BC Fire Tour - At MAX POWER!

19 Days Fighting Fires in BC
Sat. Jul 30th - Wed. Aug 18th

I can't really summarize this trip other than to say that it was spectacular; much more so than I could have ever imagined. We saw intense fire behaviour, I learned a ton, met some awesome people and took some great pictures. I apologize for the length of this post, but I couldn't cut out anymore than I already have. Enjoy!
First off, some stats:
*300+hrs - Worked in 18 days!
*4400 kms - Added to our brand new rental truck 
*12 days - We were on the fire line
Our fire:
*600 hectares - Size of our fire when we arrived
*2000 hectares - Size when we left
*40 000 hectares - Size it is today (currently the largest fire in BC)

5 days in transit: 
Cochrane to Sudbury - to William's Lake - to Prince George - to Smithers - to basecamp at Ootsa Lake
As you may have heard, BC is on fire. All over the place and growing exponentially. SOoo typically they ask for Ontario crews to come help out and our crew was one of the first ones shipped out. After making sure our bags weren't overweight, a bus with a crew from hearst already on it came to drive us to Sudbury. We flew out the next morning and landed in William's Lake, BC. The thick fog that I noticed while we landed turned out to be all smoke - the acrid smell overcame you before you even got on the tarmac!! This was when it really hit me: I was in BC in a seriously escalated fire phase, surrounded by forest fire fighters and about to experience one of the most intense experiences of my life. I almost felt a nauseous from the nervous excitement!

Our first stop was a steakhouse for our firstmass briefing. We learned that BC was experiencing fire behaviour even more extreme than last year! That night we all pitched our tents in a baseball diamond at the Stampede Grounds, as all the other hotels were full of firefighters. In the morning it was slow going, but by noon our 20-pack (5 crews of 4 people) received a dispatch and by 5:30pm we were on our way to fight fires in the north. The next two days were a blurr of driving through rolling hills, picking up equipment and after hour shenanigans which left our mark in Prince George and Smithers. It was too bad we couldn't stay in Smithers, as it was set at the base of a beautiful mountain, beside a pristine lake. Ooo well. On day 5 we backtracked a bit through Burns Lake en route to our basecamp at Ootsa Lake, which is normally used as a logging camp (in the winter months). We were the second group to arrive, but soon the camp was at its capacity and housed ~180 firefighters. It was basically fire camp heaven:
- single rooms
- hot showers
- recreation room
- and cooks provided a hot breakfast and dinner and a sandwhich buffet for brown bag lunches. Sweet!
- complete with a lake, which we all rushed to cool off in. Little did we know that we would never go swimming there again because of our hours.

11 Days on the Fireline 
Thu. Aug 5th - Day 1 Our fire was over 2 hrs away, so we woke up at 5:00am to make our 6:00am departure. Halfway I realized I forgot my crew leader's lunch!!! Soo lucky he didn't freak out completely! Upon arrival we started mopping up the fire as it was 95% contained. This consisted of patrolling 50 ft into the bush from the bulldozer line. Everything seemed dead, and only toward the end of the day did we find some smokes. To put them out we had to use the typical BC econoflo hose, which is basically a garden hose, unlike the 1"1/2 hose we use. It was definitely a learning experience because you had to be much more aggressive with handtools, as we were working with a fraction of the water and pressure that we did in Ontario.
Fri. Aug 6th - Day 2 More mop-up, in a different area, but this time we had to move a hose line closer to the fireline because they originally had it on the dozer line (aka catguard...b/c its made by a Caterpillar dozer :p) which they built 200-300 ft away from the fireline. Here we actually found some pretty deep hot spots and I got to practice nozzling :)
Sat. Aug 7th - Day 3 DUST and more DUST. It smothers the outside of our truck, coats the interior and clogs the filters; if we're too close to another truck it chokes each breath you take, so getting out first is always a race. Our radio display even died momentarily today! More hotspots today, but nothing exciting. I practiced my pulaski abilities on an unassuming fallen tree and realized that wielding a pulaski will require some practice.
Sun. Aug 8th - Day 4 Moved to a new part of the fire today and watched a prescribed burn (when they purposefully burn a portion of forest between the catguard and the fireline to get rid of excess fuel). At the time, I figured this would be the most action we'd see, so I was excited.
Mon. Aug 9th - Day 5 Devin (or DW as we now call him) was assigned pump duty for the day. Unfortunately the pumps all had major problems, so he was busy troubleshooting all day, running between the tandem set-ups. I went to turn on our own pump, which ended up having its own problems and while communicating this on the radio I got flustered and couldn't think of the proper terms. Some examples:
 - "pressure release valve" turned into "1-way" (because it only lets the water go one way is what I was probably thinking)
- "full throttle" turned into "full force" and then "MAX POWER"
Everyone on our 20-pack heard this and 'max power' turned into a running joke...o man.

Tue. Aug 10th - Day 6 The long hours are catching up to us (mostly 16/17 hour days!) and everyone is getting tired of this dead fire. The drive doesn't help us or the trucks for that matter, seeing as we have already had 7 FLAT TIRES!!! Four of these to the same truck! We did however see a coyote today. Other animals we've seen so far include a bear, moose, partridges, bald eagles and a ton of free range cows. The cows just beg to be ran into. Today started off very slow, but around 3:00pm the southwest corner of the fire started taking off and our crew went to join the other two fighting it. I saw my first tree torch right away and was spellbound. I helped drag hose through the bush and kept track of how many trees I saw torch until I realized that it would soon be impossible - the fire behaviour was too intense!   Helicopters came with some buckets and then we got pulled back to let the Airspray bomber drop retardant. To warn us of the dropzone area a bird-dog came through and did two dry runs. Hearing its siren is definitely exciting! On the second drop I managed to get some good pics. Once we returned to the hoseline, everything was covered in the red retardant its peppery smell joined the thick, smoke-filled air. By attacking the excursion fire on both sides, we managed to tie the hose lines in by 8pm. Glen said that this day was just like doing initial attack. It was definitely the most exciting day of my fire career so far!

Wed. Aug 11th - Day 7  We now have a crew song for the trip: "PornStar Dancing" by My Darkest Days. Its currently #1 on Octane, thesatellite radio rock station we listen to in the truck - look it up!
Right from the get-go today, the excursion fire from yesterday took off. We spent the whole day dealing with a ton of torching, massive spot fires, many lengths of burnt hose and lots of falling trees. Stan let me put out a flare-up where two trees were torching at the same time. I was making progress, but a helicopter came and dropped a bucket on it, which seriously helped. We finally tied our hose line in with a nearby lake and retreated for the day. Unfortunately the column looked just as big as when we went in 8 hours ago :(

By now the other fires in the area are getting bigger too, so the sky is covered in smoke almost the whole way home. Made for some cool sunset pictures!

Thu. Aug 12th - Day 8 Two bulls were fighting on the side of the road this morning! Crazy me got out of the truck to video-tape them...luckily they were pre-occupied. Today was basically the same story as yesterday, only the winds were stronger and we weren't able to catch it. We had succesfully put out a few large flare-ups, but then we found one that advanced like crazy. The wind carried the flames from crown to crown and even though we brought in hose from everywhere and were basically running beside it, it kept on going. It hit a swamp and slowed down, but soon a spotfire started on the other side and we started putting it out, but before long the wind was shifting toward us and we had to pull out of the flames. We lost a whole hoseline that day and two people's day-bags were burnt, but everyone got out alright. Everyone inhaled a ridiculous amount of smoke though and I came out with a chunk of singed hair! At this point, ground crews couldn't do anything more and we couldn't get much air support because we weren't the priority fire, so we had to watch from afar as the column grew and the fire ran up and over a hill. Its crazy how mesmerizing a column can be. I think its the sheer size that overwhelms.

Glen went up in the helicopter later and took pictures of the rank 5 fire rolling across the beetle killed pine forests. This little excursion fire ended up eating up 250 hectares in just a few hours!

Fri. Aug 13th - Day 9 Glen's lucky day: friday the 13th. Woo! The fire from yesterday was beyond our control, but even in the early AM, the area we were sent to was already taking off like crazy up the hill towards us, so we retreated. Our new assignment was to pull hose from yesterday's fire. Entering the newly burnt bush was surreal because the burnt trees, interrupted by red patches of retardant-covered moss were illuminated by this sunglasses-yellow created by the smoke filtered sunlight. Super eerie! We then prepared a guard at the bottom of the hill for a prescribed burn. Watching the bulldozers create the catguard was pretty exciting! We then proceeded to lay hose from the back of the truck - oh the comforts of a cat-guard! On the way home we stopped at a little island and every rookie proceeded to get thrown in the lake without more notice than: 'take your wallet out". Lots of fun, but super cold on the way home because I had no extra clothes.

Sat. Aug 14th - Day 10 First thing in the morning, our crew was sent to mark a bulldozer line along a new fireline and we almost made it to the catguard at the top of the hill when the fire started up again. The dozers behind us had to turn around and we ran out to the catguard just in time to see the flames jump up the trees. The wind picked up and without any further warning a large pile of blown down trees lit up and we were faced with an almost solid wall of flame. The flames pull on the wind was incredibly strong; you could feel the suction! Glen knew we were upwind of the fire, so we stayed to watch for a bit, but soon we decided to evacuate. As usual we stopped at the convenience store on the way home, but this time a little girl came up to us, pointed to the smoke hovering over the lake and asked "Does all that smoke mean we will have to get executed?" We all died laughing before we could answer her. Tonight is our last night at the camp! Even though the beginning wasn't excting, the past 10 days have swam into what seems like only a few. Tomorrow night we stay in Burns Lake, so we can start our journey home.

Sun. Aug 15th - Day 11 Resources have finally arrived on our fire, including more crews. Our crew spent the day pulling useable hose from an old line. Not the most exciting day to finish off with, but we didn't mind because we all felt pretty beat. Ten days of super long hours, hot temperatures and high adrenaline do you in! From what we could hear on the radio, the other areas of the fire were going crazy. As we drove away we saw a double bladed helicopter, which definitely means that its go-time. Once in Burns Lake, we were debriefed at the base and then headed to dinner where we toasted to a great trip. We relaxed by the lake the rest of the night, sharing stories and remembering all the funny incidents.

3 Days in Transit Reversed
Mon. Aug 16th - Bussing the 6 hours to William's Lake, where the other 150 Ontario firefighters were gathering. A local strip club was supposed to open on the weekend, but decided to open early just for us. A crazy, crazy night indeed!

Tue. Aug 17th - Before we flew to Sudbury, I stopped at the Cariboo base and saw a BC firefighter that was on my first fire with me :)
The Cariboo district was still experiencing major fires and the airport was actually clogged with helicopters! We counted 26, but there was so much smoke that it was hard to count. Incredible! Back in Sudbury we treated ourselves to The Keg, and proceeded to have one last big night together...at the Gold. Enough said :)
Wed. Aug 18th - Driving 4 hours back to Cochrane. Home sweet home! We all couldn't wait to start our two days off. It had been an incredibly amazing and unforgettable trip, but it was exhausting and relaxing had never sounded better!

Crewmember Initiation

Training, training, training - June 30 - July 11

So Paul has quit. Officially. Which meant that a new crewmember could finally be hired for our crew. He arrived at base once we got back from our our days off after our trip up north (which consisted of an incredible whirlwind trip to Montreal!!!). His name is Devin and before this he was an EFF in Kenora - part of the West Fire Region - for a month and a half, which meant he had all his training and was ready to start right away. Wooo! A full crew at last :)


Even though he was trained our crew leader wanted to see how we worked together as a crew, so we went over all the initial training again. I really didn't mind because
a) I didn't get to complete a lot of it because of how complicated my crew situation was
b) it is more fun than just being at base.

But it was hardcore! Here's some basics:

2:35 - My current pump set-up time (in minutes); It's faster than the 3:00min max, but still slower than it should be
20 - Hose lengths we laid in training
35 - Average humidex this week. Ugh!

Wednesday, June 30 - Introductions
We met our crew member today and got him all of his gear. Pretty soon he was all set up and then we had a crew meeting to explain the crew rules and expectations. We chatted a lot and I found out that he's a climber too! And apparaently, a pretty experienced one too - he's been on climbing trips in Peru and Mexico...so jealous! Although there aren't too many places around here, he's heard of a few and convinced me to buy my own harness, which is all we need because he has all of the other equipment.

Thursday, July 1st - Canada Day!!
In a random draw our crew was chosen to work the holiday. Woooo double bubble! We spent the day recycling equipment and at the end of the day Devin moved his stuff into Stan's place. It is a super cheap, but dingy room in an unfinished basement lol, but on the positive side he'll have his own bathroom and be living with a bunch of young fire-fighters from base :)
Everyone had been partying all day, so once I finished work I joined in. Such good times! Cochrane had quite the fireworks show set up on the lake too - def blew my mind!! This is Katie - Erik's sister - and I trying to be tough...yaaaaa nope

Friday, July 2nd - Pump Training
Today Glen wanted to see how Devin set pumps up and that is exactly what we did - in multiple different spots. At first we set one up together and then he started timing each of our seperate set-ups to see who could get the fastest time. Ideally you want a time under 3:00 minutes, but in competitions it should be under 2:00 minutes. I did much better than I previously had, but I was still a lil over 2:30, while Devin was just slightly under 2:30. Still need practice! I hate to say it, but the second spot was just gross. It was a shallow creek filled with shit and slime, which emitted a horrendous stench. So nasty!

Saturday, July 3rd - Pump Troubleshooting
Now that Glen had seen us set up pumps in normal conditions, it was time to troubleshoot. There's no easing into this either. He threw the whole pump into a deep creek and it was our job to fish it out, empty the water and get it started. Unfortunately there was a ton of water in it, and then the recoil broke, which meant that we had to hand-wind a piece of sash cord. If we had followed procedure and tested the pump before we left base then the recoil problem could have been caught, so the huge lesson for the day was to ALWAYS run the pump up after you sign it out of the warehouse. It didn't help that it was pouring rain the whole time lol. After two hours of fixing, multiple emptyings and even a removal of the muffler, we finally got it started. Phew!

Sunday, July 4th - Hose Lays and Complex Pump Setups

Setting up the pump is just one part of fighting a fire, so we trained hose lays today. The temperatures and humidity were ridiculously high, so before we even got started we were all dripping in sweat. Obviously we still had to set up a pump and Glen created a scenario where the Pump Tool Kit had been forgotten (this actually happens), which means we had no gas line, no rope, no electrical tape, no foot valve (a filter for the intake hose) and no tools. We found ways to get everything working in a hand-made way, although there was some gas spillage before we finally got it figured out, but all of us were soaking wet from standing in the creek. Glen was happy with the set-up and we started laying hose. Halfway through, Glen added to the scenario by telling us that a bear had chewed through the intake hose, and that we would have to re-set-up the pump without an intake hose. This requires tipping the pump head into the water and we totally messed up at first by submerging our home-made gas line. Oops! We got it working though and finished laying the rest of the hose. After a short break it was time to melon all the hose again. Then we were done and received a 'well done' from Glen. :)

Monday, Tues and Wed July 5th-7th - Rainy, Muggy and Yucky
The weather turned gross. Really gross. The temperatures stayed super high, but the humidity went even higher, leaving us sweating and taking refuge in the airconditioned trucks. The area around the vents got covered in water from the humid air condensing on the cold plastic! We spent the days preparing for the upcoming chainsaw course. My crew leader is leading it, so he had to pick a spot to cut in and make sure that all the people taking the course were ready for it.
Baseball - On Wednesday I was convinced to go out and play baseball. I hadn't played since grade 8, so I was definitely a little nervous, but it was all in good fun. I even made a big catch :)
At the end of the game they convinced me to join the MNR team, so I guess I will have to learn lol. After baseball we went to a swimming hole called 'Deadman's' because a guy drove his car into it and died about 10 years ago. There's a ten foot dock there and in true Jaana style I managed to hurt myself in the most ridiculous manner. I succesfully did a front flip, and then tried a dive, but the forward momentum propelled my legs over my head and I landed upside perfectly flat on the water. Not only did it kind of knock the wind out of me, but I got huge welts all up my left thigh, wich turned into a super angry bruise the next day :(

Thu and Fri July 8 + 9 - DAYS OFF
These were filled with relaxing, going to the gym and partying. Some cooking got in there too, and Erik's mom made us ribs on Friday. Deliciiiious! On Thursday I played my first real baseball game with the MNR team...let's just say that I need a bit of practice. Juuust a bit. But I'm determined. I also bought my climbing harness - it should arrive in about a week!  The bugs have started to get super bad though. Black flies are gone, but mosquitoes are out in full force. You see them breed all over the place.

Sat and Sun July 10-11 - Base rats again
Glen led the chainsaw course both these days, so the rest of our crew (Stan, Devin and I) were off alerts and stuck on base. A bunch of equipment came in from a project fire, so we spent the days retrieving it all. By the end of today the recycle room finally started looking normal again, without huge piles of used equipment laying everywhere. Speaking of the fire, it had a huge bear problem. Two tents got mauled (luckily no one was in them) and the bears were spotted numerous times, so all of the crews got pulled out and put in hotels. So scary!! The chainsaw course ended today and Erik passed along with everyone else - I can't wait to do mine...hopefully next year! Tomorrow we'll be a full crew again and back on alerts. In our region there were five new starts today, so as long as we don't get a ton of rain, there's a good chance that we'll be going on one soon.

North Bound

Fort Severn Etc. 

I can now say that I have been to all the most northerly communities in Ontario. On Sunday we left for Fort Severn and began our mission: creating a community safety plan against forest fires for every reserve north of Moosenee. This involved identifying water sources and measuring how much hose was required to protect the values on the perimeter of the community. In five days we traveled down the Hudson Bay coast to five reserves:

Fort Severn
Peawanuck
Attawapiskat
Kashechewan
Fort Albany

Although I was familiar with reserves, this trip has opened my eyes to a whole new type of life and served as a huge reality check. Huddeled in the midst of the Hudson Bay Lowlands, these river-side communities live a simple life full of tradition, but it is punctuated by extreme isolation, poverty, teenage pregnancy and the abuse of drugs and alcohol. But it is not the same in every reserve: some are well taken care of, with mowed lawns, clean driveways and general organization, but some are a mess of bare gravel, excess garbage and crime. Some stats of my trip:

26 - Belugas Whales
2 - dead Caribou being gutted
4 - dry reserves (empty bottles still litter the ground all over the place)
1 - times I had cell phone service (in Fort Severn)
1 - times our plane got broken into
0 - Polar Bears I saw (they don't come off the ice till July)
Uncountable - Black Flies, Horse Flies, Teepees and Big Canoes

Flying there - FIVE hours!

The only way to reach these communities is by air - the highway only goes as north as Cochrane and the train only reaches Moosenee - so we packed all our food and bags into the "Turbo Beaver", a small sea plane. We had to stop twice for fuel! Once we hit James Bay we saw the ice had started to recede and we even saw a pack of Beluga whales after we got to Hudson Bay. Flying over the landscape is extremely lonely: hardly any trees, tons of bog and absolutely no civilization for hours. What I didn't expect was the dirt runways that each reserve has - no pavement in sight!

Fort Severn

My first impression was of HOLY HORSE FLIES. They were everywhere and they were absolutely huge. Then I saw the small, rundown buildings surrounded by disorderly stacks of empty fuel barrels, garbage and rusting machinery. All of the roads were gravel and hardly any cars drove on them, but 4x4s roared around like crazy. Our Inn's windows had metal bars on the windows, because apparently the locals like to throw rocks at the windows of visitors. The police stayed at the inn as well because their building was set on fire. Because they had no jail cells they used the police trucks!!! After supper we went whale watching, and didn't see any, but two caribou were shot and we saw them get gutted. The guy's knife was totally dull, so he asked to use mine - it is now christened I guess lol. On the way home we saw a crazy bright double-rainbow. So cool!
The actual measurement process started in the morning and was easy enough, but very tedious.

Peawanuck
The difference here was like night and day. It was the only reserve that allows alcohol, but it was the nicest. The lawns had grass, which was mowed, the houses were built in neat subdivisions, there was no garbage and the neat shoreline was lined with boats in much better condition than those in Fort Severn. Our bunk house was also much nicer and even had a BBQ, so we made a delicious steak dinner.

Attawapiskat 
This was another kind of dirty reserve. It was by far the largest - even had a PizzaHut outlet! - but piles of garbage and broken down cars littered almost every yard. Interestingly though, a fire was burning outside of the town while we were there, so we went to go see it. Sweet! This evening our crew leader cooked (I usually do) and he made a deadly spicy chili. Stan got quite the sweaty brow!
To the right is the Treatment Centre for Drug and Alcohol abuse, located in the boonies outside of Attawapiskat. Love the building!


Kashechewan

Glen warned us that this would be the worst off reserve and lo and behold it was. Fires aren't really a problem here, but floods are and apparently they never clean up after them. Graffiti was definitely the worst here and weirdly enough, red Xs were painted on most of the houses. I saw a group of boys play baseball in an open area covered in gravel and garbage. I couldn't help but feel sorry for them. We didn't want to stay here overnight, so we finished our job quickly and flew back over the river to Fort Albany, the last reserve we had to create a plan for.

Fort Albany

Even from the air you could tell that this reserve had it together. On an evening walk I was able to confirm this. The houses were larger, lawns were mowed again, new log cabins were being built and it didn't have the same kind of poverty aura the others had. Although it was the nicest reserve, it was not the safest. I say this because at 3am that night our plane got broken into!! Before they set off the Emergency Locator Transmitter they blew up all the life jackets, cut a couple wires, stole a fire extinguisher and spread tuna all over the plane!! Needless to say, our pilot was super stressed. Luckily this only delayed our departure by a few hours! The flight home was much shorter than the earlier one, and we only stopped once for fuel, in Moosonee. Such a good trip!

Base-Rats

Jun 7 - Jun 19
Hanging out at Base: Fixing Equipment

So today I am supposed to become an official university graduate. But I am missing my convocation because it is just not worth my time. Driving 9 hours to wait for hours while people I don't really know walk across a stage, all just to get my own 2-second special moment, where I shake someone's hand that I've never actually met before. That is my opinion, which may be just slightly biased and a teensy bit bitter, because I do wish I was there to celebrate with my friends. I will celebrate for you up here in Cochrane :)

The past 10 days have been a blur of monotonous days on the base. The weather cooled down for awhile, so there weren't many red alerts. Not to mention that our crew member stopped showing up for work AGAIN, which essentially renders our crew useless. On a positive note, there was a ton to do around base for the first week, because equipment was coming back from the fires, which meant lots and lots to do in the workshop. Each and every single piece of equipment needs to be serviced (taken apart, cleaned, greased, fixed etc) and tagged as such before it can be used again. Even if it still works fine. So that kept is busy for quite some time.

On Friday and Saturday night we had some epic times at Thib's tavern, which resulted with a very hungover bunch of fire fighters on Sunday. But we take it in stride! When Monday finally came around I felt rested and ready to get back into being healthy, but alas, when I got to the gym in the morning I found a completely shut down building. Apparently they pumps had shut down and the ventilators weren't working, so the pool was closed, and pool's fumes were intoxicating, so the whole building had to be shut down. I was angry.

Tuesday morning was exciting because I got to accompany my crew leader and crew boss on a thermal scan of our fire, Hearst 20. It still hadn't been called out, because there hadn't been three clean scans. This was the third one. They were both strapped into harnesses so they could lean out the open helicopter doors and look at the burn with the scanners. It was mildly alarming to see them hanging out of the chopper like that, but I got to sit in the front seat, so I was too excited to be nervous for them. The front seat is definitely waaay better than the back and I got some sweet views of our old fire. We smelled a smoke a couple times, but we were unable to find it's exact location with the thermal scan. This resulted in us being sent out to the fire on Wednesday morning to look for the elusive smoke.

Being back at my old fire was very strange. All the familiar landmarks looked different because there were no pumps, no camps and definitely no hose lines anymore. Everything had been pulled out and it made it feel very lonely. I kept expecting to run into another crew patrolling their area. After a long day of walking through the burn we found nothing. We smelled it a few times and stopped to see if we could smell it again and get a direction, but nadda. But there was one exciting thing about Wednesday! Our MIA crew member finally came in and quit!!! It sounds weird, but that is great news for us because now we can finally move on. We are officially a three person crew, which means we can go on dispatches anywhere in the district and up north, but without special permission we would not be allowed out of province because of the four-person crew regulations. So three things can happen now:
- they leave us a three person crew
- they hire an EFF to fill our vacant crew member position
- they split us up and make three five-person crews

Either way I feel very relieved!

Thursday and Friday were my days off, which consisted of a ton of biking, four-wheeling, fishing and partying. Erik taught me how to cast and I caught three pike! The pike are getting slimy now, so we didn't keep any, but I was still super proud :)
There were obviously lots of patio drinks, horse-shoe games and Thib's evenings involved.

Saturday I was back at work, super tired and what not. BIG NEWS today! We are going up north to do "Community Profiling". This basically means we have to figure out how much hose we would need to protect certain 'values' (houses, buildings etc). And when I say up north I mean allllllll the way up north! We fly to Fort Severn first (the most northerly community in Ontario), and then over the next five days we will work our way south until we hit Moosenee. Due to the dangerous territory we don't camp out there, so we will be staying in hotels the whole time. Sweet! We got all of our food and supplies ready, because once we're up there most things won't be available, and the things that are will be super expensive. Kiiinda excited!

Fire #1

Fire Numero Uno - 10 Days on Hearst 20

My first real wildfire fighting experience has now come and gone in the form of 10 days in a dense mossy bush, accompanied by my crew and the bugs.

As I mentioned in my previous posts, the weather has been crazy and I was bound to get a fire soon. After working 8 consecutive days, our crew was flown out to a 219 hectare fire in the Hearst district: Hearst 20. It was Friday, May 28th and I was ridiculously excited and definitely nervous. I had been waiting for this for over a month and I couldn't wait to get there. Everything couldn't happen fast enough: packing the truck, driving to the airport, loading the helicopter. Everything.

At first the fire was very unpredictable, so we camped at the Staging Area a short chopper ride from the main burn. In the morning we flew in to lay hose at a problem area and got flown back out in the evening. After our second night the fire had calmed a bit, so we were moved to a line camp right next to a dead part of the burn. This meant our hose line was only a short walk away from our camp. By this time there were multiple crew on the fire, so the normally deserted bush was invaded by over ten camp sites, a ton of firefighters and hundreds of lengths of hose. In the background you heard the dull roar of the pumps, the hand-held radio communications and the rythmic chopping sound of the two helicopters' blades as they moved equipment and crews to more remote parts of the fire. We spent the remainder of the fire patrolling our hose line and other parts of the fire, looking for hot spots and putting them out.

Overall I learned a hell of a lot, realized I love this job and can't wait for my next fire!! Here's some figures, followed by some details:

219 - hectares of burnt and burning bush
10 - days in the bush
9 - days I ate bacon for breakfast
9 - helicopter rides
uncountable - number of granola bars, steaks and packages of beef jerky I consumed

Thursday, May 27th - Red Alert - Glen was made Incident Commander of a large fire that started on Tuesday as a 15 hectare fire, but had blown up to a 175 hectare fire by Thursday evening. As he was our crew leader, our crew was to join the forces already on site. We were on red alert at the airport, but we didn't get to leave today becase the fire got out of control and all crews were pulled off the fire temporarily.Tomorrow we would be out there for sure, so Glen told us to double check our bags that night. Our preparation consisted of beer and a bunch of rounds at Thib's tavern - we would probably be gone for awhile, so a good night out was in order.

Day 1 - Friday, May 28th  - Around 1:30pm we left for the fire. The first glimpse of the large columns of smoke on the horizon made me forget any fear I had and as we flew over the burn I couldn't take my eyes off the partially burned, partially smoking forest. Once I got to the staging area I was surprised to see Jordan Pyette there - a guy I went to high school with on Manitoulin. He's on the Timmins fire crew. Six crews were already there, including Matt and Erik's crew from Cochrane and crews from Chapleau, Hearst and the visiting BC team. By now the fire was at 219 hectares, but we had to set up camp so we wouldn't get to the line till tomorrow.

Day 2 Saturday, May 29th- 7:00am wake up to heavy dew and the other two Cochrane crews packing up. After a bunch of bacon, scrambled eggs and a granola bar we got flown to the line of the Cochrane crews had started. The fire had jumped ahead of them, so we had to move some of their hose backwards and start laying it around the new fire perimeter. By this time the fire had calmed quite a bit, so we saw a few flames, but mainly everything was just smokey. Carrying the hose pack wasn't nearly as hard as I thought, even though the bush was pretty dense and the moss was super thick. Deep water-filled sink holes hid amongst the moss and under logs and threatened to not only soak you, but trip you up too. Once our hose line was laid and we had completed a return pass we started going 50 ft into the burn to put out hot spots. Stan, my crew boss let me nozzle for awhile. I got right into it and soon I was covered in mud from the backsplash, but those hot spots got killed! The pressure gets pretty hard to handle, especially when you're close to the pump. I definitely lost control of the hose at one point lol.
It rained all night, but the waterproofer I had sprayed all over my tent worked perfectly and I woke up dry and super rested. Even my feet felt fine, despite how sure

Day 3 - Sunday, May 30th - The fire was under control now, so we were all ordered to pack up camp and move to line camps (right by the burn). Moving all the crews and then setting up camp there took all day. The ground on the line was so mossy and wet that we ended up carrying all our gear 800 ft to a slightly higher, flatter piece of ground. At first it seemed like a lot of work, but it was totally worth it to be dry, especially because it looked like we would be there for awhile. I learned how to cut poles for the kitchen tent, dig a toilet hole and build a makeshift outhouse. We were lucky and had acquired an old toilet seat from a deserted outhouse near the staging area, so it really wasn't that rough at all.

Day 4 - Monday, May 31st- 6am starts now. This morning everyone was talking about the thunderstorm that raged all night, but I slept through it all lol. I woke up to one crack, but the rain pelting my tent put me right back to sleep lol. Many more crews had arrived now - another from Timmins and one from Haliburton, as well as a bunch of "Type 2" contractor crews. They are mainly hired for mop-up, so that the inital attack crews from the MNR can be freed to attack new fires. Our crew wouldn't be leaving though, because our crew leader was the inicident commander. By now I had fully adjusted to the early morning routine, followed be a briefing with Glen and hours of patrolling the burn for hot spots. I found a few on my own! We also caught some spruce beetles in coital engagement and basically walked right into a partridge. If Stan had had his throwing knives on him we would have probably had it for dinner, but alas, they were back at camp.

Days 5-8 -Tuesday, June 1st - Friday June 4th - An AGA scan (thermal scan taken via helicopter) revealed a few smokes, so Tuesday's job was to find the GPS coordinates and put them out. Our crew was flipped out to a previously untouched end of the fire to investigate some spot fires that had burned a half hour walk away from the main burn. Getting to these "bubbles" was brutal as the bush consisted of thick, springy Alders on boggy ground. We couldn't find any hot spots and eventually met up with the Haliburton crew working toward us. A thunderstorm was building and by the time it broke over us we were starting to worry that we would be stuck there, as the chopper wouldn't be able to make it to us. A couple hours later we were finally picked up, but that was enough to make me a little nervous. While I waited in the moss, I realized how much I had talked about Alex today and came to the conclusion that I was missing him more than usual. Thinking about him and wondering what he was experiencing made me forget that I was potentially stuck in a thunderstorm. It's been almost a month since I'd heard his voice!
The rest of the days were pretty similar. Essentially a long string of patrols through the bush, broken up by random duties such as cutting a new helipad. By now I am definitely super dirty...I'm starting to cringe when I put my Nomex shirt on lol. I would always cook dinner, and this quickly earned me the nickname "Martha Stewart". Stan even wrote it on the chinstrap of my hardhat!

Day 9 - Saturday, June 5th - Another AGA scan today. It didn't turn up anymore smokes, so we had to start demobilizing the fire. This basically means clean up and pack, so we spent the day rolling hose, dismanteling pump set-ups and taking an inventory of all the axes, shovels and other equipment. There is a TON of equipment on this fire and I am cringing at the thought of it all coming back to the Cochrane base to be recycled (serviced). It was decided that a few crews would be pulled out and the remainder of the fire would be watched by the main initial attack crew and a couple Type 2 crews. Last night on the fire!!

Day 10 - Sunday, June 6th -We packed up our camp today and finished pulling the rest of the gear out of the bush today. We spent basically the whole day thinking of what all to do once we got home. A shower and a cold beer are definitely on the agenda!

Heat Wave = Escalated Fire Phase!!!

SUMMARY:
0 - Fires for me
1 - Safety Audit
2 - Helicopter Rides (Loaded patrols)

So once again I've left posting for a lil too long and the post is therefore a tad lengthy. Sorry! Overall, the weather has really picked up and is actually way above normal temperature, even way above temperatures in southern Ontario. Consistently in the high 20s and 30s, with a ridiculous relative humidity and quite a bit of lightening, which all leads to a TON of fires. Most of Cochrane's crews are on fires, so crews from BC and Timmins have been helping out. I finally have a full crew now, but no fires yet! This is my first 8-day stretch and it hasn't even seemed that long. Woo! I've almost fully adjusted up here and made a bunch of friends, so things are looking good :)


Wednesday, May 19th - Yellow on Base - Weather is great (approx 25 degrees), indeces are high and fires are popping up like crazy, but I am finding it difficult not to be frustrated. Unfortunately, our other crew member has a bad habit of taking many unexplained days off, and now he has taken another whole week off. This isn't the end of the world, as we are still considered a crew because we aren't missing a crew boss or leader, but we're still ranked as last out because we are the only 3-person crew. Grr! O well, patience is the name of the game in this profession, so I will practice mine. As calmly as possible. I spent the day recycling equipment and thinking about Michelle. Still no luck on the housing front! Also, our whole district is now a Restricted Fire Zone, which means no fires at any time. Kinda brutal for the May24 weekend, but better safe than sorry.

Thursday, May 20 + Friday, May 21st - Kapuskasing Airport - Both of these days our three-person crew was assigned to alerts in Kapuskasing (1.25 hours west). On Thursday we were yellow, second out, and on Friday we were red first out. There's been fires pretty much every day, and a small town near Timmins was partially evacuated because of a large fire that got close to town. Matt's crew went out on their first fire today, but after setting up some sprinklers (value protection for buildings) they got called off the fire, because the OPP had to investigate the scene. To put out the fire some bombers were ordered to drop foam on the area while the crew waited in a nearby cabin.
Dance, Dance - In the evening we went to a house party and then tried to get into Thib's, but it was at capacity, so we checked out the other bar in town called the Spinning Wheel. Good times!

Saturday, May 22nd - RED at Cochrane Base - We were second out today, but at the base. My crew leader and I laminated his new maps and I learned some random things around base. The weather is still super hot, and indeces are extreme (winds are high, temp is 27). On the news they said that fires have already burned 22 square kms in Ontario since the beginning of April. Because we are in an escalated phase the base has been feeding us dinner everyday. Less cooking! :)
A taste of the Long Weekend - This evening I went out to a camp at Silver Queen Lake for some long weekend festivities. Lots of brewskies, a sweet game called Apples to Apples, a ton of "washers" rounds (kinda like horseshoes), saunas and unbelievably refreshing dips in the lake. Tons of fun!

Sunday, May 23rd - RED at Cochrane Airport - We were first out for Cochrane today, so we loaded all of our packs onto the helicopter and settled down to wait for a dispatch. The picture below is stolen from Wikipedia...our helicopters look a lil different and def bigger, but the airport is the same.
Our other crew member showed up today and is apparently back for good, so I finally have a full crew. Wooooo! One of the managers was at the airport with us today and did a safety audit on us. We had to act as if we were getting dispatched and he watched us and then asked us safety questions about loading, boarding and exiting the helicopter. We all passed just fine. Later in the day we actually got a dispatch, but not for a fire. We flew over to a fire that three of our crews had been on since Tuesday, just to see how they were doing, then we checked out the status of another fire before going to investigate an area where smoke had been reported to the MNR.
Ciao Chimo! - We moved out of the Chimo motel today. Finally! Matt decided to live at the bed and breakfast 9 miles out of town (three other fire fighters are staying there temporarily) and I'm now living at Erik's parent's house. So glad they can take me in! Thank-you :)

Monday, May 24th - RED at Cochrane Airport - The temperatures are now consistently above 30, and with the humidity it is almost 40! Luckily the airport has A/C, but it was our luck today that teh power went out, so we sat there melting away. No dispatches till the end of the day, when we were sent on a loaded patrol to check out some lightening strikes out west. We didn't find anything, but at least I got another helicopter ride :)
Trailerpark Shenanigans - To cool off we had a few drinks at a fire guy's trailer and then headed out on a trike to a nearby field to watch the heat lightening zigzag across the sky. It looked amazing! And we definitely flipped the trike. Totally accidental and slightly shocking, but ridiculously funny.

Tuesday, May 25th - Last out - After three days on red, we got dropped down to yellow. Our crew leader was training a new guy today, so we were last out and I spent the day sweating and completing my fire line safety course with my other crew member. Definitely learned a lot :)
So much heat and humidity - I am definitely glad that this basement is naturally cool!

A sad day indeed. I will always remember you Michelle!

Monday, May 17th - Fishing and Saunas! - Third day off now. It's Monday though, so we headed to the gym and then drove out to Erik's camp for some beach-side fishing. I learned how to cast, but I definitely need some practice! Unfortunately there weren't any bites, so we went swimming and then decided to sauna. While the fire was heating up we BBQed and then it was sauna time! He has a sweet sauna that gets nice and hot (220 degrees). After a few cycles of sauna and swimming we called it a day and packed up to go home. It was good we did, because the sun had left and the bugs were really starting to come out. In the evening I learned that Kyle's mom Michelle, which is fighting cancer for the 3rd time, was not doing very well and had trouble breathing. I was able to say hi to her, and spent awhile cheering him up.


Tuesday, May 18th - Sad news - Michelle passed away at 10:45pm last night. She was an amazing woman, probably the bravest and most caring I will ever meet, and she will be missed by many, many people. She fought hard for three years and lived an incredible life, full of family, friends, nature and beauty. I send my condolences to her family and encourage everyone to remember all of the sweet, happy moments in her life. Rest in peace Michelle!
I spent the day collecting myself and reflecting on all the awesome times I spent with Michelle, especially how she had accepted me into her family as her own daughter. I'm going to miss her.  Eventually I got around to some errands, but mainly it was a take-it-easy day. Here she is posing in front of some heather in Scotland, her favourite country, after she beat cancer the first time:

Fire Update - There's been lots! Matt and Erik went fishing again today, but the first lake they went to turned out to be right near one of the raging fires, and they ended up having to pick up a fire-fighter that was stuck on an island because the helicopter couldn't land between the torching trees (when fire jumps up the trunks). Apparently Cochrane had three fires today already and had to send Timmin's crews to that one.