On August 7 we finally got a dispatch to the Route Complex in California. I say finally because after the Leslie Gulch Fire we sat for about another month before we got this call. It was hard to sit and wait when you hear on the news that they are begging for resources when we were not only available. Not to mention that there was a fire in our own backyard. Not to mention the fact that they were calling resources from other parts of the region rather then use the local resources.
It took us parts of two days to get to Mad River fire camp and get checked in. That was an adventure in of itself. We waited in line to get inspected for about an hour. There were rumors going on that the inspector was really hard nosed and was giving the other contractors a hard time. Even one engine crew failed. I think they worked it out and did get approved to stay.
When it came to our turn..... it seemed like everything went wrong that could. We always go through our inventory and make sure that everything is there and running. So the first thing to go wrong was our pump wouldn't start. So we worked on it for a bit and managed to get it to fire but it wouldn't stay running. But they accepted it. Buy then the saw wouldn't run. At this point we just knew we would be going home. So we went through thew saw and finally got it to run.
We passed we can stay. And stay we did. We were there for three weeks.
The team managing the fire was a Cal-Fire team. I'm just going to say they are a lot different then what we are used to. I will leave it at that.
We were assigned to the Chance fire. It was basically a large spot fire with a hand line around it. Our first assignment was to pack hose down the line and lay it out to use for securing the line and out this fire out. It was steep but we lay'ed out the hose.
After we got all the hose tied together we used my truck to pump water and to supply the hose lay.When we would get low on water we were refilled by a forest service engine.
After shift we went to camp for dinner. You always wonder what cater will be in camp. Some are really good and others are not so much. But when we saw the first menu....
This cater rocked. The food was fabulous. We were a bunch of happy campers.
I am going to do the fire season in segments. There is just to much to cover in only a couple of posts. It was a long season and a lot happened. So I hope you enjoy the journey as much as we did. See ya next time...
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