Mansfield Fire. 750 acres, 28th-1st, Nogales AZ. The first day we flew into the fire and chased it putting in hand line. We got nailed by a retardant drop, got a few pictures of it. Several other hotshot crews showed up on the first and second days.

On the second day we dug indirect line down a extremely steep drainage and burned off the hand line. At 3pm the fire picked up and jumped Carson IHC's line just above our position. Carson was due to get a heli ride off the hill and time out their 14 days. So, Gila IHC got to chase the slop over. We ended up working into the night and sleeping on our packs. Cold night for me. Our bed down spot was on a trail the goes from Mexico to AZ. Didn't see any "hikers".

Range 9 fire. 320 acres. Located in Fort Huachuca's shooting range. Started by gun fire. Gila put in hand line during the morning hours then burned off a road into the night. I was picked to help with interior ignitions during the burnout. That meant I got to use the gun (shots something like a flare to start fires) and grenades (explode like a fire cracker). Fun fun fun. Whats not so fun was when unexploded ordinances started going off in the distance due to the fires heat. That ended the interior burning operations.

Fierro Fire. 54 acres. On the 24th we got called of the Stockton Pass RX for a fire on the Gila N.F. This was not good news for us. In order to get R&R we need 14 days straight of work. Once we left AZ we lost our spot in Douglas for large fire preparedness. Chance are we go home after the Fierro fire. When we arrived they had called in three other hotshot crews. The fire was small enough for it to get lined and mopped in one day.

On the 25th we headed home for Negrito loosing our chances at getting 14 days. We stopped in Silver City to make calls to SWICC and possibly get on another fire. It turned out the Silver City hotshots got the large fire preparedness spot in Douglas AZ that we had. SWICC couldn't contact the supervisor from Silver IHC who took off for regular days off. In a twist of fate SWICC gave us the dispatch to Douglas again. So... on the road to AZ again.

Stockton Pass RX(21st-23rd). On the 21st we got sent to Staford AZ. The Stockton Pass RX (20,000 acres) had slopped over the controlled burn area and was at risk of being classified as a wildfire. The crews on the burn timed out on the 21st and one type 2 crew couldn't handle the desert heat any longer. Over night they lined the slop. We mopped up in the morning when arrived.

On the 22nd they continued with aerial ignitions. Basically throwing ping pong balls full of gasoline out of a helicopter. Gila was assigned to hold a road for spot fire which was around 2 miles long with 20 people. We had several engines for back up. Around 3pm the fire activity picked up due to wind changes and the ignitions. Soon after we discovered the burn boss ignited a strip of land the was not intended to be lit. The crew was rush into a burn out operation to buffer the fire from the road. I got put on a chain saw to cut windows into the tall thickets. We do that so you can try to find small burning embers that can turn into spot fires. The winds push at us for most of the burn. We didn't get any spot fires however we put out dozens of burning embers. In the end the everything worked out but it was a hot one.

Large fire preparedness. Traveled to Douglas AZ to stage for fires. We didn't get any fires from the 17-20th. To keep us busy we stacked sticks at Chiricahua National Monument for winter pile burning.

View from 5 Springs Fire

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Camera Batteries died shortly here after.

Joshua Fire

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View from camp. Taken while eating some tasty hot buckets.

Joshua Fire

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Hitting political smokes.

Joshua Fire

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Tired and ready to bed down

In route to the Joshua Fire

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Time to get out the head lamp!

bone piles

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Taking a break from the heat of the bone piles. If your not careful you can burn your feet or your beard

Apache Fire

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We had just bumped off from completing the hand line and are taking a break. Later the Apache Fire would jump the line after being left unattended an engine crew.

5 Springs Fire. 7.5 acres. We're beginning to feel like the 8 acre Hotshots. We arrived on this fire as the winds started to pick up. It had real potential to get up and run but it never happened. We had it lined with the help of Silver City IHC by mid day. About that time the unattended Apache Fire which we had been on earlier had spotted over the line and was ripping. It ended up about 60 acres. We could see the smoke column from 5 Springs. Since we had been on since 6am and Silver IHC came on at 9am they got to IA the Apache Fire. Leaving us to start mop-up and hold the line during the heavy wind gusts.

By the 7th the 5 Springs Fire looked like a bomb went off from all creaters the stump holes we dug up left. Dewey also made the decision to give us two days off with no restrictions. Normally we can't go more then 2 hours from Negrito. If you do leave, even for a run, you have to bring a radio. I think I'm going to go fishing for most of it. Got to use my new pole!

Joshua Fire. 8.5 acres. By morning the whole crew had arrived on the fire. Those of us that hiked the night before had to sleep in due to the 16 hours on, 8 hours off, restrictions. We spent the day bone piling, digging out stump holes and moping-up close to the hand line.

Tomorrow the winds are predicted to be 25-30 miles per hour. The IC of the Joshua Fire made certain that we would be released on the 6th and be available for IA's.

Apache Fire. For several hours dry lighting hit the Gila NF. That lighting set off a bunch of new fires and sleepers (fires that are to small to be noticed). My squad was sent to the helitack base in Reserve to stage for initial attack. While waiting we did thinning around the district office. Before noon we got dispatched to the Apache Fire sizing about 8.7 acres. The other squad would meet us there ASAP. We dug line and bone piled heavy fuels. Before we had a chance to began mop-up we got called to the Joshua Fire. It took us the rest of the daylight hours to drive to the fire. When we arrived the route to the the fire from the road wasn't flagged. So, Dewey used his GPS to guide the night hike. After a long hike up hill Dewey discovered the coordinates were in Min, Sec and he was in Min, Min. Which put us off point more than a quarter mile. When we arrived on the fire it was almost completely lined and we headed back down the hill about an hour later.

Moon tower

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After sunset from the old Negrito lookout tower.

Copenhagen challenge

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If Jesse can hold down one can of Copenhagen for 30 min he'll be 200 dollars richer. He got to a solid 17 min. However, the end wasn't pretty

Elk shed

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found on the shelley fire

Silver City IHC heli spot

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Relaxing around the fire

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Shelly Fire - sun set

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Day 2 - sparring

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From Shelley Fire - wilderness

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Shelley Fire - JP, Pine and ground fuels

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Shelley Fire - Unloading

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Shelley Fire - Wilderness from Helicopter

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Shelley Fire - Take off

IMG_2357, originally uploaded by stevempassmore.