Px to Burn

 27 Apr 2009 12:40:28 am

The week in review……..We have now been schooled in the science/art of prescribed burning. Prescribed burning is purposefully setting fire to an area in order to manipulate the local flora into a desirable set of species, or just burn it all and start again. Mostly used here in Minnesota for prairie and savanna restoration. It kind of seems to me like mowing the grass with fire, so you can zap the roots too. It can be a tricky business though. Obviously if you play with fire you can get burnt. It is risky risk management at it best. One of those things that you would think there would be more training to before you start burning, but we just kind of got thrown into it. You pay attention to the people with experience and try and stay in the safety zones that are designated before we start.
Before we could start burning we had to clean up one of our burn units (area designated for a burn). Which involved cutting out 6” – 12” diameter at breast height (dbh) trees, that were not oak. So the ashes and basswoods were the designated targets. Once they are felled we drug them out of the woods with our utility atv’s. Which are Polaris rangers, an off road golf cart, more or less, with 6 wheel drive capabilities.

I felt like a logger. We had designated “skid trails.” Pulling the trees out of the woods was really fun, we then took them down the hill and put it into a big pile, in order to reduce the amount of burnable fuel in the burn unit.



The other Bemidji Crew worked on this sight the week before we got there doing the same type of thing, so the tree removal task was made easier thanks to them. We also were working with SRS which is a bunch of inmates on a work release kind of program. They were for the most part good help, and funny dudes. I’m sure they were just happy to be outside. A retired sheriff was in charge of them, and he and I ended up butting heads and getting into an argument….Some people, I tell you what. He threw a hissy because my guys were the chainsaw guys, and he didn’t like the way in which we were felling the trees. He was an experienced sawyer who is certified to train chainsaw use to people, but I wasn’t about to give my guys a new way of cutting trees down. It just didn’t seem safe at the time, and so I told him thanks, but no thanks. I think he was insulted because he felt he was going out of his way to show us a neat trick. I tried to be courteous and explain to him that we had to stick to the way we were trained, but I got the freakin “you know it all” comment and he drove away on his tractor. Oh I could have snapped right there, but I restrained, just figured somebody peed in his coffee that morning or something. Then he went and told all of the convicts, so I had to make sure I wasn’t going to get a prison shank shoved in my back the rest of the week Of coarse our boss had to find out, and as much as she told me I did the right thing, I still think that I looked like the bad guy to her. Especially since she had worked with the guy many times, and me only once, oh well, she’ll learn.
Ok onto the fires. It’s all about the weather. A consistent light wind is desired, with no rain. You also need some sort of an anchor point or break in order to separate what you want to burn with what needs burned. Something like a road or a lake is the best hard break you can have. Some of our burns did allow for this, but a lot of times we were using horse trails that had been mowed down in order to stop the flame from jumping out of the burn line. You start on the down wind most side of the burn unit, and burn out a corner, which is you anchor point. And you spread out from there. One crew takes one flank and the other crew takes the other. An engine leads the way laying a wet line, and the ignitor follow up lighting a line just inside of the wet grass. Then a follow up truck stays back and keeps an eye out for fires that aren’t doing what they are suppose to do. You try to keep pace with the crew working the other flank until you come to the end, when you are lighting on the complete upwind side of the burn unit. This is a scramble, to get it lit and get out of its way. You are essentially starting what is called a running head fire. Which is scary stuff, you get some of the highest flames, and fasting moving fire. You can here the flames coming from the other flank, and it sounds like 14 or 15 horses running at you. The adrenaline gets going needless to say.
Ok enough with the boring descriptions, here’s the pictures.



Mark, starting our line....



Building up the corner, one crew goes left the other goes right, the more black, the more safe zone there is.



Mark, admiring his work...



Mark and Peter trying to look like men



Me and my drip torch (blue helmet) Peter laying a wet line (Yellow helmet) and Chris our burn boss (green helmet)



Close up of Peter and myself...



Me checking the progress of the line that was being burnt out on the distant tree line, don't want to get to far ahead of them...



Fire 'a' burning, the two lines coming together



Peter torching away



I think this is Joe, but check out those heat waves, I think this is a really cool picture...looks impressionistic? van Gogh eat your heart out

This weekend I got paid, so naturally I had to go out and blow some of my hard earned coin. So I made my annual trip to the mall and spent some money. I also went out and played some tennis yesterday. It was fun, really a nice day up here. Going out today to scout out some area lakes so I know where to go when the fishing opener gets here.

(Just got back from the scouting adventure, and I simply can't wait to get out on some of these little lakes, it will be perfect in my little boat.)

My crew goes back to burning this week, if the weather holds we could be back to the same place, or somewhere else in the state. Since my crew has the contracts to do these burns, and the other Bemidji crew does not we are required to switch out a crew member every week, so this week we will have a 'new' crew member in our group. Should be interesting to see how we do, no worries.

Though I do not know where I will be going I know that at the end of the day I will be tired and dirty and loving every minute.
Have a good week, and take care guys!!!

Posted By : paul | Category: General | Comments [[5]] | Trackbacks [0]

  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

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

  Easter Sunday

 13 Apr 2009 02:22:43 am

Happy and Holy Easter to everyone!!! I am tired...spent my Easter weekend fighting fire, leaving town again tomorrow to go back to the flooding for the second crest of the Red River. No rest for the weary Trying to look on the bright side, at least I get to sleep in my own bed tonight

Have a great week everyone! Wish I could have made it home for Easter, but duty calls...and overtime pays


p.s. will post a new post when I get back in a week.......stay tuned

Posted By : paul | Category: General | Comments [[6]] | Trackbacks [1]

  Weekend is ending NOOOOOooooooooooo

 06 Apr 2009 01:20:13 am

Oh where to begin, let us start here in Bemidji, Mn. In my apartment…
On my kitchen table, sat the guts of one of my fishing reels. My Shimano Curado, one of my favies, that I broke at the end of last season My mission for the weekend was to revive my olive green flipping machine into the fish catching platform that it once was. This is what an exploded reel looks like, while it takes up space on your kitchen table.

I had acquired from my tackle supply contact, who I might add is on call 24/7 which is nice, an old Shimano with the part I needed deep within its inner workings. I know what you are thinking; this is not something that should be tackled by any “Joe Shmow” amateur. And I agree, please keep in mind that this is something that should be left up to industry certified specialists. If it is something you want to try, please buckle your safety belt, and keep a first aid kit handy.
The reassembly went rather smoothly taking approximately 15 minutes, 4 screw drivers, some grease, 1 cigarette, 13.3 cuss words, and one after picture provided by my digital camera.



So the big gun in my arsenal is back up and functioning. As the time draws near for the spring thaw, it waits
until the day in which it will be summoned to pluck those scaly green beasts from their shaded haunts.

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Last night I did something a bit out of the ordinary…I picked up a hitchhiker. This is not something I have ever done before, but I was feeling like helping someone out. Felt like it might be a little adventure. I dropped my friend off at his house after the basketball games got done, and proceeded to hit the highway back to my place. Standing under an overpass was a young man who was looking for a ride. As I drove by I hesitated for a second, and then said to myself “what the hell.”
He was looking to get a ride about 20 minutes east of here. I said no problem, and we were off. He was a Native American 17 year old kid who seemed to have a decent head on his shoulders. Said he was surprised someone stopped, and seemed almost confused by my act of kindness. Sparing all of the details of our conversation, he liked to fish, has a baby on the way, and regretted quitting his old job before he had gotten hired on somewhere else. His dream was to join the Air Force once his baby is born. Reflecting on this conversation is somewhat strange. I am sure that I will never speak to this kid again, but I am also sure that I made an impression on him and he on me. Strange, to think about how many conversations I have been in that meant nothing and where simply filling “dead air.” But when the conversation is exchanged between two complete strangers who will stay strangers you can receive so much information, and want to receive more…
I am not saying that everyone should pick up every hitch hiker they see, it is just something that I can now cross off my bucket list.

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“Well beat the drum, and hold the phone the sun came out today.” Yeah that’s right ballparks all around our great country are coming to life. Ahhh opening day, the freshness of a new season. Though Mother Nature has postponed the Chi sox’s opening day game…the boys of summer have returned. These finger tips can do it no more justice than this. Baseball is back, and life is good.

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So, this week for work we will be back up in north western Minnesota, where we were supposed to be last week. We will be chain sawing, and doing some construction type stuff. It should be a nice little get away, and oh yeah our job host will be cooking for us too, which will be nice. We will be out of town until Wednesday night.


So have a good week all….Go Cubs…..Go Mi. State…….Go 24!!!!!!!!!! and oh yeah the Bemidji State Beavers (BSU) have made it to the frozen four...This is the final four of college hockey. They are a cinderalla story, so Go Beavers too!!!

Posted By : paul | Category: General | Comments [[5]] | Trackbacks [0]

  "All of the fountains of the abyss burst forth"

 05 Apr 2009 03:36:41 am

Finally, after two weeks of being on call our assistance was needed to help out with the flooding of the Red River. This River represents the western border of Minnesota, and the Eastern Border of North Dakota. It flows from the south to the north into Canada. This is where the problem lies. When the southern reaches of the river thaw out, and sends all of the melted snow/rain northward to portions of the river where the flowage is still mostly frozen you get a flood.

The last one up here took place in 1997, so the local emergency management people have had some experience in dealing with the high waters. The situation up here was a worst case scenario and the hydrological equation looks something like this... Big melting period with warm weather + Cold snap/winter storm + Warming trend + rain on snow = Flood.

The River isn't really all that large, smaller than the Wabash, but the geology up here is a little different from back home. Back in L town the Wabash has to its right or left a pretty definite river valley that keeps the high waters at bay for the most part. It is wider in some areas than others, but you can see a definite change in topography as you approach from either side. In Fargo the river valley is not present. You have the river and then land relatively on the same level. I believe it is called an alluvial plane.
So no natural barriers exist to stop the flow of water. The more water there is, the farther it spreads away from the river. The river had already crested once, I believe that it was the second highest level ever recorded. If you look at this picture you can see where the ice on the trees formed with the high water mark.

Our assignment was to man pumping stations located within a residential area on the north side of Moorhead, Minnesota. These pumps keep the storm water sewers from overflowing, and keeps homes sewers from backing up. The pumps looked like this…

They are loud diesel engines that move some serious water. The pumps all ran fairly well, and only needed checking once an hour or so. As you can imagine there was a lot of time spent sitting in the truck.

We had two crews, a day crew and a night crew. I was on the day crew, and in charge of pumps 26, 25, and 28. The picture earlier was of pump 24. From pump 24 to 25 was under water.

The sheer number of sand bags that were put up in this area is mind boggling. Every house save two or three was defended by a perimeter of sandbags standing three feet high or so. Crazy to think of how much man power that took. And they were all volunteers!!! One of the head engineers that helped us out looked like he hadn’t slept in two weeks, which he probably hadn’t. He was at the end of his rope, but he still took the time to thank us for our work, saying that our new energy refueled every one else’s tank. Just in that day he had gotten a pay-loader stuck, dumped ten gallons of diesel into its hydraulic fill reservoir, and had a pump regurgitate poop water all over him…But he laughed it off and moved onto the next thing. That was pretty inspiring to me.
Another inspiring event was from an elderly lady who had to take an airboat to her house to survey the damage. She came back from her boat ride cradling her lap dog in her arms with the biggest smile on her face. “The second floor is dry!!!” She said, this smile reminded me of how I would smile if the cubs had just one the World Series. I was sure she was so happy because her house had been completely spared, but just the fact that her second floor was dry made her jump for joy. Talk about being able to make lemonade out of lemons. She also was quick to thank all of us.
Here are just some pictures of the high water somewhere behind this water, was this lady’s house…Between pump 24, and in front of pump 25 on the map.


The road on the map that says whirl pools with circular squiggles was because the force of the water trying to flow through the culverts had actually formed three whirl pools side by side…If you fell into one of these you weren’t coming up. They were about 4 feet in diameter.

It was really sketchy to drive on this road, and we tried to avoid it if at all possible.
These home owners were not as lucky. There house, although sand bagged, didn’t last the flood. Something sparked and it burned to the ground. If you look closely you can make out a chimney and some appliances that was all that was left.

Finally, here are some pictures of the Red as you cross from Moorhead to Fargo.



These people are not out of the water yet so to speak. After this week’s blizzard, the river is supposed to crest again in a week and a half. So we may be going back. In the time we were there the water levels had receded about 2 feet. So it’s dropping, but perhaps not for long. The residents of the area will be working on clean up for a long long time. We can only hope that Mother Nature cooperates.

Posted By : paul | Category: General | Comments [[3]] | Trackbacks [0]