After training for months, and a rainy/quiet AK fire season, our crew was called down to California to work on one of the 12000 odd fires down there, almost all caused by an intense bout of lightning in July. We were sent to the Canyon Complex (a complex is a regional operations hub where upper tiers of command are located, along with staging fire crews, engines, supply, planning sections, GIS, etc.) near the headwaters of the Feather River in Plumas National Forest. We were shuffled through a few different fires before being sent to Feather Creek spike (a secondary camp set up to allow for quicker regional access). Here we worked on the Frey fire, cutting a line through the trees and brush, then backfiring it towards to main body of flame, so that when the fire moved towards what we cut, there would be less fuel to sustain it, reducing its insensity and likely stopping it in its tracks (if all goes well). Hotlining, is one of the most intense and fun operations we did. Cutting down burning trees, running back and forth with the hoses, and making sure the fire didn’t jump the line and ruin our work requires everyone to work in concert, work hard, and stay on their toes at all times

Basically, the most fun piece of this job is that when there is fire on the line the job can’t be cheesed, faked, fobbed, half-assed, or phoned in. People put their all in to the work they do in an efficient and intelligent manner while keeping an eye on each other’s 6; everyone working harder so the guy next to them doesn’t have to, which makes for a great environment and a tight crew.

Basically I like it, and I’ll likely be doing it again.

In the meantime it’s back to Juneau for the winter doing ski patrol at Eaglecrest in December, in Bethel AK for some cutting in November, and likely cycling between Bellingham WA and Arcata CA during late sept/oct, but who really knows. I’ve been busy trying to get picked up by an IHC outfit (the top level besides smokejumpers in firefighting) from the lower 48, as all the open AK slots got filled, but have plenty of good recommendations and qualifications and all that junk. Again, its a competitive environment, and operates well as such. We’ll see what the next few weeks bring.

]]> http://www.madape.org/2008/08/firewhirls/feed/ 3 http://www.madape.org/2007/09/and_the_winner_is/ http://www.madape.org/2007/09/and_the_winner_is/#comments Thu, 20 Sep 2007 03:22:03 +0000 peter http://www.madape.org/?p=112 In the recently released Beyond DeLay Report, 22 memebers of congress were cited as having a hand in rather unscrupulous dealings. Of these, all three memebers of Alaska’s congressional delegation were cited. Sen. Ted Stevens, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and Rep. Don Young. One more scolding to add to a long sordid list. Shame.

-Peter

ps, Juneauites, you should all direct yourselves to JDHS on the 28th @ 6pm for our first Critical Mass! Drinks at Silverbow afterwards.

Secondly, the Juneau Empire just posted their ‘Neighbors’ section for tomorrow, and an editor-friend of mine gave me the heads that some pics from a JMR training a while back are in there (see it here, not sure how long the link is good for).
okay, thats it for the plug-of-the-day

-P

ps, just trained with Stowe Mtn. Rescue (SMR) today, seems like they have a good team. I will hopefully get another chance to do some more rope work with them sometime soon, but their next training is during the MRA conference. Utah, or Bolton, VT? Hmmm, choices…

pps, SMR has moolah up the wazu from fatty FEMA grants, a funding source I have yet to examine for some JMR projects….

While many rescue groups have difficulty acquiring funding across the nation,
the group I’m working with in AK has what seems to be a rather unique method of funding. Much like the way the VT education fund is given all profits from scratch and lottery ticket sales, a percentage of pull-tab sales (much like scratch tickets and the only legal form of gambling in the state) goes to our group, providing reliable, steady income. Having a steady funding source is rare except for federally funded (read: military or forest service), or municipally funded (usually sub-divisions of fire depts) groups.

Military search and rescue (SAR) is usually reserved for their own, and often operate overseas. The exceptions to this rule are the Coast Guard patrols, which are restricted primarily to maritime regions. We are fortunate enough to have one of two AK USCG helibases within 70 miles. These pilots are the best in the business, as they fly regularly in some of the harshest conditions the country has to offer. In fact, the flying is so difficult up here, that every USCG pilot is required to do at least a 1yr tour in AK, either in Sitka (near us) or in Kodiak, in the Aleutians. While its great to have the mobility of a helicopter, there is also a strict limitation in terms of flying weather, available manpower for ops, and in situational circumstances (i.e. helis: they’re great, fast, and convenient, but they can’t do it all). These guys are career professionals.
Forest service SAR teams are restricted to areas of USFS jurisdiction, and are found only in park areas where an extremely high liability is perceived: Denali, Rainer, etc. These are often seasonal, paid climbing rangers who are able to call in additional help if needed, but primarily operate within their own organization using nearby climbers to provide fast response (mountaineers are usually trained in self and group rescue techniques specific to the glacier and mountain environment). Perhaps the one exception where there are paid climbing rangers on a state level would be the rangers of the Shawnagunks near New Paltz, NY (an amazing place!).

Municipal/Country SAR teams are usually fire dept. branches, and operate under the NFPA (national fire protection association) standards, which can be limiting, as they are designed with a more urban setting in mind. In fact, in Juneau we have one through CCFR, which overlaps with our mission somewhat, though they tend to stick to the road system, while we operate more in the back country and do all the searches. Municipal teams are usually all volunteer, but often have a paid director. JMR strictly volunteer, funded only by the pulltabs (only 5 other organizations in the state have this deal, and only one of those is SAR), and fueled by many generous donations from businesses and individuals.

There is effectively no direct compensation for teams, all that time, training, and execution in a callout. However, there is compensation for gear lost in the so-called ‘line of duty’ (how much duty is assumed when you are a volunteer? That is a whole other legal, ethical, and personal debate for another day).

The reason this comes up is I had the pleasure/pain of participating in my first full blown technical rescue the other day. I’m not going to launch into the details, but it was a great experience to put under the belt (you can read the articles below, the press got it sort of right). I basically tore up a bunch of gear in the process, and its all gotten replaced, which feels weird. The biggest thing to go was a pair of Mammut goretex pants, ~$350. All of a sudden, I’m getting materially compensated by the state (through which we are authorized to act) for something that was previously considered, well, not a big deal. We just had a big debrief tonight, rehashing the whole operation, critiques were made, lessons reviews, etc. I started this post a few days ago, when things were pretty intense, but now I seem to have run out of steam on it,

so cheerio,

News Links:

KVTA (anchorage news brief)

JNU Empire (you may have to make a free account, but this is the closest thing to the full story; also, Jrad is wearing my jacket; also, it may have be 8h for him, but it was 12h for Jim and I: first in, last out baby!)