View from the truck

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The fire grew past the rock out crop on the right margin of the picture.

View from swamping

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Swamping gave me a good view of the work below. I got to lead the fire line for part of the earlier ascent.

Sun setting over Blue Mtn

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suppressant drop

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Blue Mountain Fire - What started as some guys controlled burn turned in to a large fire. Americorps arrived as initial attack. We had small aircraft support using fire suppressant (Its red stuff that has water, clay and nasty chemicals). We dug a chain then had to stop because approx. 80 employees at a rock quarry above the fire decided that throwing rocks on the fire would put out the flames. It took 4 police officers to stop them. Before then they had started to use a front end loader to dump boulders sending us running down the hill. The head Forest Service employee (Incident Commander) had a near miss with a rock a little bigger then the size of a beach ball. To add to their genius two people came down the hill with brooms and started beating on the flames to no avail. Then to top it off once we started digging line again two drunk guys on an ATV showed up with shovels wanting to help. Funny in retrospect. Reinforcements came from Cherry Hill Forest Service and I got to swamp for a Americorps alumni. Also found a big snake when swamping! Flame lengths got up to 4 feet but mostly we dealt with 1-2ft flames. In all the fire consumed 30 acres of grass and brush.

Hiking into Quigley

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Smoke in the hills

Hand crew

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High winds kept the fire active most of the afternoon and keeping us in the smoke.

Emily looking bad ass with her saw

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Lookin dirty

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I'm on the left, Eric, Emily, Aaron

Quigley Fire - Second fire in a row. The location was near Crown Point Gulch but far more remote. We worked with the Alpine Hotshots who did the Initial attack. We dug approx. 2 chains of fire line on the steep slope. I got to work with my team leader who was the Americorps sawyer. My job was swamper which means you move the brush that the chain saw creates at the head of the fire line work. We got to work around some good size flames, enough to get my boots hot! Our first encounter with Alpine didn't go well. It turns out that the Alpine Hotshots know how to rhyme Americorps with the word whore. Creative yet inappropriate use of fire line flagging. Sounds like our supervisor had a nice word with their crew boss. The fire was summed up around 4 acres started by lighting.

The crew

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The fire was at the top of the hill in the back ground. Our team got designated the "A" team by the Hotshots. In reference to the old TV show with Mr.T. Cool guys.

Hot spots!

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Taking care of your feet is extremly important. A blister can make a long day on your feet miserable.

Searching for hot spots

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We dig our hands around in the ash looking for heat. In order for the fire to be considered fully suppressed we have to either mix heat with mineral dirt and sometimes water.

Blivet Drop

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Can't really see the Blivet because of the smoke and ash. The helicopter ran several runs all day.

Crown Point Gulch Fire - Two days spent near Fort Collins. First day dug a chain and 1/2 of hot line (Chain = approx. 66ft). Most of the fire was under control thanks to the Pike Hotshots that spent the night working. We got to mop up for the better part of two days using water blivets. These are large water bags that are air lifted to a remote fire using helicopter. Using water speeds up putting out hot spots exponentially. Also the area was 70% damaged by insects in the 80's. This meant that on top of burned out trees we had to keep a constant heads up for falling snags (snags are standing dead trees). In the end the fire was 2.8 acres and the cause was lighting strike.

View from the trail

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popular location for off-highway vehicle use, the area is in need of more non-motorized pathways for hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians. Once finished, the trail will access high mountain desert environments with never-ending views of the Arkansas Valley and Collegiate Peaks.

VOC. Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado is a trail building and maintenance group. Five of us drove through snow and slush to get to the Davis Meadow Trail in the San Isabel National Forest. We set out to build a walking trail in a mostly motorized recreation area. About 40 other volunteers and us built rock walls and dug trails up the side of a an old logging area. Word spread quickly that the Americorps "kids" work fast and well. Over Saturday and Sunday we alone build 2 large rock walls, a set of stairs and a couple hundred feet of the five mile trail. The other volunteers were great people and they provided for all our meals as well as live music and a keg Saturday night. Turns out the VOC full timer we meet is a Americorps alumni and Fairport, NY native. It was one of the best weekends I've had in CO.

web site: http://www.voc.org/

Two Americorps teams and Forest Service

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Storm king is in the back ground and you can see the fire line that was dug in 1994 if you look just above our heads.

View of where they fell

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Hiking in line up Storm King mtn

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Geared up and hiking in line

Storm King Mountain. On July 6 1994 a fire killed 12 wildfire fighter and 2 helitech on Storm King Mountain in CO. As a part of our training we hiked to their memorials. Its a sad story and a wake up call to the dangers involved in wild land fire. Long story short they broke 8 of the 10 standard fire fighting orders and 12 of the watch out situations that we abide by. A cold front blow the fire at 35 feet per second and they made it within 200ft of safety. Needless to say the mostly jovial nosey group was very quiet today.

Strap in

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See the bean bag formed to the "broken" leg

Trusting?

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The rig flipped

Rocky Mountain Search and Rescue. Over the course of the summer Americorps gets called on to assist in large search operations in the Colorado region. For example last year a parks ranger went missing in CO (I think it was national news) and the wildfire teams helped in search efforts. Today the rescue team was training us on "back board" extraction. Due too the large number of climbers and hikers the rocky mountain region has developed a lot of the equipment that will with stand the geography. Their back board is a bean bag in a steel basket. The bean bag is formed to the person then the air is pumped out fitting it tightly enough to restrict all back and neck movement. Much like stretch arm strong if you remember those toys. Its extremely comfortable compared to the wood or plastic ones you typically see.

web site: http://www.rockymountainrescue.org/index.html

Promotion. Each Americorps team has two ATL's (Assistant Team Leaders). Basically you help with paper work and some minor team management. Kelly one of my teams ATL's was forced to go on medical leave. She is the one with me in the pictures of the Bean in Chicago. Hopefully she will be back with us soon. In order to keep two active ATL's I've been given the responsibility in her place. I'd rather it have been other circumstances. Come back soon Kelly!