Hey Yall, Been Awhile

 20 Apr 2009 03:10:10 am

We've been run around this great state the past week or so. From Cambridge, back to Moorehead...on over to Park Rapids...There's been a lot of windshield time. Things are going well with the crew; everyone is getting along fine, which is good because we have a lot of QT with each other. And weekends are usually spent with each other too, because we have little time to make friends outside of our crews, especially since our bed times are early because we've been worked pretty hard. No biggy though, everyone is cool... and I'm getting to know everyone well, and them me.

So let’s see where to start. How about my first wildfire. No pictures, bummer I know, but it was pretty much done burning when we got there. Just picture me in green pants, a yellow shirt, hard hat, with an axe in hand…Dreamy I know
My crew drew the first on call weekend, that just happened to be Easter weekend. I forget about how big of a state Minnesota is, down near the twin cities the ice is melted and spring is starting to grab a hold of the land. All of the snow is gone which means dry conditions prime for wild fire. We got told that we were to report to Cambridge MN which is about 1/2 hour north of the twin cities, and 4 hours from Bemidji. We were supposed to be there at 11am which meant an early morning. We had just received our fire order, all of our line gear and nomex (fire proof duds) and had to throw all of that together at 6 in the morning which was fun. Needless to say when we arrived and were still assembling our line gear we looked like a bunch of “rooks.” Which was a little frustrating because it was so obvious. The guys were all cool though, and we eventually got it figured out as we were arriving to our briefing point in the field a.k.a. the incident command post (ICS).
The week before our truck (’08 F350) was equipped with a slip on. Which is a type of fire engine. 200 feet of 1&1/2” hose on a real, and a 200 gallon tank of H2O. Technically classified as a type 6 engine, which I didn’t know until we were standing amongst the veteran fire fighters and I told them we had a 1 ton truck with water on it Jeez felt like an idiot there haha.
The day we were equipped with the engine we met as a district with all of the northwest MCC'ers for training and a friendly competition. We lined up a road and had several fires (buckets that needed filled) out in the woods. It was a test of efficiency, teamwork, and communication. Needless to say I had a little grin on my face when I heard it was a competition…Which may be good or bad, I wanted to freaking win! Jeez am I competitive, I am noticing this more and more, sometimes I think it might get in my way more than it makes me better. As soon as I figured out it was a contest I went into win at all costs mode. Gathered my crew and began assigning tasks, asking the guys opinions, developing hand signals and processes for getting the buckets filled. We kicked everyone’s butt, bad too. So bad one of the field assistants threw in an extra bucket to try to slow us down…I think it pissed some of the other crews off, but it was a success in my eyes
Ok, back to Cambridge…There was one other crew from the MCC that got asked to come to the fire, luckily they were experienced and took my crew under their wing until we could hold our own. We didn’t have freaking radios so I couldn’t be a crew leader, which kind of made me mad, I want as much leadership experience as I can get while I’m up here. For some reasons we had not gotten a radio with our fire order @#$%^&*. But for our first fire it was better we got paired up with the other MCC crew.
Our main responsibilities were checking for hotspots, by using sight (smoke), touch (gee I think that feels ho….Ouch), and smell (smells like the forest is on fire), and extinguishing them as we went along. We were in charge of about 80 acres of a 120 acre mile long fire that had started from a bon fire that someone left alone….only you can prevent forest fires. By the end of the 12 hour day we were hot tired and dirty….ah life is good. My legs from my knees to my ankles were black, when I blew my nose it looked like, well it wasn’t pretty, and I think that I still have a little bit of dirt under my finger nails from the fire.
The cast of characters that fight these wild fires is great. Guys that look like they’ve seen every kind of tuff situation life can throw at you, and lived to tell about it. The incident commander for the fire looked like the kind of guy that wouldn’t take any sh^& from anyone, but he was still very helpful showing us how to draft (fill our tank from a portable pump set up in a pond) and making sure we were taken care of.
The toys that we use when fighting a fire are also saweet. I was using a Pulaski…which is more or less a souped up axe. What a stress reliever, beating the livin crap out of a piece of wood, something about it I don’t know. Shovels, chainsaws (for those who are certified as class b fallers), J5’s which are essentially bulldozers and could pull the bottom out of a well, and our trucks. I now know why they give us a 1 ton truck, a 400lb fire engine plus 200 gallons of water at 8lbs a gallon and the fields we were driving in were by no means smooth or mud free. I wouldn’t recommend buying a used truck from the DNR at any time; these trucks are worked and worked hard.
We stayed in hotel, even had an Easter basket waiting for us on Easter Sunday. We also had an account at Perkins, so we were well fed. Everyone that we met told us they were sorry that were sorry we had to work on Easter Sunday. I am actually kind of glad, got my mind off of playing poker with the fam, or bs’n with dad and Dan, or even more bs’n about the big fish that I had on it kept me busy. The drive home was tough because every house we passed with 15 cars in the driveway reminded me what I was missing. Kept my held high though, like I do. It was a good crew bonding experience…I can see my influences running through the crew already, and there’s in me…which is a sign that we are becoming a team…which is what I want. We all laughed at how we got so frustrated because we knew jack about our gear at the beginning of the weekend. I have also noticed in the crew that we laugh hard at each other’s jokes. One person starts rolling with laughter, and then someone else starts spitting food out there mouth and before you know it the truck is rocking because we are all laughing so hard. Everyone in my crew, me included has a very unique and strong personality, but we also have open minds. We aren’t afraid to express ourselves, and catch flaque about it. We all have open minds, and are ready to learn. I am surprised with how different we all our how well we can work together, and be in close quarters with each other for so long. Must be doing something right.
On the way home were noticed a fire chief tearing down the highway on his way to a wild fire. We were intersected by three other bigger engines that had been called, out. They gave us a wave as they went by, that gave me some piece of mind. It made me feel like we had become members of a crowd within the crowd. It was a good feeling.
So with no time off we back to the shop to go down to Huntersville wildlife area which is down in Park Rapids, about an hour and twenty minute south of The Midge (Bemidji). We were working with GPS and clearing out a series of horse trails…We were a little less productive than normal because of the hard weekend, and the knowledge that we were reporting back to Fargo/Moorehead floods the next day. So we did some pruning and some sawing and we came back home. We did get to work with the Park Rapids MCC crew which is part of the Northwest district, which was nice. I think it gave my guys a little away time from each other which is good. And we got to do some serious mudding on the forest roads which was sweet. Already we have been in several situations where if the trucks didn’t perform we would have been s.o.l. So I can now justify getting a 4x4, just in case. Cause when just in case comes I’ll be ready. Driving off road takes a lot more skill then you think too. Knowing how much speed to carry into a rutted out mud ridden trail is important. And those big trucks will throw you around if you don’t have a firm grip on the wheel. Especially when the locker kicks in on the 4x4.
So after our trail clearing fun, we headed back up with just enough time to unpack and repack to go back to Fargo. Since the water was down and coming back up we got to see everything that was flooded, and look at how different everything looked when it was high and dry. We only spent one night in Fargo before the crest predictions showed that the second crest would not be high enough to justify having us there. It was a letdown, but it was nice to know that our crew specifically was requested because of the good job we did last time. Those are the kinds of compliments that I like the most. Hard work shows!!! Sometimes anyways
One side story to the floods, school was back in session this time. We were staying on the MSU campus in the dorms again, so we were intermixed with all of the college students. I could tell that I hadn’t been around that many girls in a while lol. My dear lord, I got whiplash a few times hahaha….That’s terrible I know, but they were staring at us so I figured it was common courtesy to stare back. I noticed it in my guys too, they’d get quiet and I’d see someone give someone an elbow and a head nod in a certain direction lololol. Got to talk to only one of the girls, but it was enough to tide me over for a while I guess I think it impressed some of guys they were a little more intimidated then they cared to admit I think. So back to Bemidji we went, glad and sad to get away from more women then we’d seen in a month of Sundays.
We finished out the week back down at Huntersville with the Brainerd crew. Their crew leader and I are becoming good friends. So it was nice to get a chance to work with his crew and see what kind of dynamic his crew had. I got to run a brush saw for the first time. This tool is a weed eater on steroids. Instead of string it has a saw blade. We blazed a new horse trail, and I got to cut through some pretty big aspen saplings with the brush saw. The technique isn’t to slowly saw through like with a chainsaw, you actually have to whack the sapling with the saw. It was a neat tool, going to be using it a lot I’m sure.

…….pausing for a smoke break…

So the work week ended, and a nice weather weekend began. 3 of my crew members and one of the girls on the other Bemidji crew all live together….we jokingly call it the real world house….they invited me over for a cookout on Friday. It was a good time. We ate some pig, and threw the pigskin around a little bit. Last night we went down to Walker to the casino…which was also fun. I was up as much as $40 at the black jack table, but that lasted for about 2.3 seconds. Played the penny slots, which was entertaining, and they had a Johnny Cash cover band there which was nice. Needless to say I came back poorer than I left, but I think I’m going to go back when they are less busy and sit in on a poker game or two.
Today I woke up to The Rookie on TV. Which immediately put me in the mood to throw a baseball around. So I talked one of my crew members into buying a mitt. We played catch for a good hour or two. Though it wasn’t the same as playing with someone who has been playing for a while it served its purpose I think. It lacked the finesse, the commenting on each curve ball that fell off the table, or my wicked knuckle ball that looks like a bouncy ball in a small hallway. Usually the curves that were thrown went uncaught, and the knuckle balls skipped off some part of my partner’s mitt…It was worth a laugh or two. But my arm has that good sore feeling. I was a little disappointed to see that the Cubs got rained out tonight, was hoping to catch the game, but oh well. “It’s a simple game you throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes it rains”(Bull Durham).
So the weekend is closing out, and I am now an hour and a half into typing this post. I need to pack. This week we go down to glacial lakes state park which is 3 hours in some direction away from Bemidji. Prescribed burning is the job this week. Purposefully setting fire to an area to encourage early successional species to grow, and get rid of invasive species. It’s a new experience, and I’m sure by the end of the week I’ll have 14 more pages to type about.
That being said, if I skip around too much or leave anything out…and don’t catch a mistake when I proof read let me, know. Ask me questions if it doesn’t make sense or I need to go into more detail on something. I shoot from the hip on all of these posts, so if I don’t explain something well enough I need to know, because chances are it didn’t make sense to someone else too and I want you guys to know about all of the stuff that I’m doing if nothing else it makes me feel a little closer to home
Have a good rest of your night, a better tomorrow, and when you leave, leave that door open….God bless
p.s. My wildfire was called The Oxford Fire, and I got burnt once on my hand…I hope it scars a souvenir, and chicks dig scars

Category : General | Posted By : paul | Comments [9] | Trackbacks [0]