Alamosa Fire

The rest of my detail out of Browns Park was great. After that first day of burning at Fish Springs, we had a larger unit the next day - 1600 acres with 7 people. We broke into two teams - me, Kevin, a guy from BP, and a biotech from Fish Springs on the east; Nathan, Ben, Amy, and Mike Grainger (FMO at CMR) on the west side. Burning this would be a little tricky, because there were many small grass islands surrounded by wet soil - we couldn’t walk to them, so we were going to have to get creative. On our side, we had a few flare guns and an ATV, along with our drip torches. Kevin and I had way too much fun shooting flares onto each little island, throwing fusees and watching the firewhorls. Walking with the drip torch for miles would have taken a long time, so I sat in the back of the pickup and created a wall of fire as we drove along, while the biotech threw fusees into the tall grass. It took all day but it was fun!

We met up with the other team after we were both done. Apparently they had some tricky part along a canal - Amy would walk along with the drip torch, but it would ignite so quickly and so hot that she’d have to run and jump into a canoe and have Nate paddle frantically away to the next island! Sounded like a good time to me!

What better way to end a day of pyrotechnics than with a nice swim in the middle of the desert? Yep, it was fantastically unbelievable - a sweet swimming hole hidden within the refuge, 25 ft. deep and 72 degrees - complete with a diving board! We had pizza (yes, there is pizza delivery to Fish Springs, go figure!) and most of us didn’t have swim suits so we jumped in with t-shirts, shorts, nomex… Kevin even jumped in with his White’s boots on, disproving the myth that you can’t swim with them on.

Flames could still be seen in the distance from the bunkhouse, but it was deep inside the unit and no chance of it escaping. And so ended my first prescribed burn experience in Utah!

So back to Browns Park I went to be reunited with Bart. It was short lived.

Monday, Bart, myself, Colby (an engine boss detailed in to Browns Park from Buffalo River in Arkansas) and Joe were going to head south to Alamosa in southern Colorado to do a more complex burn. But Hurricane Ivan had a different idea and was headed right towards Bart’s house. In a last minute decision, he flew back to Florida and the other 3 of us went to the burn. (The hurricane didn’t end up hitting his house thankfully!)

Met many more great fire people at Alamosa, and we all camped out in tents outside of a house. A few engines from Kansas and Nebraska - Deon, Tim, Trent, Jesse, and a few other guys - all headed up by Ken K. A few other engines helped the day of the burn, including the State of Colorado, San Juan Hotshots, Forest Service and various overhead guys, but they didn’t stick around. I’m not even sure of the total number of people that actually worked on this one - maybe six or seven Type 6 engines (like what Red Rocks has), 1 heavy (Type 4?) engine, a helicopter, a hotshot crew, meteorologists, and other random people for the 1,000 acre fire. Apparently this burn was going to be a bit tougher - the fuel (grasses and greasewood again) was incredibly dry and continuous, with a few areas that had a good potential for spotting. It really wasn’t necessary to have quite that many resources on it, but they wanted to take every precaution.

I worked with Colby from Arkansas, and man did he get into my satellite radio! Back in the day it sounds like he was hardcore and dangerous, telling me stories about seeing Jackyl at some seedy bar in the Carolinas, singing along with Ozzy and Ugly Kid Joe. I brought back his wild side for a few days. ;)

The burn itself went pretty well, it was fun to watch but not a whole lot for us to do. The shots used drip torches to ignite the outsides, while our force of engines just made sure nothing bad happened. This fire was much more intense and traveled quickly, with dust devils and firewhorls over 100’ tall. It was a good show. J They brought the helicopter to drop these things called “ping pong balls” to light the middle. Overall, everything went smoothly and I got a lot of good pictures.

The day after the burn, most people left but a few engines stayed behind to do mop-up. Lucky me, I was one of the 8 fortunate souls to do the “hard part” of the whole burn - a deep layer of organic material burning all the way down, still hot and smoking. When mopping up, the idea is to put out the hot spots - but everything was a hot spot! This stuff would burn for days easily. We did what we could, walking probably a mile or so and checking to within 100’ of the burned area, stopping every few feet to touch potential hot spots with our hands to see if they were warm. As you can imagine, one becomes very dirty very quickly when rutting around in ash and dirt. When we found a hot spot,we’d put some water on it and dig around in it to put it out. If you think it sounds tedious, then you are absolutely correct! It took us literally all day to do our section, and that organic crap that was burning deep started smoking like nuts as the day went on, blowing right over where we were working. It wasn’t fun, but we got it done.

The night after the burn, we all went out for Chinese food. I sit down next to this tall, blonde older man and we start to chitchat, and I’m being goofy like always, and he seems to be getting a kick out of my conversation. I even found ways to poke fun (good-natured) at him and kept him laughing. In the meantime, Colby had ordered the same meal as me, and there was a nice little red pepper that just looked too delectable to refuse. Somehow, he didn’t realize this inconspicuous little pepper was in fact a HOT pepper, and soon thereafter he started to notice this fact as his mouth lit on fire and his eyes watered. Poor guy was MISERABLE and no matter how much water he drank, nothing would overcome the power of the pepper. We all noticed and started laughing, and this guy I was talking to points out the pepper on my plate.

With a smug grin, I grabbed that little pepper, popped it in my mouth, and ate it. Just like that.

They’re laughing and watching to see how I react to it. It was fine… a little hot… burning! Burning!

Ahhh, but the joke is on them. I had something to prove (not really, but it sounds noble). J I can handle hot food better than most. So I just smiled as poor Colby was still trying to wash his mouth out. Yeah, it was hot, and yeah my nose started running, but I just kept on conversing with my new friend. I think I impressed him, whoever he was.

So then we get our fortune cookies. I open mine and read it - and giggled at myself when I added the phrase “in bed” to the end of it. I looked at his, which said something about bringing prosperity and joyfulness to others…”in bed”. I laughed again, but he had no clue why.

“Haven’t you ever added the phrase “in bed” to your fortune?” I asked him.

No, he hadn’t… but sure enough, once he reread it, he started laughing and everybody else shared their reinvented (and improved, in my opinion) fortunes. Heh heh, I taught an older man a naughty new trick. J

From then on, he referred to me as “Pepper Girl”. I made a new friend.

A new friend that just so happens to be the second most important man in Fire, Carter. Like, if there were a president, he’d be the VP. I told the “VP” of fire to turn his fortune into a dirty blessing. HA!

Fortunately, I might have a been a sarcastic, potty-mouthed goofball, but I think he liked it!

That night (Thursday), we were rewarded with a hotel! And the first shower since Sunday night! Guess what happens when you strip down after mop-up? Well, first of all, you probably have nice salt lines on your shirt from sweating so much. The best part, besides looking in the mirror and realizing you look like you’ve been rubbing your face in the dirt, is taking off your pants and looking like you are wearing black nylons. All that ash just works its way right through your clothes. It was hot. ;) But when you’re that dirty and tired, nothing is more rewarding than watching all that black water run clear in the shower (except a cold beer AFTER the shower that is)!!

Friday morning, we left Colby to watch the fire for the weekend while myself and the other guy from BP went back. After a long day of driving, we arrived at the bunkhouse just in time for… a party. I was tired but how can you say no to elk burgers, beer, and good conversation? Nat, who does interpretive stuff, and Steve the LE (with the word “HEY” tattooed on his arm - a simple yet highly intriguing fact) tried to get me to stay another night to go to the ho-down they were having (with a live bluegrass band and dammit, I couldn’t stay!), which was tempting but I had to get back to Red Rocks to see my friend Matt. Speaking of tattoos, they asked if I had one and I said “Yeah, a sun and a moon.” When they asked where and if they could see it (on my lower back), I turned around to pull down my pants a little bit and they just broke out laughing - they thought I meant I had a sun tattooed on my ASS (moon)! So of course the conversation kept steering in the direction of my ass for the rest of the evening. Thanks guys.

So Saturday I cruised back to Red Rock Lakes solo, almost 10 hours of pure musical bliss. Of course, shortly after I arrived to an empty bunkhouse did Matt call me and say he was in Yellowstone and soon I was driving towards my next adventure!

Smokin' HOT

From 9/8/04:

I got to burn stuff today. ;)

We went over the burn plan - two units, 7 people. I was assigned to the engine while two other people used drip torches to light. The first unit didn’t burn great, except for some 15-20’ flames on the tall grass. My main job was to hang out in the engine and watch for spot fires.

Then they handed me a drip torch. Heh heh heh.

The way a drip torch works is that you light the end of the torch, and when you tip it over, the diesel/gas mix sends out a stream of fire. Looks simple enough. I walked around with it, lighting some grass and occasionally some greasewood that burned pretty hot. It’s kindof strange surrounding yourself voluntarily with fire! At first, it was no big deal. But with the temps already in the upper 80s, the heat from the fire, the weight of my pack and the blazing desert sun, it is definitely tougher than it looks!

Once we finished that up, we were going to burn another unit to make 300 acres total for the day - but after we spun the weather, we realized we were out of prescription - too hot, relative humidity too low - and we had to sit and wait it out to see if we could do it later. In the meantime, we had a few duck blinds to protect. They handed me a drip torch and I set fire to the grass surrounding it. It still was weird spreading fire around yourself but fun nonetheless. I put some fire to the ground… and it burned fast and hot! I was a little surprised at just how quickly it burned, and it became incredibly hot. My eyes burned and my ear felt like it was burning, the hot and smoky air hit my face. But we got a good black line around each blind and I got to play with fire, so everybody was happy.

Once again, we spun the weather to see if we were ok on humidity… not quite, so we waited until we finally reached our magic number and we were good to go!

This is when it got a little tricky. The grass was taller and more continuous and promised to burn better than our scrubby area. One break was an incomplete plow line; we had to use the engine to keep the fire from getting outside the unit. Not much incident there; a few shots with the hose and we were all set. As they continued, they ran into more flammable phragmites, which went up quickly and threw a lot of embers - flames 20-25’ at times, too! It looked wicked cool, and as they lit perimeter of the unit, the fire sucked in towards the middle, sending the smoke in and up as a big bellowing column. White, gray, black smoke, short flames and sudden flare-ups… it made for a good show. :)

Nathan and I were in the engine, watching the smoke get sucked away from the road… and then suddenly it was headed right in our direction. No problem at first, but the fire intensity increased and so did the smoke. Nate touched the windshield to see how warm the truck was getting… warm but not hot. No problem there yet, but we couldn’t see the road or even the sun for that matter. Daylight faded and only an ambient glow from the flames and the now-hidden sun illuminated the sky. We couldn’t move because we couldn’t even see 2 feet in front of the engine. We weren’t in danger from the flames, but the smoke was just engulfing us. For a while, the AC still pumped out fresh air, but our eyes started watering and our lungs burned as smoke whisps began appearing in the cab. We did our best to stay out of the worst smoke but for a while, we were red-eyed and coughing!

Our truck was parked behind the progress of the drip torches, perched upon a narrow 2-track road that sat above the wetlands on either side. It was either forward or backard, and forward wasn’t much of an option while the flames licked over the road. We couldn’t see, but suddenly we got a call on the radio - a fire started across the line in some tall grass, and we needed to catch it NOW or we might not stop it at all!

Nate drove into the nearly impenetrable smoke barricade and told me to be ready to jump out and grab the hose. It was hot and smoky and I could hardly keep my eyes open, but we jumped out and hit the quickly spreading flames with water. Tall flames burned on both sides and we moved fast to stop a little problem from becoming a big problem - exhilarating and crazy!

This happened once more, but we did catch it, in part thanks to Ben’s crazy-man attack on the spot fire. It was a good time.

As I took my hair down from a long day’s work, I realize - somehow, somewhere - I had singed my hair, which had been up in a bun! No doubt about it, I was playing in fire!

Tomorrow, we’ll do it all again!

Just what the doctor ordered

From 9/5/04:

Bart and I hit the road early Sunday morning, expecting an all-day drive to northern Colorado. As we drove south, the landscape got drier and hotter but we were chillin’ with our constant stream of satlitte-delivered music. That evening, when we turned down a lonesome road out of Rock Springs, Wyoming, we knew we had just left the last hint of civilization for a long while. Mesas and canyons, nearly barren save some sagebrush and dead grass - the only sight for miles and miles. The view was great, if you like dry, dead, and desolate. We drove down the road to nowhere…

Hours went by and the sun set. We crossed from the paved Wyoming border to the gravel continuation of our never-ending road into Colorado. This day, we drove through 5 states - Montana, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado. Keep driving, keep driving… Soon it was pitch black, without a single light anywhere in sight. In fact, the only lights we saw were so out of place, we thought it was more likely a UFO than a human structure. “If I were an alien, I’d hang out here…”

After a few hours we finally reached a T in the road. The girl that had worked there last year had given us directions that contradicted the instructions on a road sign. Following instinct, we followed the sign and drove through the night some more. We saw a few massive bull elk, but none of the landmarks that we were told to look for; confused, we turned around and decided to try the directions we had been given.

Lesson learned: Follow your first instinct. Especially when following somebody else’s directions.

We went in the other direction. Still didn’t make sense with the directions we were given and finally arrived in the town of Maybell. Hmm, something isn’t right. I called the bunkhouse from the only payphone we had seen for hours and asked where we went wrong.

Go back exactly the way we had come from, to nearly the exact spot where we had decided to turn around originally. He told me how far it was. “Did you say fifteen miles?”

“No, FIFTY THREE.”

Oh, shit.

A 2-3 hour detour when all was said and done and we finally rolled up to the bunkhouse at Brown’s Park.

I think their version of “remote” almost beats Red Rock Lakes version of “remote”. At least they can buy beer at a small shop down the road.

There were 3 guys plus Bart at the bunkhouse, so I had my first experience living in a trailer camper. It was better than I thought and I had it all to myself. Luxury! The next day, we toured the refuge - it’s right next to Dinosaur National Monument and has some pretty cool canyons. It’s too dry for my tastes, but it was worth visiting. That’s when I got the good news that I was going to help with a prescribed burn at Fish Springs NWR in Utah. Bart had to stay and I would be going with a guy from Browns Park. Sweet!

And 24 hours after I had left Montana for Colorado, I was sitting in another truck on my way to the most remote refuge in the lower 48. Another 9 hours sitting on my ass. J And once again, we turned down a dirt road that led to the middle of nowhere, passing a danger sign warning of extreme desert environment. It seemed weird that there would be a wildlife refuge in the middle of the desert… And it really was more remote than anywhere I have ever been. Sand, scrub, grass, heat mirages sizzling over the salt flats… A few hours of this and then at last - water! A true oasis in the middle of this sunbaked land.

The headquarters/living complex was a welcome sight - attractive homes with green grass and trees. We toured the refuge and saw the burn units - lots of marshy areas, tall Phragmites and scrub. A few guys from Charles M Russel were also helping out - Mike, Nathan and Ben - and somebody mentioned another guy was coming from Bison Range. Hey! That’s the guy that we went to the gay bar with! Reunited already. All of us, including some contractors, crammed into the ghetto bunkhouse. One bathroom for 10 people… not comfy or homey but at least there was cable TV, and I got to tease Kevin about his choice of bars some more. ;)

"Are you sure I'm a polar bear?"

This morning, as I frantically piled my stuff into my car in Yellowstone National  Park, I knew I was going to be late for work no matter what.

Good thing I came to terms with this fact before the blizzard hit.

Snow. Lots of it.

I don't have the time to explain what I was doing, leaving Yellowstone at 6:30am on a Monday morning, except that I was late and it was snowing. It wasn't really quite a blizzard, but it wasn't just snowing and melting - it STUCK!

Snow piled up on the road as I drove the 2 hr trip back to Red Rock Lakes, making the last 28 miles of dirt road pretty slick and sloppy. It's now 1 pm and not only are the roads white, but so is everything else.

Winter comes before the first day of fall in this part of town I guess.

Can't wait to drive back out to Yellowstone and do it all over again this afternoon! :)

Fire is cool

Left to right: Mike (CMR NWR MT), Amy and Kevin (National Bison Range NWR. MT), Ben (CMR NWR MT), Lisa (Red Rock Lakes NWR, MT), Joseph (Browns Park NWR, CO), Nathan (CMR NWR MT)

I'm back from Fish Springs NWR, Utah. Click on the photo of our crew to read about our burn and see another picture of me and how gosh-darn good I look in Nomex. I'm still at Browns Park, and Monday we are going way down to southern Colorado to do that burn at Alamosa. I'll do a better update when I can, but we'll just say we had probably a little too much fun. ;)