Dispatch Rollercoaster

The wildfire season is in full throttle. There is fire all over the western half of the united states. In Southern Oregon there has been called a "State of Emergency". The National Guard has been called out to protect homes and fight the fires.

We are still waiting.....and waiting.....

Last week the word was we would be sent out when the lightning event came around. We got everything ready and?.....No call Came in. So we stood down. Then this week the lightning came and we packed the car up to go and.......This time engines were being called out.

 We are number 15 on the priority list. Engine 12 called out. Engine 13 called out. Engine 14 called out. Engine 15............No dispatch. We are next on the list and no call. With all of the fires going on we cant figure it out why we are still here.

Earlier in the week the State fire Chief mobilized the structure engines to go out to these fires. How is that when there are wild land engines sitting, crews at the ready they aren't going out on these fires and the structure engines are?

You see part of the problem is that the PEOPLE that make up these crews are being hurt by sitting around. No they aren't hurt by hemorrhoids from sitting, but hurting in a financial way.

Let me explain: In the Contracting world many people come from all over the country to be "ready at a moments notice" to go to a fire. Some have come as far as Florida. Others have quit jobs and all have sacrificed their summers to be available to serve to protect the outdoors we all love. They all do this without pay. Yes I said without pay.

How is it they don't get paid? Well they don't get paid to sit on standby, waiting for a dispatch to a fire. This is very expensive. The Contractors only get paid when dispatched to a fire incident. Thus the roller coaster ride of your going next call and then that call doesn't come, well frankly is very hard to deal with.

As firefighters we, like many of you see the news and hear how bad they need resources and here we sit waiting for a dispatch. As you can imagine it is very frustrating to us. All firefighters have made sacrifices to be available to go out and fight these fires. It has cost some thousands of dollars in lost time and personal expenses just to be available for this service to the public.

The next time you see a contract wildfire fighter thank them for their sacrifice. Because at times like this the sacrifice is great.

The clock is ticking. Number 15 is the next engine to get called out. Our engine. Will it be in the next few minutes, hours, or will it be another hurry up and wait to go nowhere? So we will wait until the call finally comes. Or will it. Such as a roller coaster eventually the ride is over and we will be going to a fire. Or so we hope.