Blogs
Fires and other emergency incidents I've worked.
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Year Days Dates Position Fire
1992 13 Aug 22–Sept 1 FFT2 Rainbow Fire, Mammoth Lakes, Calif.
1992 1 Sept 14 FFT2 Sylamore, 3 ac. fire, Arkansas
1993 1 Feb. 3 FFT2 Sylamore, Leatherwood Wilderness
1993 2 Apr. 9–10 FFT2 Sylamore, Buffalo Wilderness, Arkansas
1994 4 Feb. 17–20 FFT2 Wambaw RD, Fr.-Marion NF, SC
1994 24 July 27– Aug. 19 FFT2 Idaho City Complex and Blackwell Fires
Idaho City and McCall, Idaho, respectively
1996 15 Apr. 19 – May 3 FFT2 Hawk Fire, et al.; Redbird District
Daniel Boone National Forest (NF), Kent.
1996 4 June ORDM(T) Railroad Fire, Ogden, Utah
1996 23 August ORDM(T) Simnasho and Tower Fires
Simnasho and in eastern Oregon
1997 1 Aug. FFT2 Kisatchie Hills Wilderness Fire, LA
1998 1 Apr. FFT2 Bayou Cypre Fire, Louisiana
1998 15 May 26 – June 9 ORDM Holiday and Oak Hill Fires, Florida
1998 6 Aug. 25–30 ORDM Hurricane Bonnie, Fayetteville, NC
1998 8 Nov. 23–30 ORDM Stoney Lick Fire, Virginia
1998(9)? 7d Dec. ORDM Cheoah Wilderness Fire,
Talladaga District, Alabama
1998 8 Mar. 3–6 ORDM Tiger Complex, SC
1999 1 FFT2 Rocky Ridge Wilderness Fire,
Kisatchie National Forest, Louisiana
1999 5 June 2–6 ORDM Friendly Fire, Florida
1999 21 Oct. 4–24 ORDM Big Bar Complex, Pooky Camp
Trinity National Forest, Calif.
1999 6 Nov. 16–21 ORDM Avey Complex, NC
2000 1 FFT2 Bassboat Fire, NC
2000 1 FFT2 Nantahala NF, NC
2000 2 April 8–10 ORDM Redbird Complex (rained out)
Redbird District, Daniel Boone NF, KY
2000 5 Jul ORDM Longleaf Vista Fire, Kisatchie NF, LA
2000 20 July/Aug ORDM Coyote and Trout Creek Fires, Nevada
2000 10 Aug. 18–27 ORDM Green Mountain Complex, Montana
2000 14 Jul.15–31 BCMG(T) 30-mile Fire, Washington State
Four fatalities
2001 15 Oct. 18 – Nov. 1 RCDM World Trade Center Incident, NYC
Numerous fatalities
2002 8 Jul. 29–Aug. 5 BCMG(T) Stanza Fire, Happy Camp, California
ORDM Three fatalities
2003 17 Aug. 20–Sep. 5 ORDM/RCDM Robert Fire, Montana
2004 4 Sept. RCDM Hurricane Ivan, Florida
2005 7 July 18 ++ ORDM Esmerella Fire, east of Reno, Nevada
2006 15 Aug. 11-25 ORDM Baskin-Cook Fire, Idaho’s Salmon River
July 2000: watching a helicopter bring in a load of food and supplies to my remote location.
July 2000: the Entiat Hotshots leave camp to walk to the fireline.
July 2000: my ride comes to take me down off the mountain.
July 2000: Sedgehead fighting the fire one cold morning with a cup of coffee.
July 2000: The spike camp where I worked as a base camp manager feeding the firefighters.
July 2000: Riding down off the mountain in a chopper
July 2000: view of the fire from the chopper after we put it out. Black to the left, green to the right.
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Post comment Comment (12 replies)
- Reply Haiena
- I would like to suggest a few corrections for your article.
I needed to type up [compile] a list of fires and other "incidents" I worked [handled or tackled] between 1991 and 2007 when I worked for the US Forest Service.
[note: "type out" seems to suggest that somebody else wrote it and you typed it out]
Abbreviations:
ORDM: Ordering manager, ordering everything needed to manage a forest fire [forest fires] from toilet paper and food to fire fighting crews and helicopters.
BCMG: Base camp manager. Manage the base camp facilities.
FFT2: fire fighter, type II. Fight the fire [fire fighting]. Type I firefighters are "hotshots" and fight fire all summer long, 14-16 hours a day, 14 days on, two days off work. I was a Type II firefighter.
Note: Grey text represents fires on my "home unit" where I was working when the fire occurred (so I could sleep at home). Numerous fires in 1992-1993 are not listed from my home unit because I did not record [did not have a record of] them.
July 2000: Sedgehead fighting the fire one cold morning with a cup of [and having] coffee. [Note: you can't fight a fire with coffee.]
- Reply rich
- Impressive！I guess it was not easy working as a firefighter and organizer. In China forest fires also occur especially in the dry fall season. And the government have to mobilize a lot of manpower and resources to put them out. So your work matters a lot.
Can you explain what a spike camp and hotshot mean? I can guess from the context but still I'm not so sure. Thanks!
- Reply louislaolu
- You are a writer now; you used to be a firefighter; you will teach in Taizhou. You have done different jobs. People say that change is the essence of life. Good for you!
- Reply sedgehead
- louislaolu: You are a writer now; you used to be a firefighter; you will teach in Taizhou. You have done different jobs. People say that change is the essence ofI spent time as a firefighter, but my main job during those years was botanist and ecologist! pH
- Reply sedgehead
- Ha! Good work!
I say "type up" because I already had a list compiled and compiled sounds very formal. I really was typing up a list from a list that already existed. I made the list during the time I was still fighting fires, so I was both the original writer and the typist. But you make a good point and I agree with you!
Worked, handled, tackled . . . your verbs are better! I agree!
Fire or fires? Usually I worked one large fire from a single fire camp and supported 200-2,000 people. Sometimes it was "fires."
As FFT2 (fire fighter, type II), my job was both to fight the fire and firefighting. We are both correct!
Did not record or did not have a record. Slightly different meanings! In the past, I did not record them. Today, I do not have a record of them. I don't have a record because I did not record them. It's just a matter of emphasis.
Last line: True! and True! You are right!
- Reply sedgehead
- Fire camp: the place where firefighters eat and sleep on a forest fire. I avoided too many details, because a fire camp is a very complex locaiton with a single person in charge (sometimes one person covers the day shift and one for nights on a large fire) = incident commander.
Spike camp: a remote base camp located away from the main fire camp and close to the fire itself for convenience.
Hotshot: There are three types of fire fighters.
Hotshots: full time seasonal firefighters hired ONLY to work fire. = Type I fire fighters.
Type II firefighters: full time but temporary firefighters. Not hired as permanent seasonal firefighters. These include full time Forest Service employees who only work fires for a few days or weeks. It also includes those hired for a few weeks for short term jobs. Examples: Native American Indian fire crews hired for a few weeks of firefighting. "Job Corp" students who get assigned to fire (Job Corp is a training organization which trains and gives jobs to young people who need education after high school age and never finished high school. It gives them a second chance to go to school and learn a skill. Type II also includes military fire fighters who are assigned to work forest fires during extreme fire seasons but normally have other non-fire work.
Type III firefighters: prisoners, who are asked to volunteer to fight fires. It gives them a chance to be away from jail during their prison term and do something different.
pH
- Reply maturebaby
- Why do you quit your job as a firefighter and to do other unrelative work. Do u write those articles for the forgetting remmenber?
- Reply sedgehead
- yaping: You r a passion man!! You r experiencing so much things during the length of ur life.. . . so many things . . .
- Reply sedgehead
- maturebaby: Why do you quit your job as a firefighter and to do other unrelative work. Do u write those articles for the forgetting remmenber?I should use these articles to write my autobiography, and sometimes I do. My autobiography is now 215,000 words long and the first two books are for sale on line.
I never worked full time as a fire fighter. I was a botanist and ecologist. But I worked fires when the US Forest Service had many fires to fight. In 17 years, I spent 270 days working fires.
Time changes things. Full time fire fighters have to be 35 years old or young when they join the Forest Service. I joined as a botanist when I was 39. I was already too old to be a full time firefighter. When I was 44 I had a problem with my back. I had a ruptured disk and surgery. I still worked a few fires but I quit going west as a fire fighter in summer. Instead I worked in fire camps.
I worked as an ordering manager. I ordered anything needed for a large fire with 1000-2000 people fighting the fire: I placed orders for firefighters, food, showers, helicopters, fire trucks, shovels, etc.
When I retired from the US Forest Service in 2008, I thought I would continue working fires as an ordering manager in the supply unit. But I decided to not do it. I was 56 years old and decided to take a slower pace in life!
