ADRENALINE JUNKIE PART 4

I began fighting wildland fires in 1968 on a fire in Southern Utah. I was one of the pick up crew members that they used to fill out the crew to 20 people. My fire training lasted about two minutes---basically it was if it is burning throw it in, if it's not throw it out, now here is how you dig line and what you are responsible for---1/20th of a completed line, NOW GET TO WORK.

The fire was making a pretty good run toward a guard station so they sent our crew there to prepare it for fire to come to it and not burn it. We worked hard and removed most of the fuels around the structures. We got the culinary water started and got the hoses sprinkling. We would put each of two sprinklers on a section of fence and wait for it to wet the fence and vegetation pretty good then move them along. After a short time of doing this the crew was called to go to a different part of the fire but were told to leave two of us there at the Guard Station to protect it when the fire came to it.

Not a big deal right?

Well probably not if you have communications (which we didn't) and a way to get away from the fire if it got there (which we didn't) since the crew took all of the vehicles when they left for the other part of the fire.

All was going pretty well when all of a sudden we realized that the fire had burned across the only access road to the Guard Station and there was no way for anyone to get back in there to remove us if they needed to. Then the fire front started a good run across the sage brush flat that the station was located in. We could tell from the dark black smoke that the fire was really hot and could tell it was heading right for us. So we went to the hoses and prepared for it to get to us. We kept sprinkling the fence and vegetation hoping to get it wet enough that it wouldn't burn or at least would burn slow enough that it wouldn't hurt or kill us. We worked pretty hard on that and then---we could see the flame front---it was about a mile wide with flames over thirty feet high---and it was coming right at us. There was no way it wasn't going to get to us and there was no way anyone was getting in to remove us from where we were.

The guy they left me with had a couple of years of fire experience and we planned how we were going to attack the fire when it got inside the fence. We were going to stay back from the high vegetation until it crossed the fence then we were going to take it down inside the fence where we had removed a lot of the high vegetation. We were both quite confident we could do this without a great deal of personal risk. The fire front got to the fence and it sounded like ten jet airplanes taking off all at the same time. The ground pulsed with the sound. I had never seen or heard anything like this - NEVER. I was scared almost out of my wits.

The fire bumped the first edge of the fence and slowed down a bunch from the wet vegetation. It kept roaring past us as it continued across the flat in the vegetation outside the fence. We moved both hoses over to where it crossed the fence and worked clear around the perimeter to keep it from burning into the Guard Station. After about three hours of this the sun went down. In a few hours the head of the fire had laid down and rescuers were sent to see what had happened to us. When they got there everything was good. The fire hadn't got to the Guard Station and we were alive and well. Although we were both pretty scared. We made it through the fire and the crew got an excellent performance rating.

As the years went on I learned a lot about fire. The one thing I learned for sure is that I would never leave anyone in this situation. There was nothing of value at that Guard Station that was worth the risk that was taken with our lives. From that day on I vowed that I would never again be in a situation like that but I knew that I could stand my ground and come out safe.

AND THAT MY FRIENDS IS HOW I GOT HOOKED ON THE ADRENALINE RUSH ASSOCIATED WITH FIGHTING WILDLAND FIRES. IT HAS NEVER LESSENED AND HAS NOT GONE AWAY. WHEN THE FIRE BELL RINGS I CAN'T WAIT TO GET IN THE FRAY. AND FOR 39 YEARS I ASSURED THAT THERE WAS NEVER ANOTHER INCIDENT WITH PEOPLE ON ANY FIRE WHERE I WAS ASSIGNED LIKE MY INTRODUCTION TO FIGHTING FIRE.

I had many other experiences during my career where the adrenaline rush was pretty high and had some close calls, one when I was a crew boss where the entire crew nearly got burned over but we were always---ALWAYS---aware of our escape route and knew how fast we could make the rigs or a safety zone. And the one thing I learned from my first fire is that there is no shame in yellow---that's why we wear yellow shirts is to remind us it is better to run than to risk your life. Many times when I was crew bossing we were in the rigs and heading away from the fire when the Division Supervisor would call and say you guys are in trouble you need to get out now. We would call back and say we saw that coming a couple of hours ago and we're in the rigs headed south...

Last week I had a phone call from the guy left there with me at the Guard Station---we had a great visit---very early on in our conversation was how scary it was to have been left there. Those memories never die. Those friendships are very dear to my heart.