Been there ____ , unfortunately it is getting easier all the time, what kind of headache elixir are they brewing these days, sheesh.

 

No umbrellas for me! No matter what I'm drinkning, it's always straight up! You don't get full that way!!!! I only disguise the bottle because I work at the high school and the kids 'idolize' me! Can't let them know I'm human! Good grief, where would we be then?!!?!!? Ha! Ha!

 

The group I'm getting on with is a private-contractor crew for wildland firefighting....they only have one other facility outside of their main one in Sisters, which is in Trout Lake (14 miles from my house), but they don't have their training facility built there, so I have to drive aaaalllllll the way there for a day....oh well, the money that comes in should be worth it.

and about dangerous, I'm fine with that as long as I don't get in a situation where I have to get in my aluminum foil tent and become a human hot dog

 

I don't know about for just headaches, but when you're really bad and you have that sick-all-day hangover, two advil and a dramamine are the best things that I've found to get rid of it

 

I'm guessing this means you found the party last night after all!?!?

 

See?!?!?! I warned you guys about making her head bigger, but nnooooooo, nobody listens to the white guy...

 

uh....yeah.....it was a lot closer than I thought it was to the school too, so didnt have to walk over far, and stumble back far

 

You better NOT become a human hot-dog! I don't like hot-dogs!

 

Well, gotta go for now. Gotta get to the school for graduation! We have 1, yes one, senior this year! Whoo Hoo! I guess he's top AND bottom of his class! Ha! Ha! See you guys later tonight! Muwah!

 

Red Beer or Bloody Mary's...Remember about the hair of the dog that bit ya?...LOL

 

yeah.....you can drink a hangover away, but you cannot, i repeat CANNOT drink yourself sober.....as many times as I've tried, it just doesnt happen

 

ps: I'll remember that HO 'cure'; also having a breakfast drink cures it. ...er...

Oh, thought it was a state volunteer firecrew, or maybe there's no difference. Are many/most of the firefighters responding to forest fires now professional private-contractors? Or state hired, or an even mix of everyone?
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Bye Liz...1 grad...hope somebody will party with him :wink:
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Bloody Mary's Breakfast of ____ uh-huh.

I'll have a gallon for the g2g, already got the V8 mixer.

 

I was state last year, but not volunteer. Most forest and wildland fire responders are local volunteers when the fire is first reported. They are the first responders, then if they don't feel like they can handle it, they let us state guys know, to tell us if we need to turn back or not.

On project/complex fires (Tripod complex, Columbia Complex, Mt. Hood, Foster Gulch....etc...etc..) it is a mix of state, federal, and private, depending on resources and how big the fire is.....

When I was on the Columbia Complex fire in Dayton, it was what we called a "red camp" which was all state engines and crews, because our vehicles are "fire engine red'....It was nice, there were not many problems, politics were at a minimum, everything went smoothly. It was like that for the first week, then it started becoming a "green camp" which is mostly federal guys, mostly USFS. Thats when the politics come into everything, things get mixed up, left doesnt know what the right is doing...etc. After they take over, state guys usually get thrown out.

Wow, that really didnt need to go that extent, oh well.

To answer your question:

Little Fires (less than 50 acres):State guys and volunteers mixed
Big Fires (more than 50, usually in the thousands):State (if they're lucky), Federal, and Private-Contractor

 

Thanks for that breakdown of the forces battling forest fires; it must be getting harder to fight fires what with the growing towns and new homes encroaching further and further into the woods. And the coordination between local, state, private and federal groups is probably a bad dream (as you subtly pointed out lol) with competing bosses in the middle of a hot fire devouring thousands of acres.

It sounds like you've been in the business for a while. Is the training pretty constant, and effectively given?

I'll hope for the coming summers to have an occasional rain to dampen the woods, and low winds when a fire does get started.

Pictures!

 

lol, no, only been fighting for one season, but when the policitcs are every day, you catch on pretty quick.....training is good, at least the state training was good....Guard School (ICS 140 &190 I think) is weeklong, and its what you take when you start fighting fire, then you take the "refresher" course annually to make sure you remember everything and know how to get in your fire shelter.

heres a picture I took at the Columbia Complex, at about 9:30 at night, working on a 30-hour shift.....that was a looooong day, but damn it was fun