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!

The Group

IMG_1276, originally uploaded by stevempassmore.

Word of the day "raw"

Left Hand Canyon Fire

IMG_1267, originally uploaded by stevempassmore.

Shows the black and some Americorps mopping up.

First fire! Only hours after receiving our red cards (official wildfire certification) we got our first fire call. 3 NCCC's got called to a controlled burn in Northern CO. The fastest any NCCC team has been called into action. Then at midnight we all got the call that our whole team would be sent to Left Hand Valley at 6:45am for a 3-acre fire. The Roosevelt Hot Shots got the fire under control over night using a fire line (dirt dug to mineral soil). At around 9am we drove our trucks a mile into an off road recreation trail. The type that people bring modified Jeeps on (raw!). Our job was to mop up the fire. Which means to smother any hot spots until there is no possibility for the fire to reoccur. Not glamorous work but it represents about 50% of the job. Most of the day was spent digging up burning roots and on occasion some flames would pop-up.

In the pictures you can see that most of the trees didn't burn. The area was burned a few years ago so most of the fuel was on the ground. Leaving the trees to far apart to light up. The cause of this fire is still under investigation but it looked like campers using an uncontrolled fire, firearm or firework started it.

Arapahoe/Roosevelt National forest

Arapahoe/Roosevelt National forest, originally uploaded by stevempassmore.

I have a feeling it will look like we take a lot of breaks... we don't its just the only time to take pictures.

Arapahoe/Roosevelt National forest

Arapahoe/Roosevelt National forest, originally uploaded by stevempassmore.

Picture taking is the last priority on a fire so I didn't take to many pictures

Mock fire. Our day was designed to be a fire situation simulation. The forest service took us to an isolated area of the Arapahoe/Roosevelt National Forest. After being briefed we set out to dig a fire line to contain the fire. They used simulated water drops and fire behavior (CO has 2 million dollars for air support this year). We did about six hours of fire line. Normally it will be an initial attack of 16 hours. As for the land it is going to be a controlled burn later this season. So the line we dug will be used at some point.

backpack

IMG_1245, originally uploaded by stevempassmore.

Hands on. Training today was all about equipment use and maintenance. We got issued our backpacks and PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). The stuff is all well worn and of government quality (i.e. holes and chain grease stains). Our packs full of 6 quarts of water weigh no less then 45 pounds and up to 65 pounds. To end the day we set off backfire ordnances such as fire grenades, magnesium flares, drip torches and flare guns. To much fun!

Fire proof boots

IMG_1243, originally uploaded by stevempassmore.

Training. Wednesday marks the last day of classroom training for the Forest Service. So far the training has been a crash course in wildfire safety, theory, communication and technique among other things. The forest service places a lot of emphasis on safety since the risks are high. Mostly we just run faster then the wind then hide.

We got our boots today. My guess is that they cost around $200-250. Custom made all leather, Kevlar laces and a nice 3-inch heel. No steel toe since that would get really toasty standing on hot embers and coals. If you want to imagine the fit... they feel like your standing on the rungs of a ladder. The high heel is in place so that one can stand better on an incline for extended periods of time. To break them in I soaked them in warm water then walked three miles. Resulting in some hot spots.

Well.... Yeah not much going on. Transition week has come and gone. Transition is just a time to have performance reviews and present project reports, not to mention much needed relaxation and reuniting with other teams. Monday marks the beginning of wildfire training with the forestry service. Want to memorize the standard firefighting orders? I have to, so you should...

STANDARD FIREFIGHTING ORDERS
1. Keep informed on fire weather conditions and forecasts.
2. know what your fire is doing at all times
3. Base all actions on current and expected behavior of the fire
4. Identify escape routes and safety zones, and make them known
5. Post lookouts when there is possible danger.
6. Be alert. Keep calm. Think clearly. Act decisively.
7. Maintain prompt communications with your forces, your supervisor and adjoining forces.
8. Give clear instructions and insure they are understood.
9. Maintain control of your forces at all times.
10. Fight fire aggressively, having provided for safety first.

Last chance. Today marks the last weekend in Chicago. I visited some of my favorite sites around downtown. Got a Cohiba (Cuban cigar) and relaxed on the beach. Then eat a filling Mexican meal and had a few Dos Equis.

chicago sights

IMG_1219, originally uploaded by stevempassmore.

This is in the Chicago Cultural Center looking at a Tiffany stained-glass dome.

The bean

IMG_1213, originally uploaded by stevempassmore.

Again I have to post a picture of this sculpture.

View inside the bean

IMG_1212, originally uploaded by stevempassmore.

Again the bean rocks!

IMG_1202, originally uploaded by stevempassmore.

A little info

IMG_1210, originally uploaded by stevempassmore.

The artist is Anish Kapoor and the title is "Cloud Gate". Anish hates that people call it the bean.

Millennium Park

IMG_1215, originally uploaded by stevempassmore.

Ummm Cohiba

IMG_1230, originally uploaded by stevempassmore.

Sleep out for homelessness. As part of Americorps we all have to do 80 hours of community service. This Friday a group of us participated in the PACT (Public Action for Change Today) national sleep out. The idea was to get mayor Daley to listen to PACT's requests for youth homelessness funding. Then when he refuses to listen to the requests sleep out in Daley Plaza in front of his offices. Our group of Americorps was in charge of security, emergency planning and general safety of the participants.

sleep out

IMG_1173, originally uploaded by stevempassmore.

night time view in Daleyville

burr sleep out

IMG_1178, originally uploaded by stevempassmore.

yes thats rain on the lens. it was cold and rained a little during the night.

sleeping out

IMG_1180, originally uploaded by stevempassmore.

Take to the streets. The final tax push is on until the IRS deadline of April 15th. For the last couple days 3 team members and myself have been driving the van around Chicago. We are delivering information about the Tax Assistance Program to non-profits like libraries and career training centers.

Getting fitted for fire boots tomorrow. Check out this cool (I should say HOT) article.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4520560,00.html

3 year anniversary of the Iraq war.





-Flag dancers.



-Some random people gave us some cool signs.

More save Americorps NCCC articles:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11824180/site/newsweek/from/ET/

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/14/opinion/14tue3.html?ex=1143003600&en=acdf82e529cc3268&ei=5070&emc=eta1

This is an office email I received that explains one reason we are doing taxes for low income people.

I ran across this article concerning H&R Block and a fraud case currently against them. I know that many of the clients you serve have used tax prep agencies like this before finding out about the Tax Assistance Programs, so I thought that I would send you the link. Your teams may want to read over it and discuss the implications of for-profit agencies like H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt in terms of how these agencies relate to the working poor who need instant tax refunds.

Article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11839807/

Chicago Board of Trade. We took a tour of the CBOT today. A trader was kind enough to show us around the floor and explain the process of trading commodities.



Traditional trading floor - that means hands flying around and traders yelling at each other.



Electronic trading floor - much more subdued

St. Patrick's Day! The city of Chicago celebrates for a full week and kicked off the festivities with a parade and dying the river green. We walk around Navy Pier and checked out the view from the top of the John Hancock building. The Wrigleyville area where I live has been a sea of drunken green t-shirts.



Playing with the sculptures at Navy Pier



The river dyed with fluorescein



This thing is cool

Day off. Used this time to explore the Chicago L train stop. It dropped us off near Michigan Ave in a area known as the Magnificent Mile. It wasn't too magnificent today since it was 20 degrees and snowing with a nice westward wind. However, we enjoyed a brisk walk in Tiffany's, Saks and Armani country.

Taxes. That’s what the cool kids do at 6:30 Saturday morning. Spent the day helping to run a TAP satellite site. I made sure the assembly line style service we provide ran smoothly. Made a record for client with the most W-2 forms, totaled at 11 for one year. Also saw a couple 3 thousand dollar returns.

In the evening a couple of us went to a show at the Metro. It is a local venue about a 1/2 block from our apartment. The band Aqualung was headlining an 11:30pm show. In case anyone hasn't heard of Aqualung (I hadn't either) they have a Coldplay type sound. To read all the great things I have to say about the show read below:

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Americorps in the news. The Washington Post had an article about Americorps and the NCCC program. When I looked at it today it was in the top ten most viewed articles.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/27/AR2006022701190.html?referrer=emailarticle

Check out the Alumni created save americorps NCCC site:

http://web.mac.com/thomashowardjr/iWeb/Site%203/SAVE*NCCC%20Info.html

Taxes... TAP's office is located in donated space on the 91st floor of the Sears Tower. We arrived at 9am and proceeded to be trained to use tax software. During the course of the morning we got to meet the staff. Most of who have been in Americorps Vista or NCCC programs. Bob the founder started TAP when he was 22 in 1994 and can be safely described as a type A personality. I gather he likes analogies, baseball, fast cars and beer. No doubt I'll be describing more of TAP in the near future. From about 5 till 9pm we set up 20 laptops at a local high school and helped 50 people file tax forms. It was hectic to say the least.

Welcome to Chicago! We have arrived in one piece. In case you want to google earth our address its 1151 Waveland IL, 60613 (we do not receive mail at our apartment so keep using the Denver one). Wrigley field is visible from the front of the building. Our living accommodations are unbelievable two floors, six bedrooms and two baths for the 10 of us. I feel extremely spoiled since the rest of Americorps is working for FEMA and living is large red tents... Ok, I'm over it!



-Housing is provided by our sponsor TAP



-Living room and Dan (he's that guy in high school that tried to get in every picture in the year book).



-One of the single rooms

Tomorrow we will begin six weeks of doing taxes for immigrants and poor Americans in the metro area. After that its fire season in CO!

On the road again. We get 5 dollars per meal for road trips. McDollar menu! Some of our activities have been the classic Mad Libs, playing with the government radios, ipod transmission (music), 20 Questions (this little machine that can guess what your thinking and it really works, weird) and reading books or Cosmo.



-couldn't have described Nebraska better myself

Chicago. First day on the road. For safty each driver can drive a max of 2 hours at a time. The van can only drive for a max of 8 hours a day. Today we made it to Aurora, Nebraska.

Graduation from training day. Yuppie!



-Dorms freshly straightened for inspection before leaving for Chicago

Team positions. Each team member is given a choice of jobs with in the group. Varying from spike grocery shopping to writing daily reports. My official jobs are Vehicle Specialist and Photographer. Both of which I think I can handle.

ISP (Independent Service Project). While in Chicago and over the course of the year we are required to implement 80hrs of ISP. Basically all we have to do is work with non-profit organizations. Some examples are food pantries, habitat for humanity and tutoring.

Quote of the day: Be flexible from the "F" to the "E".

Unit hike. The entire Earth Unit went for a hike today at Rocksborough state park.

BIG news. 80% of the Americorps NCCC recourses and projects are being routed to hurricane Katrina. Teams from all of the campuses are being pulled from scheduled projects. As for me it seems that I'll be still in Chicago. Word has it that the mayor of Chicago, Richard Daley, requested that our two wildfire teams not be pulled to the coast.

This doesn't reflect the views of NCCC. I feel that the head of NCCC is making an effort to gain media attention by moving the resources to the coast. In coming months look for coverage of some school openings and large habitat of humanity projects in Louisiana.

Finally found out where I'm staying in Chicago: Waveland Ave. near Wrigley Field. Awesome! We are getting YMCA membership as well as an unlimited Metro Pass.

REI. Denver has the mother of all REI stores. The building used to be a train station now it has three floors of outdoors gear. Spent the day in and around the city.

Welcome to Nederland. A small hippie town which I will call home while working for the forest service. The wildfire crew visited the facilities and got a tour and preview of the months ahead. Things such as navy "sewl" workouts and chainsaw appreciation days. All the full time fire fighters used to be smoke jumpers or hot shots. That means they kick ass and take names. I didn't have time to take pictures. I should be able to take some soon.

Final Teams! All of the final teams and first round projects have been announced. Details on the project I've been assigned to are as follows.

Location: Downtown Chicago area. 91st Floor of the Sears Tower.
Project: One day a week helping the less fortunate with tax forms for TAP (Tax Assistance Project). Four days a week traveling to local low income area high schools and promoting FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid).
Living arrangements: None yet
Perks: Unlimited metro pass, gym membership and lots of PT.
Departure: Should be the 25th

Summary of last few days... Continuing class work. Lots of PT (Physical training). Played a new card game for wild fire training. Here is how to play:
1) Shuffle a deck of cards and split into two piles
2) Set the piles 50 yards apart.
3) Flip the first card over. Do military sit-ups according to the corresponding card (jacks 15, queen 20, king 25 and joker O)
4) Sprint to the other half of the deck. Do push-ups corresponding to the cards.
5) Sprint back and repeat process with team members.

Food bank. Rob check out our super cool uniforms.




Note: green shirts indicate a team leader or "TL"

Now for the good news or the "other" news?
GOOD-I've been accepted into the Earth Unit in the wildfire team. Being a part of wildfire will change my experience. Instead of traveling to spike projects I will be traveling to fires. The teams are two crews of 10. Since we are a special exception the powers that be told us our first project. It involves doing taxes for low income family's in Chicago while we train for the fire season. I guess since I'm low income I can do my taxes at work.

OTHER-The Bush administration has chosen to cancel funding for the Americorps NCCC program starting 2007. I'll be posting more information as the Denver corps members take action. Since I'm a government employee I can't express my opinions or those of Americorps NCCC. However, you can. I'll be posting more information as it comes my way. Keep in mind congress has a chance to over ride the Bush changes.

Loveland. Today was reserved for snow. The ski resort Loveland peaks at approx. 13,000. The trails run high atop the Continental Divide. Its only an hour away from campus and on this day had six inches of fresh powder. Reminiscent of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Forgot my camera but trust me it was unreal. Superbowl cleared the slopes around noon. Go Pittsburgh!

FIRE! Wildfire team tryouts today rain or shine. The try outs involve a mile run, 2 minutes of push-ups and 2 minutes of sit-ups. I would say about 50 corps members turned out to cheer. I'd post some pictures however I was busy running. Results will be posted on the 7th.

I'm all caught up with posts now! That's all I have to say. Wish me luck in the fire tryouts.

PT baseline. That means a 1.5 mile run, 1 min push-ups and 1 min sit-ups. Lets just say that smokers were passing me. Not looking good for the fire tryouts.
14 min run, 35 push-ups and 52 sit-ups.

Cup half full? Leaves room for plenty of improvement.

Welcome! As some of you may know I arrived in Denver on January 24th to begin working with Americorps NCCC. In brief, Americorps is a community service and disaster relief program. NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) is an entity of the public trust. That means you are paying for me to be here in Denver with your tax dollars. Our motto is "getting things done" or as we say in passing "Get-R-Done!". Please feel free too bookmark this page and check up once in a while to see what I'm up to and where your tax dollars are going.

More info on Americorps NCCC is available at http://www.americorps.org/about/programs/nccc.asp

PS This site is a work in progress so be patient as pictures and posts will get added irregularly.

Fire team. To fight fire or not to fight fire? In NCCC we are given a rare chance to be certified as a Type 2 Hand Crew. What’s a Type 2 Hand Crew? Oh, well the USFS (United States Forest Service) will train 18 of us as wild land firefighters to assist with wild land fire emergencies. Basically they train you to run 6 miles at 8,000 feet (headed up hill) then hike 6 miles with 45-80 pounds on your back. In addition, most likely carrying a chain saw. Sweet! CO is expected to have its driest season in years. Which correlates to plenty of action. Tryouts are Saturday and I'll post the results ASAP.

Water Unit... This quote was found in the city hall building, seemed appropriate.

Here is a land where life is written in Water the West is where the Water was and is Father and Son of old Mother and Daughter following Rivers up immensities of Range and Desert thirsting the Sundown ever Crossing a hill to climb a hill still Drier Naming tonight a City by some River a different Name from last nights camping Fire

Look to the Green within the Mountain cup look to the Prairie parched for Water lack Look tto the sun that pulls the Oceans up look to the Cloud that gives the oceans back Look to your Heart and may your Wisdom grow to power of Lighting and to peace of Snow

Thomas Hornsby Ferril

Free time? Found a person with a car, Adam. Cars are a hot commodity since few people brought them. A couple us piled in and drove to Garden of the Gods. Check out the pictures. We hiked all 8 miles of trails and chilled out for a wicked sun set.



My roommate Steve and I. Steve is also referred to as Hawk (his last name is Hawkinson).



My eye view of the sun set.



My shadow.



Album cover photo shoot. (Adam, me, Steve, Kelly)

Physicals! Yes that means peeing in a cup and getting shots. On the bright side no head turn and subsequent cough. In the PM a group of us explored the SW Denver bar scene. Its a choice between the 4-G's (Guacamole, Gorditas, Gauchos and Gringos) and Carol's. The acronym is our creation.

Scavenger hunt! Traveled all over downtown Denver. Got free entrance to the art museum thanks to some nice Coloradoans.



View outside of DAM (Denver Art Museum)



Native American dream catcher (similar to Kelly's one with the snakes).



View from the dinning hall. The campus is the highest point in the city of Denver.

Driver training day! Ever wanted to drive a 15 passenger van full of 18-24 year olds in downtown Denver? Yeah me neither. Its not a requirement to drive the vans but it is encouraged. So, I took the wheel for two hours as we traveled to Red Rocks Theater and some other sights around town. Safety is extremely important as the rollover and stopping distance is horrible in a 2-ton van. In the last 12 years only one corps member has died in a van accident (2002). The rate of accidents and injuries is much higher.

Also, the cafeteria food isn't too bad.

First full day as a government employee! I'm in the Water unit (which means I'm not in Fire, Earth or Sun). My team leader is Ashley who will be our guide through the first week. My team got issued our uniforms which consist of one hoody, 2 shirts, 2 long sleeve shirts, 3 pants (one of which we're not allowed to wear), 2 shorts, winter hat, baseball hat, fisherman hat, coveralls (sweet!) and a winter jacket. This is all we can wear for the next 10 months while on the job.

Today I arrived at Denver airport via a lay over in Chicago. In the Rochester airport I meet my first Americorps buddy Sarah "with an H" (from Avon NY). On the plane I spotted another corps member Beth (from Canandaigua NY). In Chicago I meet a bunch more corps people and met expediently more people all day. At campus I got in-processed and introduced to my roommate Steve. We've since been referred to as "The Steve's" or "One Of The Steve's". Steve is from Wisconsin and strangly (almost freakishly) similar to myself.