First day as a Gila Hotshot. Thats right and I have the brick colored (pink) shirts to prove it. Today is gear issuing, CPR/First Aid and orentation. We got a tour of the facilties and pointers such as flush all bunk house toilets twice. Picked out our seats in the buggies, got issued band spank'in new packs and got to know our squad and squad boss.

Negrito Fire Base has housed Hotshots, Helitak and Smoke Jumpers. Currently its just us. We use two buggies to transport the crew members and a smaller large truck for the supervisors and extra gear.

Currently the crew is 18 strong and we expect two more hires. 18 is just enough to become available for dispatch. The plan is to train for a week and become available nationally however we will be doing controlled burns in Gila N.F. for at least a week.