Back Again
I've been gone for a couple weeks, (I know it wasn't noticed
)
I was called out to search out and destroy a forest fire outside of Jackson Montana.
We were the first crew on scene besides the jumpers doing battle.
It started out with a four mile power hike into the site on an old coble stone type road right to the source of the fire.
Since it was my job to get ahead of the crew and scout out the area before they marched in, I was able to hit the fire about an hour before the rest showed up.
We worked shoulder to shoulder with the jumpers for a day and a half, then disappeared into the fabric of the fire world as if a wisp of smoke had moved by and the wind took it apart right in front of your eyes.
Over the next week and a half, we were put right on the front lines, pushing the back end of a shot crew over the hill for almost three miles, laying hose, mopping up, watching their backsides and every other day letting them do scratch line so we could help speed the process finishing the line so they could move along at a faster pace.
By the end of the process on this fire, there was 25,000 feet of hose laid on the fire leaving the districts to finish it off and clean up the mess.
We were then transferred off to another fire near Phillipsburg Montana to start the process over, this time instead of working in direct contact with the type I resources, we had shown we were capable of handling our own and were given half a division to deal with on our own terms.
Every where we went, the smoke went out and the fire became quiet, even though it still raged in other parts at the front, we were able to get full containment in our area by the end of our time out on this fire, the last couple of days, their was rain in the afternoons which helped and the fire overhead had been able to receive more crews to supplement the work we had accomplished over the few days we worked in our area...
These were great fires for my new crew to cut their teeth on since it wasn't to rugged, had almost every thing we look for in fires to play in and for the last signer on my task book was an excellent teacher to guide me in the few things I was lacking on leadership skills and tactics on the fire line.
I have finally finished my task book for Crew Boss and will be running 20 man hand crews.
The bottle for me has finally been opened into greater windows of opportunities; I will be curios to see where this road leads next.
I've been gone for a couple weeks, (I know it wasn't noticed
)I was called out to search out and destroy a forest fire outside of Jackson Montana.
We were the first crew on scene besides the jumpers doing battle.
It started out with a four mile power hike into the site on an old coble stone type road right to the source of the fire.
Since it was my job to get ahead of the crew and scout out the area before they marched in, I was able to hit the fire about an hour before the rest showed up.
We worked shoulder to shoulder with the jumpers for a day and a half, then disappeared into the fabric of the fire world as if a wisp of smoke had moved by and the wind took it apart right in front of your eyes.
Over the next week and a half, we were put right on the front lines, pushing the back end of a shot crew over the hill for almost three miles, laying hose, mopping up, watching their backsides and every other day letting them do scratch line so we could help speed the process finishing the line so they could move along at a faster pace.
By the end of the process on this fire, there was 25,000 feet of hose laid on the fire leaving the districts to finish it off and clean up the mess.
We were then transferred off to another fire near Phillipsburg Montana to start the process over, this time instead of working in direct contact with the type I resources, we had shown we were capable of handling our own and were given half a division to deal with on our own terms.
Every where we went, the smoke went out and the fire became quiet, even though it still raged in other parts at the front, we were able to get full containment in our area by the end of our time out on this fire, the last couple of days, their was rain in the afternoons which helped and the fire overhead had been able to receive more crews to supplement the work we had accomplished over the few days we worked in our area...
These were great fires for my new crew to cut their teeth on since it wasn't to rugged, had almost every thing we look for in fires to play in and for the last signer on my task book was an excellent teacher to guide me in the few things I was lacking on leadership skills and tactics on the fire line.
I have finally finished my task book for Crew Boss and will be running 20 man hand crews.
The bottle for me has finally been opened into greater windows of opportunities; I will be curios to see where this road leads next.
