lot of spare time that was spread out and in result didn't end up in enough time to actually go anywhere and do anything.  A few highlights included an awesome yoga class at a place in Cherry Creek called Kindness Yoga.  It was a tad expensive coming in at $10 (a days wage), but it was great to get off campus and get my yoga on.  The big highlight of the week was seeing the Denver Symphony Orchestra.  A group of  or so of us headed down to the Performing Arts Complex with our fingers crossed hoping we'd be able to snag some student rush tickets. We were in luck!  We were able to schmooze with the ticket guy and get $80 seats for $10!

It was a special performance that included a full chorus for the 2nd half of the performance.

Paul, Kat, and I at the symphony.  I got a haircut!

As you can infer from the blog post title, I am currently back in Oklahoma.  My team and I are living at Cedar Lake campground and it's been a fun experience.  

This is my new home.

We have a group campsite and I was able to stake my claim to a spot in the corner where I am able to find some solitude at the end of our long days.  I get my own tent, which is awesome.  They are pretty roomy, but would get cramped quickly with two people plus belongings.

While in Eudora, I ordered a hammock from REI.  I love it.  It's so great to relax in and is so unbelievably comfortable.

Our group bathhouse, gotta love it.  Mosquitoes and all.

Monday my team finds out if we've been assigned to detail in Arizona to fight the fires that have broken out there.  We'd drive to Fort Worth and then fly out.  Our sponsors said there's about a 60% chance we'd get assigned, but my gut instinct is that we'll be staying in Oklahoma.  

Other exciting news, I received a Team Leader position for next year!  Monday I find out my exact job, but I'm pretty sure I get to be an office TL, which was my first choice!  I'm super excited about it.

My internet time is about out, but I'll do my best to write again soon!

Round 3

Round 3 is flying by.

I'm in Eudora, Arkansas working at two different schools and at the J. Austin White Cultural Center, which is an after school hang out of sorts.

I work in a classroom of 20 pre-schoolers in the morning, and oh boy, are they a handful.  In the afternoons I switch to a 1st grade room and some evenings I take my turn at the cultural center.

Overall things are going well, but I'm excited to get back to Oklahoma for fire season soon.

I'll sum up the past couple of weeks in pictures:

We went fishing.  I'm the only one that caught any keepers.  

This is the road I run on.  Pretty boring.  I can see our house pretty much the entirety of my run.

An old building across from the Center.

Arkansas does have some nice sunsets.  This is our backyard.

We had to drop one of our members off at the Little Rock airport.  That meant I got to see Leigh and she took me to Central High School in Little Rock.

I spend time in the tree in the backyard (see above picture) reading.  Oh, and check our my new shoes, I love them!

Time for an Update

Yes, I admit it, I've been neglecting the blog.

We wrapped up in Missouri, I got a cold, we drove back to Denver, I've slept for the last week... and well, that pretty much brings us up to date, right?!  I guess I'll give a few more details :)

It seemed as though our two weeks in Missouri was the perfect amount of time for us to be there.  We arrived with the goal of doing initial disaster response; we wanted to get the immediate needs taken care of.  And as a team, with the community's support, we did just that.  Homes that were un-insured or under-insured had immediate needs taken care of (i.e. taps on roofs) and construction debris was moved to public dumpsters the county was funding.  The last few days there, we transitioned into a Long Term Recovery Committee (LTRC).  A few community members took over the disaster response effort and will work to get the people affected by the tornadoes back on their feet.  They will operate quite differently than we did with the initial response.  Instead of matching up volunteers with immediate homeowner projects on a day by day basis, the LTRC will will work with individual homeowners to get their needs taken care of.  The LTRC will work with large donations (Our VRC did not handle any money) to get homeowners necessary funding and materials to get them on their feet.  In a sense, the LTRC will act as case workers for each homeowner.  I know they will do a great job, too.

We left on Friday morning, and I woke up with a sore throat that progressed into a nice little cold by the time we arrived back in Denver after our two day trip.  Of course, we arrived back in Denver on St. Patrick's day, so I couldn't just go to bed and get a good nights sleep!  Laura, Melinda, and I got tickets to the Celtics/Nuggets game at the Pepsi Center and then we headed downtown for a green beer.

Melinda's a Celtics fan, so we cheered for them.  They lost.

Monday rolled around and we had our one day of paperwork to do.  Usually we have a whole 'transition week' with meetings and paperwork, but we were lucky and got it condensed down into one day.  We debriefed and presented our Oklahoma project to the staff and then did a question/answer about disaster.  Typically for debriefs we present with one other team to our unit leader and one other staff member.  Well, people were pretty interested in what we had to say as we had just about the entire staff there and a lot of the office Team Leaders.  Put a little bit of pressure on us, but we did just fine.

The rest of the week has been relaxing.  I'll sum it up in pictures:

We shaved Amanda's head!!  She raised money and shaved her head for the St. Baldrick's foundation which raises money for children with cancer.  It's a St. Patrick's day thing, so we did it right when we got back to Denver.  She looks good with a bald head!

Downtown Denver.  Got a new book at the bookstore with Laura and Max, then headed to the park on a nice day to read.

Happy hour!  2 for 1 glasses of wine, sign me up.

And this is what i've spent the majority of my time doing.  The weather has been beautiful, so I've spent some quality time on the hill behind campus reading and looking at the beautiful mountains.  Can't complain.

And that brings me to now.  Updating this blog with a tasty iced latte (thanks to the wonderful gift cards I received over Christmas, I'm still using them!).  

I head for the airport at 5:30 am tomorrow morning.  My first flight is to Dallas, and then I'm off to Jackson International where Jessie, my temporary TL for the round will pick me up and take me to Eudora, Arkansas to meet my new team. I'm a bit nervous, as I've never really talked to any of them, but I know it'll be just fine.   By the time I get there I'll really only have a month and a half on project.  I talked to Jessie the other day and she said I'm going to be in a pre-k classroom.  Quite the change from prescribed burning every day to spending it with little kiddos.  I'm not sure which will tire me out more, my bet is actually on the kids.  I haven't started packing yet, I'll get there eventually.

By this time tomorrow I will have been in 8 states in the past 5 months.  And will have lived in 4 of them.  I'm getting good at the packing game!

The long days feel like weeks, yet it seems as though we just arrived yesterday.

We just learned the ropes and tomorrow we're opening the VRC ourselves.

We're running on fumes, but the good work we're doing is getting us through.

It's outrageous to think we've already been here a week today.  Like I mentioned, it feels like I've been here for a only a day, yet as long as a month all at the same time.

I got out in the field leading volunteers again yesterday.  That was when it really hit that what we're doing here is really something.  I was assigned to a house with some volunteer teachers who had the day off school.  Up until this point I had only been moving construction debris to dumpsters, but today was a little different.  These teachers and I were helping this homeowner move what was part of their home into a dumpster.  Within the pile of construction debris were shoes, sweatshirts and Christmas ornaments.  We moved this persons life into a dumpster.  It was a feeling I've never felt before.  It really spotlighted that the tornado in Stone County changed lives.  We weren't just sawing up trees, we were throwing destroyed Christmas ornaments into a dumpster.

Two weeks ago this was someone's home.  Now it's in a dumpster.

Now, it's not all work for us.  We've found time for a little fun and time to unwind.  Last night we had free tickets to Dixie Stampede.  Seriously, look it up.  It was so much fun.  Mom- You would have liked all of the horses in the show.  Tomorrow we are in charge of the VRC from 9:30 to noon, and then we're getting the afternoon off!  I get to sleep in, and I have the afternoon off, woah.  Nick, my TL is coming over to our county to check out our housing, but other than that my only obligation is to relax.  Looking forward to it for sure.  We also have free tickets to an IMAX show, so maybe we'll check that out.

Life is good.  Crazy, but I guess I wouldn't have it any other way right now. I'm missing familiar faces, but I'll see them soon enough.  I'm tired, but I'm loving what I'm doing.   

Disaster Update

I don't know how to start describing what life has been life for the past six days.  Adjectives that come to mind include: swamped, immersed, exhausted, and fulfilled.  Among many others, of course.

We arrived in Branson on Saturday.  We headed straight to the Volunteer Reception Center the AmeriCorps St. Louis team has set up and was operating out of.  We were briefed on what was going and how we were going to be used.  They decided to split us up with half in Taney County and half in Stone County.  

I am on a team in Stone County working with 3 of the AmeriCorps St. Louis members running the Volunteer Reception Center (VRC) there.  Nick, my Team Leader has designated me as an Assistant Team Leader (ATL) along with one of our team's two ATL's, Alex.  He and I are the leaders of our group of 5.  

Our first two days we worked 7 am to 7 pm with briefs and debriefs before and after work.  We also had a half hour commute back to our housing in Branson.  Long days with little sleep.  Monday we switched hours to 8 am to 5 pm and my team of 5 moved into a church here in Kimberling City, MO so our 16 hour days have turned into 10 hour days, something I am thankful for.

Our jobs at the VRC include Volunteer Intake, Project Coordinating, and being Field Leaders.  I've been able to try my hand at all 3 and find them all enjoyable.  

Volunteer Intake includes greeting volunteers who come in and getting them set up with intake paperwork.  Also getting them name tags and wrist bands.  All of the damaged areas are blocked off and people can only get into them by going through a National Guard checkpoint.  This is to prevent looting.  Volunteers can get in with a wrist band.

Project Coordinating includes getting volunteers set up with work sites to go to, contacting homeowners to find out what work needs to be done, and making sure they have the resources they need.  We also prioritize what houses we work on based on insurance coverage (we work on uninsured or underinsured homes) and demographics.  We place a high priority on the elderly, single parents, and the disabled.

Field team leaders are out in the field making sure volunteers have work to do, are being safe, communicating with homeowners, and are getting things done.

I have mostly been in the office, but have gotten out in the field a little bit too.  The volunteers we have coming in are great and are a lot of fun to work with.  The day I was out in the field leading, when I got back to the VRC the Intake Coordinator said some of the people I had worked with that day had come back in and commented on how great I had done as a leader.  Made me feel good.  :)

Like I said, we've moved into a church here.  The Kimberling City Methodist Church is taking VERY good care of us.  We've got cots set up in the basement classrooms of the church with plenty of room.  We have a man named Richard who comes in each morning and has a hot breakfast ready for us at 6:45 am.  So far breakfasts have included pancakes, biscuits and gravy, and a ham and potato bake.  I'm excited to see what tomorrow morning will bring.  When we get back around 6:30 pm at night someone has already heated up one of the many casseroles that have been brought to us in the refrigerator.  We also have a table full of baked goods.  I never thought I would gain 10 pounds doing disaster relief.

Right now we have March 15th set as our last day of work here.  We are planning on traveling back to denver on the 16th and 17th.  Having Sunday the 18th off.  Debriefing and office work on the 19th and then off work until the 26th when we will be heading out to our 3rd round projects.  I am scheduled to go to the Cultural Center in Eudora.  

Our VRC is in an old, empty grocery store.

Amanda at the project list.  We have the board practically memorized.

People have been great about donating lunch for our volunteers.

We had a baseball team bring in a pallet of water for our volunteers!

It's crazy, but disaster really has brought out the best in people.  We're really feeling the love of the community.  They are so grateful we're here and thankful their neighbors are willing to help out with clean up and recovery.  In the six days we've been here, we've become a part of Kimberling City, MO.