The Pack Test (Reloaded)

I thought I had lost this post made last Friday the 23rd of April. Glad I didn't re-type it, then find it! The photo to the right accurately depicts how I felt when I found the post (like a dufus). It was taken in 2008, in the Marble Mountain Wilderness on the Siskiyou fire. I was in our remote camp location getting ready to eat breakfast, and start another day. The "reloaded" post is included below in its entirety:

Well, today was devoted to fire fighting. In order to be available to assist in working on the big fires this year, I had to prove my physical fitness. This is done by taking the "Pack Test". Officially it is known as the "Work Capacity Test" and essentially measures your ability to move around on the fire-line weighed down by equipment. "Dirt throwing" fire fighters, have to walk 3 miles in 45 minutes carrying a 45 pound pack (arduous). For folks who manage the fire (primarily from camp) it is less rigorous. Just 2 miles in 30 minutes, with a 25 pound pack (moderate). For the first time in over 30 years, I did not take the arduous level test. My lower back has been a little cranky lately, so I figured that I would take the moderate level, and if I needed to "upgrade" to arduous later I would. As a Safety Officer moderate is all I need. Wow, what a difference it made. It was a piece of cake with only 25 pounds. I went ahead and walked the 3 miles with one of my buddies who was taking the arduous level test. I was his "pacer" and he passed with 30 seconds to spare!

After the test, I came home and Worked for about three hours preparing for a spring update meeting for the Graeagle Fire Department. I am the Coordinator for the program where we assist the feds if they need help with staffing their disaster management teams (which they do). We have 3 or 4 folks (including yours truly) that help out on the big fires (floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc) when needed.

Next, I worked for another hour and a half on preparing as the Safety Officer of my Incident Management Team. I was working on a checklist for assisting in dealing with unplanned "crisis" events that occur while managing a big incident (like a forest fire). For example, say some firefighters get into trouble and are entrapped and burned. We always have contingency plans for stuff like this, but what happens when something really big and bad happens (a helicopter crashes and kills 10 people for example). It is an area that a good team thinks about in advance. So, maybe what I came up with will help. Hopefully, nothing like this happens, but in this

business, you plan for the worst, and hope for the best!

Anyway, I made a dent in it at least. Unfortunately, IT WAS A FABULOUS SPRING DAY! So probably the best part was the 3 mile hike!

That's all for now.


PS: The photo is from last year, the Aspens haven't leafed out yet this spring.