The Pleasures and Perils of Life as a Hotshot-2005: Part 1

[shera]

Kickass. The commentary is as good as the pics, BTW. You should get published.

[pube-in-my-taco]

Wow, I never realized how far you guys travel for these fires.
Impressive all-around. Thanks!

[mr_gyptian]

Part I= First Blood?

see you in Summit county in August. if these beetle kill pines don't lite up I'll be extremely surprised.

[Buzzworthy]

That was absolutely captivating, read it start to finish. Fire is an interesting beast to me and wow, what a job you did documenting your work.

Liz, you are also an amazing photog. I would love to have a book of your pictures like this on my coffee table. Winter project in between pow days?


Stay safe and please do continue these TR's. One we know you are safe and two, we get to read one hell of a story.


You have a very hard job, but the rewards are evident here.

Can't wait for part 2!

[SherpaStyle]

Thanks for all the positive remarks! I got appointed to write the crew journal this year, which I wasn't too enthused about, but I figure I can just take my TRs from here and modify them a bit and that'll work. I don't know if I'm going to do the calendars again this year. It was sort of a lot of leg work on my end from which I didn't profit because it was a crew calendar. If I could find a cheap high quality printing place and a good market to sell them to, I'd make them again. I'll probably try to do something with the pictures on my own this winter. I like the coffee table book idea, Buzz! I'll keep it in mind.

Sprite- I went into fire right out of high school. I wanted to take some time off before I went to college, so I followed in my brother's footsteps and moved to MT to fight fire on a district crew outside of Missoula. You get kinda sucked into a void, which makes it hard to leave. Especially when you make decent money and only work 6 months a year.

[natty dread]

Good stuff L, be safe out there. U should come visit if you get some time off. Awesome frickin pics.

[freshie247]

Nice Report,but I don't see any pics,just a box with an X in it where they should be.

[ill-advised strategy]

You get kinda sucked into a void, which makes it hard to leave. Especially when you make decent money and only work 6 months a year.

One of the most fun things about it is the small world. There aren't that many people who are full time wildland firefighters, and you run into them over and over again at just the right intervals, and the longer you stay in it the more the web grows. It makes it hard to leave.

[MOHSHSIHd]

shit...what happened to the pics?

[MrPowder]

What crew you with?

I was on IA for the goodsprings fire (layed down real nice like the first night would have had most of it if the BLM didnt have things like resourse advisors)
then got sent to the Kiln after the type 1 came in.

afterwards I was sent to the duzak as a line EMT where I f*#ked my ankle in 20 minautes and went home where I've been out of commission ever since.

you following me?

MrPowder

PRAY FOR SNOW

sweet pictures BTW didnt get many myself

They send you to Mt Charleston on severity this summer ask a local for luke and we'll come BBQ or something (that goes for anyone)

[slippy]

A few days ago I hiked Bloody Dick Peak and afterwards I drove through the firefighter's camp site for the Berry Meadows fire. It was like an army had moved in. Wondering if you were assigned to that one.

[SherpaStyle]

What crew you with?

Idaho Panhandle IHC

We just got back from AK. It kicked ass! I would write a TR, but I havent even begun to sort through my pics and we'll probably be leaving for another one tomorrow. Weekends are way too short during fire season...but I just paid my truck off, so I can't complain

[weibo]

I thought that I just saw Sherpa on a news clip on one of the Spokane stations workin the fire line. Just caught it quick maybe I'll look at 11 and see if it comes up again.

[MT]

I sifted through a few of my pics and found several worth posting.

[MT]

Here are some more along a little different set of lines.

Cash Guarding The Cache:


Living The Dream:


Finished Product:


A Work In Progress:


The Ladies Getting All Cleaned Up For The Big Show:

[Richard_Vernon]

Hey next time can I have the drip torch.


Nice Pics.

[ill-advised strategy]

So, can I upload my own pics here?? I didn't think that was possible.

[ill-advised strategy]

chena IHC 1992

[Buzzworthy]

chena IHC 1992

So, are you the dirty guy in yellow?

[ill-advised strategy]

No, I just think it's a totally classic photo.

I was just a high school pup back then.

sheesh...look at those guys in the upper right...somthing funny goin' on up there..

[bagtagley]

That was awesome. More TR, more pics, more, more, more.

Stay safe out there. I'm definitely looking forward to the second half TR.

[grrrr]

What I did on my summer vacation...

is almost never as exciting to read as Sherpa's stories. I had hoped to get more pics but my camera crapped out. Here's one of the few of the pics I did get:



Highlights of my season so far:

12 hours of firing in a box canyon. First time I've ever thrown up a 10,000 foot column and nobody complained.

Scouting along the firefront and suddenly having a cougar start growling in the woods behind me. Can you say "shit a brick"? I knew you could.

Firing against a 25mph wind in some guys back yard while the head fire was running at us at 400 feet/minute.

After logging 329 hours in 22 days, I'm baked.

[SherpaStyle]

I thought that I just saw Sherpa on a news clip on one of the Spokane stations workin the fire line. Just caught it quick maybe I'll look at 11 and see if it comes up again.

I doubt it was me because we hadn't really gotten on any of the big fires in the area until last week. I guess it could've been old footage though. I usually try to run the other way when media shows up. They always aim for the minorities when they want an interview.

Part 2- The AK Edition should be up within the hour...

[SherpaStyle]

Highlights of my season so far:

12 hours of firing in a box canyon. First time I've ever thrown up a 10,000 foot column and nobody complained.

Scouting along the firefront and suddenly having a cougar start growling in the woods behind me. Can you say "shit a brick"? I knew you could.

Firing against a 25mph wind in some guys back yard while the head fire was running at us at 400 feet/minute.

After logging 329 hours in 22 days, I'm baked.

Sounds like you're having a pretty good season too. Which fire were you burning around homes on? We just got back from the Blackerby Fire outside of Grangeville. Urban-interface always throws a new spin on things. It's nerve-wracking lighting around a house that some idiot built with cedar siding half way up a 35 degree slope, knowing that if the fire jumps your line, the house doesn't stand much of a chance.


Part 2: Kings and Corn

[grrrr]

I had a couple of back-to-back type 3 fires, then went to Dirty Face and just got back from School. The Wall Lake fire near Davenport was the hairy show - took a 2,000 acre run in 2 hours right through a dozen ranches. We finally held it right in front of a massive barn and 400 bales of hay. It we'd lost it there, we were backing up 2 more miles.

School Fire was pretty cool also. Worked with Gila for a few days, them burning and us holding as we worked the fire around 20 homes. Then we got bumped down to Camp Wooten, an Environmental Learning Center that we were going to hold and let the fire bump past. Fire was raging, some 200 ch/hr runs in heavy timber. We steered it up the ridge so it would back down, then fired off the base of the side canyon before it had a chance to pooch out at us. Really cool spot, I'm going to have to get back there again after it recovers a bit.

Glad you got to see Alaska. Fighting fire there is always an adventure. I started out on the Kenai as an EFF.