Picture of the day

Blonde Morel

Picture of the day

Oregon coast

Wildfire Diaries: The Bobble Head Incident

The year was 2005. We were on the "School Fire". We were on night shift. It was a good night.

It was Aug 11th and after several nights of night shift we had, this one was our best. We supported a burnout. Our job was to patrol the line and keep the fire from crossing it. In this case the line was a forestry road. We patrolled a couple miles of road.

We start night shift as usual with a briefing at the camp in Pamoroy, Wa. We were camped at the fair grounds. After our briefing we gather our supplies and then head out to the line. We met for a line briefing. By the time it was done it was dark. We were given our specific assignment and off we went.

As we were getting closer we could see a glow on the horizon. When we got up to the line the whole right side of the road was a glow of red and orange flames. It as awesome!

It was an event full night. In fact it was our best and most active night. We were patrolling the line with three other engines. Back and forth we would go watching to make sure the line wasn't compromised. Our first event was we heard one of the engine bosses call over the radio "Strike team leader Prince"  he answered "Prince, go ahead."  " I have the barbecue heating up ready to cook burritos."  Now if I tried to do this I would have been sent home, off of the fire. You just don't call up your overhead and broadcast you have a full kitchen on board. Not where the whole command post can hear it. So long story short we all, including the strike team leader had this guy cook our burritos. I must admit they did taste better.

Then things slowed down.The fire did it's job and then it died down. About 2:00 am to 3:00 am things are really slow and dark. We were still patrolling looking for any spot fires across the line. We would pass the other engines and from time to time we would stop and chat trying to stay awake. This one time we passed by, there was one type 4 engine [that is an engine that can carry up to 750 gallons of water] his head lights were out. However he was still moving. It seemed strange to drive in the dark without lights on.

As we moved closer we could see they did have lights on. They were all three people inside driving by their head lamps. It was the "Bobble head incident". As we crept closer we could see the lights bouncing all over the cab of their truck. We pulled alongside them to find out that they were just trying to stay awake. they were entertaining themselves. Bouncing around like a bunch of bobble heads.

In our patrol during the night we saw a glow way off in the distance. We saw it several times, and we even talked about it. Should we go check it out?  Was it a spot fire? We, ok so it was me, I decided it must be a distant part of the fire glowing. My crew wasn't to sure. But the fire was so large we could see  glows all over the place. So we decided to move on.....Then about 4:00 in the morning we ended getting a call from our strike team to go look at a possible spot fire. Guess which one? Yep....

So we drove down a narrow road to as close as we could to the fire. Sure enough the glow we had been watching most of the night wasn't a distant glow on the other side of the fire. It was a spot fire. It was about an acre in size. We set up a hose lay and started to work the spot fire. In time the other engined came in and pumped us water. In time we had members of the other engines as well as a few hot shots helping put it out.

Before we new it it was light out. Our fire was dead cold. But then we did some grid work to make sure there wasn't any more. Sure enough we found another. This time it was a half mile across the fire line. My crew mate and I grabbed a bladder bag and a chain saw. A bladder bag is a bag that holds up to five gallons of water. We made it to the spot and it was only about a six square feet area. We finished our night by putting it out.

At the end of our shift we had a debriefing and we all agreed it was a very good and fast night. If you have to do night shift and can't catch a dew winks here and there, this is the kind of nights you want to have. Fast and fun.

Stay tuned for another Wildfire Diaries. Also I wil soon have a review of our metal detector finds.

Milestone reached

This blog just hit 10,000 visitors.

Thank all of you for your interest and support.

Picture of the day

This little Golden Mantle stroke a pose for us. We shot this from a lookout near Mount St. Helens.

10,000 Hits!

This blog is coming up on 10,000 hits. It's good to see it growing.  We should not the big ten mark today.

I will soon start posting the wildfire diaries, as well as the metal detector reports.

Keep a look out and if you like the blog pass it on for others to enjoy.

Have a nice day!

A New Series

I am going to add a new series to my blog. It will be a sporadic series.

It is going to be about metal detecting. I will show you our adventures, our finds. From time to time I will have a story about our finds. Things such as the story leading up to what we found.

My thoughts, and the process it took to find the target. I will also have lessons learned. We often learn new things about our detectors and the targets we  find. I will also have lessons on detector etiquette.

I will also post pictures of the things we found as well as the area we are hunting. I will give a small history lesson as well.

I need a name for the series. Can you help with some suggestions on what to call it?

Give me some ideas!

Here's a couple I had:

The detector diary

Treasure quest

Fire refresher and the Arizona hot shots

The refresher went well today. We went over some very good topics. We discussed in depth what may have happened on the fire in Arazona. You likely remember where the hot shots lost there lives doing what they love.

We salute the 19 who lost to the fire.

Their sacrifice teaches us so much. I don't mean to be insensitive about the matter, and I hope I don't sound that way. Having just lost my brother of 38 years I know the grief those of you who lost loved ones last year due to fires feels. Sadly we learn from other peoples experiences.

Those brave men were in the worst case scenario. But we can learn much from this. Today we did as we saluted them and their lives.........


We practiced our shelter deployment and then we did our pack test. I passed ad the age of 43. My score was 41.09.

As we look forward to the 2014 season we remember our fallen brothers from last year and in years past. They teach us a lot. I pray we all learn from what others tragically teach us, with their lives. Let's make this year a year to protect our lands we love and all come home safe and sound. Let show that the lives lost in the past weren't for nothing......

Pre-season Wildfire Training

Today the cold has returned. Arctic air is moving down from Canada. It is blowing and snowing. It seems hard to imagine a wildfire, and in fact right now one couldn't burn. However this summer it will burn.

So as with every season wildfire fighters all over the nation train and prepare for the upcoming fire season. Today is our turn. We have our annual fire refresher.

 This is where we refresh our minds and practice for the upcoming season. We go through various scenarios and review how to handle them. We look at how to attack the fire, how to do so safely and how best to use the resources that are available. Not every fire do we directly attack the fire. Sometimes for safety reasons it is nessecary to hold back, or to fight the fire indirectly.

We also do the arduous test. It is a walking test. We walk ( no running allowed ) three miles in 45 minutes. No problem you say? We'll do it with 45 pounds on your back. That is what we do.

We will also practice getting into our fire shelter. This is an important part of our refresher. Should we ever have to deploy we need to know how to get in these to protect our lives. A scary thought should the worst case scenario happen.

The pre-season is the key to our season getting off to a good start. After today we will have it almost done. The next step is the bi-annual  physical for Engine bosses. We do this to have our medical card, for driving the truck. In the next couple of weeks this will be done and we will be done and ready for the season.

I will post the results of my personal pack test later today.

So as it snows and blows enjoy a warm cozy fire and a cup of joe on me today. Also don't forget to thank all the wildfire fighters for there hard work and sacrifices they make to keep our lands from being destroyed.