2006 Fire Season Roll Call

[ill-advised strategy]

a few things:

1) I really don't want to work in dispatch anymore. Dispatch was all about being home with a family I don't have anymore. At the same time I have a problem with a knee and I can't hang with an aggressive PT program, so I need to find the right kind of arrangement. I can do a really good job running an engine, I can't get up every morning and do 6 mile indian runs with a crew. It makes it hard to look at random jobs with people I don't know because you never know what you're going to get. I can do really good work if I'm not having to run every day, or even if it's only 2 or 3 miles a day, but you can't count on that. If I ended up somewhere with some 22 year old PT nazi in charge I would be in trouble and doing more harm to myself than good.

2) I mostly wanted the OLF job to be working with someone who knows me and knows my background and understands my strengths and weaknesses...to go start over with some other fire program who doesn't know me, well, I'm just going to be some random crewmember without a lot of quals and not in very good shape. The engine job in WA was all about starting to build a program from the ground up, which is what my friend is starting into. He and I had done a lot of planning getting into this. Then they hire this girl.

3) If I get into a bind I'm sure I can find another job somewhere, it's just that with my house here it will be a sacrifice going anywhere but here. The tradeoff would be worth it with working with a good friend on the olympic peninsula, but to go work with some random people in some random place is a gamble I'd rather not take.

Not to argue because I really appreciate all the support. It's just that I'm physically past the stage of my career where I can just show up and kick ass with any fire program and I've learned enough with my seasons in the field combined with dispatch, which is a huge eye-opener to the program-management side of things, that if I end up working for a dumbass I'd go nuts.

It's all horseshit. I'm just going to end up eating bullshit in this fire center all summer again. Either way, trying to be a good person and do the right thing for family/girlfriend/gf's kids and take this job in spatch was one of the worst decisions I've ever made.

[MT]

There is a 5/6/7 PSE in prevention in CO on Avue right now......some engine jobs in WA, and even on is Island Park and another in JH. Be upfront with the guys there and explain your situation with the knee. There is a new physical program in place right now, and they will find out anyway.

As a side note, apparently Avue is out for bid right now, and will more than likely go offline at the end of the fiscal year (Sept. 30) and nobody is sure what will happen to all the info in your indivivdual profile. So, get those jobs now, as it might be interesting to pick something up this fall/winter.

[ak_telemike]

that's going to be a pain in the ass - I spent a lot of time getting my shit together on AVUE, and it seems to work well enough - facking govvinmint

[ill-advised strategy]

well....

apparently one more spot might be opening up at OLF. They think they want me for it but aren't sure if it's coming open or not.
It's a seasonal 1039, probably GS4. It's like I should be all stoked about a different job but I applied for lead engine operator, not engine crewmember. I was an engine crewmember in 1997. I kind of have a hard time stepping back in time 9 years.

this season has been such bullshit

Hoping you're all getting some work. I'm sure sherpastyle is committed somewhere.

[MrPowder]

well, down here in vegas we've been poping fires like crazy and with all the severity resources comming in, word on the street is that LVICC is looking to pick up a few detailers to work in dispatch on the same severity ticket. If your boss cant handle you , maybe see about a 14-28 day vacation in vegas. Hotel is paid for and per deim is $65 per day.

just a thought, MrPowder

PRAY FOR SNOW

[MT]

........

[snowave]

Socal (region 5) is heating up.. nothing huge, but tons of small stuff going.(although the fire near Big Bear last week got to about 350 acres) 11 starts along the I-5 corridor near the grapevine in the last 2 days. As I type we have about a 20 acre fire going 5 miles east of me on the Angeles.. vehicle over the cliff at 2 am and it exploded.

[MT]

well....

apparently one more spot might be opening up at OLF. They think they want me for it but aren't sure if it's coming open or not.
It's a seasonal 1039, probably GS4. It's like I should be all stoked about a different job but I applied for lead engine operator, not engine crewmember. I was an engine crewmember in 1997. I kind of have a hard time stepping back in time 9 years.

this season has been such bullshit

Hoping you're all getting some work. I'm sure sherpastyle is committed somewhere.

Are you actually serious about getting a job, or would you rather bitch about it on the Internet? Get on Avue and start applying for for everything on there. There are all kinds of 13/13 jobs in dispatch, engines, handcrews, prevention.....a couple are career ladder as well.

You're not the only person who has experienced a tough time getting where you want to be. I've worked in 4 different regions and been bent over and taken it every which way you can along the way. Almost everybody I know who works for the Dept. of Ag or the DOI has hit some large bumps along the way. Shit happens. You can't change the way the agency works though, so you have to either accept it and make the best of it, or leave. On a daily basis you will see people who have an appointment and simply don't contribute anything positive to the program. Others are still seasonals and honestly deserve something better. It certainely is not a perfect place to work, but at the end of the day if you can maintain a certain degree of seperation, and not get caught up in all the bullshit, it pays the bills and you get to be outside. More importantly though, it allows you to have some time off during the winter....

[snowave]

Here here.. I have been on for 4 years.. still trying to get permanent..(not unusual) but I'm not in fire, I'm in Recreation.. I have retained my level 2 fire status for the last 2 years, but only got called once last year to go due security in New Orleans. This year might be different as the Angeles (and other areas in region 5) as we have about 60% capacity due to extreme cuts this year to fire.

[ill-advised strategy]

I'll probably take the 1039 if it comes up. Still waiting to hear. I hate the idea of giving up a permanent just to get back into the field but that's the deal. The OLF engines got out on a few little local fires the other day and Houston says they had no idea what to do. There was an engine boss ordering 2 crews for a 1/4 acre fire with no potential.

As for applying to everything out there, I don't do that anymore because I'm not moving to Socorro NM or Florida or anywhere that I don't know the people or the place. Sorry, been around too long to consider going to work for a program I don't know. Too many fucktards out there. If you'd have read what I posted you'd have seen that.

If anybody knows an agency-employed ATGS that could take a 14 day to salt lake have them contact us. We're having a hard time finding one for severity, and our platform is just sitting here with nobody to staff it. Northern Utah is in the egb mob guide.

[ill-advised strategy]

we've had about 35 incidents this w/e.

I would be stoked if I was actually on one of them.

Getting busy around utarrr.

still think I might get the olympic deal done.

[ill-advised strategy]

had a fire today under the sunrise lift at solitude.

[P_McPoser]

Saw some guys in town with wasatch cache shirts on, any maggots out in this neck of the woods?

[ill-advised strategy]

that'll be E406 from Pleasant Grove on the Uinta.

Not sure if any of them are mags.

[FreakofSnow]

Game on in Montana. After 34 consecutive days at above normal temps, we are sitting in a tinderbox. This pic was taken about 1 hour after this fire started. I saw the small plume, right after it started and then it grew about 200 acres in 1 hour....strong winds. Its about 6 miles from my house. The flame front(s) are glowing tough tonight.



Further south in the Bitterroots (down by Victor), this little puppy is raging:


And finally a nice sunset shot from my frontyard:


I IA'd a nice little fire at 2 am the other night. Pumped out 800 feet of 1.5" up one steep mutha of a hill. They ended up catching it the next day.

If you are a crew, pack your bags cuz there's a good chance you will be heading this way soon.

[RootSkier]

That one up Woodchuck looked like it was on a serious tear last night. The one on Gash (by Victor) seems to be somewhat under control, though.

One thunderstorm and it will be seriously game on.

[FrankZappa]

OK, who's the hard-core that was up here skiin' these patches that hit some rocks causing sparks to light up these 27,500+ acres in Wy?
Attachment 14768

[Meadow Skipper]

Montana's Senator Burns is an asshole:
http://billingsgazette.net/articles/...l/45-burns.txt

Burns criticizes firefighters, says they didn't heed ranchers

By JENNIFER McKEE
Gazette State Bureau
HELENA - Republican Sen. Conrad Burns chastised a group of firefighters over the weekend for doing a "poor job" dousing a 92,000-acre blaze near Billings, a state report shows.

Burns and the firefighters - members of the Augusta Hot Shots from the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest in Virginia -were at Billings Logan International Airport awaiting flights, according to Burns and Forest Service representatives.

Burns approached the firefighters and told them they had "done a poor job" and "should have listened to the ranchers," according to a report prepared by Paula Rosenthal, a state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation employee who was sent to the airport to speak with the senator.

Rosenthal wrote in her report that she received word of an "altercation" between Burns and the Hot Shot crew. The crew had been in Montana working on the Bundy Railroad fire near Worden.
The 92,000-acre timber, grass and sagebrush fire was contained on July 19, and the 368 people who came to fight it began dispersing a few days later.

Burns had been in Billings to commemorate the new interpretive center at Pompeys Pillar, the sandstone bluff near the Yellowstone River where explorer William Clark scratched his signature while on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Burns had also met with local ranchers affected by the blaze.

Matt Mackowiak, a Burns spokesman, said he didn't think Burns met with any of the fire bosses handling the fire.

By the time Rosenthal reached the airport, the interaction had ended. Burns told her he was concerned that fires are run out of the National Interagency Fire Center, in Boise, Idaho, which he called "ridiculous."

"The government needs to listen to these ranchers," the report quotes Burns as saying.


Mary Sexton, director of the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, said in an interview that the National Interagency Fire Center does not run individual fires but is the national hub for fire information and available resources. Beneath the Boise center are several regional dispatch centers, including one for the northern Rocky Mountain area in Missoula. Individual fires are managed by the fire bosses on the ground, Sexton said.

Burns also said he was concerned that fire bosses don't let ranchers fight fire on their own land. Rosenthal wrote in her report that she told the senator that "private citizens were integral to our success, as were (volunteer fire departments), county governments" and others.

Sexton said fire teams - the groups of national and local fire experts who come to manage and fight large fires - cannot tell private landowners what to do. They cannot force them to evacuate or prevent them from fighting fire on their own land. However, Sexton said fire bosses prefer to know where all people working on a fire are - including landowners - and may ask landowners not to help in the interest of safety.

Burns also said he had heard from one rancher that fire crews on the Bundy Railroad fire put a strip of fire retardant on the edge of Bureau of Land Management federal land, implying the fire crews were more interested in protecting public land than private.

"The toughest part of the conversation was the point where the senator was critical of a firefighter sitting across from us in the gate area," Rosenthal's report reads. "I offered to the senator that our firefighters make around $8 to $12 an hour and time-and-a-half for overtime. He seemed a bit surprised that it wasn't higher."

Rosenthal's report said she would take Burns' concerns back to agency officials, and Burns thanked her for taking the time to listen to him.

Dan Jerome, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service in the agency's Washington, D.C., office, said the agency has heard from Burns regarding his concerns.

"Essentially, the senator had some issues with a fire and we heard those," Jerome said. "He talked to the crew about those. Generally, the place to talk about them is with the Forest Service. Meanwhile, the crew is out fighting fire, and we're proud of the work they do."

Jerome said the agency is working on addressing Burns' concerns.

Mackowiak said Burns has been hearing from Montanans affected by wildfire for weeks.

"As a result, he very responsibly reaches out to policymakers in Washington to make sure that all coordination is being done in the best and most reasonable manner," he said.

Burns talked to Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey about his concerns, Mackowiak said, and Rey has since personally called the ranchers with whom Burns spoke. The Forest Service is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Burns wants to make sure that fire policy is "adequate and adaptive," Mackowiak said, and the senator is pushing for emergency assistance for ranchers and landowners affected by the blazes.

[FreakofSnow]

What a moron. I can't believe that someone could be that stupid to confront someone that works that hard and has no say in the way fire are managed. That was like throwing shit in those guys faces. I am surprise that one of those shots didn't cock back and break his face.



On another note, here is a pretty cool time lapse of a fire in CA - http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/9590923/detail.html

[P_McPoser]

YeeHaw. Another one near Elko, saw this from the hotel (pic from elkodaily.com)

[RootSkier]

Huh. Sad that the fact that Conrad was a total and complete douchenozzle to a firefighter doesn't surprise me in the least.

What a fucktard. I hope that asshat enjoys his last few months in office.

In other news, the Gash fire is currently burning out some damn fine ski terrain. Burn, baby, burn!!!!

[Meadow Skipper]

YeeHaw. Another one near Elko, saw this from the hotel (pic from elkodaily.com)

Red Flag warnings and dry lightning forecast for Nevada this weekend. A friend of mine there says it reminds him of the 99 season - the one where NV burned about 1 million acres in two days. Hang on.

[FreakofSnow]

Red Flag warnings and dry lightning forecast for Nevada this weekend. A friend of mine there says it reminds him of the 99 season - the one where NV burned about 1 million acres in two days. Hang on.

That would be the year that I learned how evil NV really is. I spent countless months wandering the desert, chasing cheatgrass fires. Also a fair amount of time was spent staging in such shitholes as Elko and Carson City.

[grrrr]

On standby for the Okanagon right now - it's tearing up there. PNW topping the sit report las two days after a long lull. We're fairly tight on letting anyone go except IA right now - 0.04" precip since June 9.

[Meadow Skipper]

That would be the year that I learned how evil NV really is.

Heh. Tell me about it - I've spent way too much time there over the years. Though the best assignment was a 6 week detail as ATGS in a Commander. Nevada's really pretty nice if you stay above 9000 ft. But then, I've fought fire near Rosebud and Browning MT, and those aren't my idea of heaven. Every state has its ill moments.

I spent countless months wandering the desert, chasing cheatgrass fires. Also a fair amount of time was spent staging in such shitholes as Elko and Carson City.

Hey, those are the garden spots. Try Battle Mountain or Caliente for some quality NV time.

National Preparedness Level - 5.

Are you one of the "Stepping Up" BB guys? I've got that book - didn't realize there were firefighters involved.