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!
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