Fire Assignment

Just a quick post about the Carlton Complex (south zone) where I have been living for the last week and a half. Someday I will work on the backlog of news/activities and pictures that have been building up.

On the last day of our vacation to visit Uncle John and Aunt Nancy in Idaho, we noticed a lot of smoke in the valley where they live. I looked up the national fire activity on the internet, and saw that there were lots of fairly large fires burning in Oregon and Washington. We were seeing smoke from four lightning                    

The Chief of the Forest Service came
and visited the fire. We got lots of
compliments on our work.

fires near Chelan Washington called the "Carlton Complex". A complex is a group of fires being managed as a single incident. It was a total of 47,000 acres. We got home two days later, and I got notification from the Team Commander that we would probably be activated to assist with this complex of fires. By Saturday afternoon I had my orders, and after frantically unpacking the fifth wheel, making final preparations for Kim's possible dispatch with her truck, and checking my own fire bag, it was off to the airport in Reno Sunday morning. I flew Alaska airlines to Seattle, rented a car and drove to Chelan. By 6:00 that evening my team was being briefed on our assignment.

The camp was located in a beautiful park, right on the Columbia River.
There was activity nearly 24 hours a day during the first several
days of the fire. 

Here our Incident Meteorologist (from the National Weather
Service) gives us the prediction for the next day. We gave
him the nick name "Rain-man". He was excellent.

Our camp coffee bar. Not like the old days when I first started!

One of our Division Supervisors (the young lady in the center)
briefs some of her fire line personnel prior to heading out to the
line.

By that time, the 47,000 acre group of 4 fires had grown to almost 250,000 acres, and destroyed more than 300 homes. It grew by more than 100,000 acres in one day! At some point it was gobbling up territory at the rate of an acre (about a football field) each second. It had grown to the largest fire in Washington State history, and would be managed by four teams (including ours). Luck was with us (and the local communities) because the weather changed radically in our favor. The wind abated, and reversed direction blowing the fire back into itself in many places. Clouds rolled in, and the temperatures dropped from over 100, down into the 50's. Humidity increased, and it actually rained on the fire in some places.

"Rain-man" and our Fire Behavior analyst
(right) launch a balloon to take atmospheric
measurements to aid in weather predictions.

Our firefighters took advantage of the opportunity, and made significant progress over the period of cool moist weather. After a week, fire season was back with 100 degrees plus, and single digit relative humidity. But it was too late for the fire, and we managed to gain containment. Currently we are mopping up, downsizing (sending folks to other fires where they are needed) and getting ready to hand over what's left to another team.

My Partner Safety Officer takes a short nap. The long hours
really take a toll after a while.

We had a great safety record. Only two lost time injuries, both heat related. One of those was in camp! The other was scary however. A firefighter went down with heat stress symptoms that were thought to be life threatening. We had to evacuate him from the line via helicopter and fly him to the hospital in Wenatchee.

In the end, we ran the safety statistics and if a "typical" industrial operation of 100 employees had the same great safety record, they would only have one accident every 11 years. That is impressive considering that we work in one of the most hazardous work environments around. The bottom line is that I helped keep over 700 people involved in the effort safe to go home to their families, and fight another day. That feels pretty good.

This was a golf course that burned over. everything
 except the fairways and greens was burned.

Looking across the canyon at some country where the crews were
working. You can see the smoke near the ridge line. That is the top
of the fire, the crews started down in the bottom of the canyon
and cut line for four or five straight days. A truly heroic effort.

Cisco corporation sent us an emergency communications truck.
They set up in camp and provided internet connectivity to aid our planning efforts, AND
firefighter moral. Best of all...no charge!

Saturday I head for home. A short drive to Seattle to rest overnight, then a freedom bird back to Reno and home. Because of the weather, this was not a real challenging assignment. However, I did have some cobwebs and dust to blow off, and it was a great "first of the season" assignment to get tuned up for the next one.

That's All!

Running on Empty!

Occasionally, time seems to stretch out forever in front of you. Things move slowly, and the pace of life can be quite leisurely. Then there are times when events and tasks seem to bunch up like river water against a big boulder, pushing and shoving; mixing and swirling. This June was fairly sedate in pace. I managed to get some key projects done, and was feeling like I was in control. The end of the month changed all that.

On the 27^th, Kim took three high school kids down to a special “Summit” camp at Sonoma State to learn how to establish a youth court here in our high schools. While she was gone I spent the weekend prepping and painting the barn, a big job I have been contemplating for a few years. Over the next two weeks it was non-stop for both of us. All good stuff, that we wanted to do, and it did get pretty darn hectic.

To summarize: Kim got back from her Summit, the Sunday I finished the barn. We left for San Luis Obispo that evening (overnighted with brother Don in Modesto) to help Maggie and Lucy move out of their apartment and into summer quarters (John and Jeanne’s Pismo house).

After the big move, we helped J & J get their Los Osos house ready for rental with interior prep and painting. We finished and headed back home just in time to help decorate the Rotary 4^th of July float and catch a few hours sleep. Up bright and early (well, ok: not so bright!) I headed to Loyalton for the Parade and BBQ, our club’s biggest work day and largest fundraiser. Kim stayed in bed as she had been up all night evacuating from both ends! A long day (‘till around 4:00 pm) and a short night’s rest found us packing, and departing for our two week journey to Idaho with Rotarian friends Larie (short for Lairmore) and Katie. We spent the night in Elko with Glen and Casey and gradually got into the rhythm of the road.

I’m in Ponderay Idaho right now at my Uncle John and Aunt Nancy’s place on Lake Pend Orielle (pronounced Pon-de-ray) about 60 miles south of the Canadian Border. We are heading home tomorrow, so it is time to reflect a little.

Our day of moving the girls was very hectic and a little stressful. We arrived around noon, and jumped right in hauling furniture and supplies, then came the cleaning, and detailing. When the manager came over for the inspection He complimented us and it looks like the girls will get the full amount available back on their deposit.

We got up early to see Lucy off to
the ranch. Here she "cowgirls Up".

Next day was more restful sort of. We awoke at 5:15 am to see Lucy off to her ranch job. She has early and long days working at the Westfall ranch in Los Olivos (about 45 minutes south). We got up early both mornings to see her since she was scheduled to work both days.


We spent the rest of the day hanging around Pismo, helping Maggie get her front tires repaired, and doing a polish job on Merdy’s headlights. They were pretty yellowed and fogged up with age, but after I applied the restoration kit, they looked like brand new. Not only looked better, but she’ll be able to get more illumination out of them at night as well.

Here is a "Before" shot.

Next day we headed to Los Osos and started prepping to paint the interior of the house. Jeanne and Kim had purchased the paint and other supplies the day before. John and I dug in pulling outlet plates wiping down walls, and pulling carpet. Then it was up and down ladders, cutting and rolling the walls. We got the front of the house done, one bedroom cut, and one bedroom rolled before we called it a day. That left only the master bedroom untouched. John finished the job the next day after we left. All in all it was a busy work day. 

Here is "After" polishing.

The best part was dinner at the Sidecar Restaurant in SLO (suggested by Maggie). John and Jeanne were our generous hosts as we started with some well earned cocktails. The food was delicious and unique. Kim had Cuban Grilled Romaine salad, John and I had a hanging steak (looked like a beautifully cooked skirt steak to me), Maggie had vegetarian (vegan) lasagna. Must have been the bourbon, but I don’t remember what Jeanne had!

John shows off the skirt steak. Bourbon was good too!

Next day (July 3^rd) we made the long pull home starting at 7:00 am. We made it home just in time for a Teleconference on Rotary Membership, and to make it to Loyalton to help decorate the Float. But that will be in my next post!!

Kim and our good friend and fellow Rotarian
Gail "Virus" Ellingwood sipping a little wine during a
break in the decoration. Gail is District Governor next year.

That’s All!