Day 2 - Sheep Basin Rx

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Some times you burn what you want to save. Like this fence was set first so that it would cool off before the real heat set in and nuked it.

Day 1 - Pine duff

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The pine duff really gets going. Far better then the grass.

Strip of fire - Day 1 Sheep Basin Rx

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One of my goals this season is to take far more pictures of my crew members. Lots of room for improvement.

Fueling Torches - Day 1

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Every hour we filled torches due to the large volume of fuel needed to get the burn hot enough to kill small trees.

Drip torch

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Drip torches are filled with a mix of gas and diesel fuel. As one can see they can be less then effective in some fuel types.

B Faller. This morning we went to the Bear fire that occurred last June a few miles from Negrito Fire Base. The fire actually threatened Negrito and now we have to keep spare car keys so they can move our vehicles this summer while on a roll (off forest 14 day fire dispatch). The Bear fire left plenty of burned out tree for us to fall in order to re-certify our sawyer qualifications. Last year I was certified as an A faller meaning that I could only cut up to an 8 inch tree unsupervised. After falling two trees the Gila superintendent decided to give me a chance for a B cert (8-24 inch trees). He said "I was the best A faller he had ever seen". Nice complement, anyways I got my B cert falling big hooter (large tree).

No word on dispatches yet. Hotshot crews have been sent to Georgia, Arizona and North Carolina. We should be next in line to go out.

Day 2 Sheep Basin Rx. Today we continued to complete the 900 acre burn. The winds shifted direction 180 degrees since yesterday. Instead of continuing were we left off we burned towards the fire we had previously started. Everything went much smoother, a drop in RH and increase in temperature spread things along.

Sheep Basin Rx. Today we are committed to a 900 acre burn just a few miles from Negrito Fire Base. Our objective is to burn the under story and duff leaving the large trees. Coming up to the burn the grass was green and it looked like it wouldn't light. Gila was lined out in groups of 10 on the west and east of the burn area. The test burn about an acre in size burned good and hot. Each person had a drip torch and was instructed to use fuel liberally. We spent a good 6 hours torching about 450 acres. For me it was a great first controlled burning experience.

Saws Harris Rx

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I'll post more and better pictures of the crew soon.

Harris RX

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Harris RX

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Time for line. We started the day out with four saws running. The line we needed to cut/dig was short so we used our spare time doing practice drills. The main goal being to find and deploy fire shelters at suitable sites in the case of an emergency. We completed the line and loaded up by 3pm. I should mention that the line is intended to spare an old mining camp from the burn. Never got to see the camp.

And the over time begins. Arrive at the Harris Rx 9072.50acres(prescribed burn). The long road there was unimproved to say the least. We left at 6am and arrived in time to find the dozer sent to improve the road broken. We cut brush back as the trucks followed for about a mile. When we arrived it was about 6pm and time to close up shop.

Mohawks all around!

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A tradition on Gila Hotshots is to get as many crew members the first night to get a mohawk. The girls maned up first! Say hi to Erin as her hair goes.

Feel the burn. Today is the required pack test. A 3 mile hike with 45 pounds in less then 45 minutes. The crew’s goal was to all cross the lane at the same time to reduce paper work complexity. We all achieved 42 minutes. The course was set up on the old landing strip the smoke jumpers used to use about a mile from base.

After lunch is the famous power hike where Dewey the Superintendent (head guy) leads the crew with full packs for an "easy 6 mile walk in the woods". The trail is a steady up hill grade for between 3-4.5 miles (distance remains disputed). Dewey is 6 1/2 feet tall and all legs. He leads the hike at the pace he would use if a fire were chasing him in an emergency situation. The goal for the crew is to stay with him for as long as possible. Only one person achieved that goal and it wasn't me. Tough hike but I held my own.

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In all we didn't beat the record 13 hawks we had to settle for 9.

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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.

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Home sweet home. I will be spending little time here after the fire season starts. The bunk houses are very nice and the rent is only $60 a month. They even have a hot tub but its not working yet.

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I'll get a better picture of them soon enough. It will look like this with no shadows and a smoke plume in the background.

The long haul is over. I left Colorado on April 13th with Erin who was on my Americorps crew last year. After 13 hours of driving and a night sleeping in the car at the Reserve Ranger District station we arrived at the Negrito Fire Base. The closest town is 30 minutes away (Reserve). The next closest town that actually has produce and cell service is over an hour (Socorro).

At the base we have a bunk house where we share a room with another crew member. My bunk mate is Jesse who is from New Mexico and is also starting his second year of wildfire. As for phone and internet we share two land lines since we have no cell service. Rules for the phones are: No calls made or received during work hours. Sun -Thur, 8am - 6pm. Phone calls are also prohibited after 10pm curfew. For internet same rules apply however the US government blocks sites such as Myspace.com. Leaving simple Google.com searches, Blogger.com and email.

You can request my phone numbers via email.

Lake Dillon Trail

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Another nice snowshoe area. Lake Dillon is a huge reservoir about a mile from my apartment. One can also see that mountain range from my house.

Argentina Pass, Keystone, CO

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One of my favorite snow shoe spots. The trail is used for backcountry skiing and in the summer 4x4 recreation. The picture isn't great but it gives an idea of what the area is like.

It’s about time! I apologize to anyone who has checked this blog since December. I owe you a few minutes of your life back.

Since the last post I've accepted a job with the Gila Hotshots. Gila is based 3 hours into the interior of Gila National Forest in southern New Mexico. I will be living in a bunkhouse in a small room with a roommate. The crew is made up of 20 people who are considered Type 1 firefighters (I was Type 2 last season). Being a "Hotshot" crew means that we are available nationally and travel to any of the 50 states and US protectorates. For traveling we have two 10-person trucks that look like a green SWAT team vehicle. I start working on April 16th and will end in mid-September.

In preparation for a summer of hard work I've been snow shoeing with weight too simulate a 45-pound IA pack. Going to the Silverthorne recreation center and snowboarding. Posted are some of my pictures from snow shoeing this winter.

Merry Christmas. It’s a white Christmas in Keystone Colorado. I'll be sure to post some pictures of the snow-capped mountains soon. So look forward to it.

Life after Americorps. Since completing AmeriCorps NCCC I've moved to the mountains. Currently residing in Silverthorne Colorado. Conveniently located near Keystone, Arapaho Basin, Breckenridge and Vail ski resorts. I've found gainful employment driving a bus for Keystone resort. The perks are a ski pass, best starting pay at the resort, free CDL training and a sweet ride (Blue Bird).
Future goals? I've sent applications to US Forest Service Hotshot crews in CO, NM and UT. All 9 of whom I've been in contact with and will be visiting this winter. As for now I'm working toward 100 days of riding and Cross Country skiing.

ADK chair

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Gift to the Forest Service

Thank you USFS. The two wildfire teams with our limited resources got together to purchase an Adirondack chair for the Forest Service. We then burned the Americorps logo and USFS logo into the wood with a soldering iron. Next our names were burned in and the chair was stained and weather proofed. The finishing touch is a last minute inspiration to define the rule of "Fives". Fives was often used at the FS work center. Most of the definition is adapted from a Wikapedia definition. It might be hard to read the definition in the picture so here it is.

Fives. A convention used to retain ownership of a particular seat during a temporary vacancy. While departing from their seat the caller declares "fives" and is granted exactly five minutes absence during which time their seat will not be available to others.

In other news my father contacted the Brighton Pittsford Post and they decided to interviewed me for an article. The article was recently published.
Link to article PDF:
Brighton Pittsford Post

Gift from Forest Service to Americorps NCCC

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Some of my pictures will be up in the Americorps offices for future corps members to see!

Clock is winding down. Americorps service commitment ends on Nov 15. Thursday this week will be the last day working with the Forest Service. As a gift to Americorps the FS gave a plaque for the main offices in Denver. It turned out a good number of the pictures on the plaque are ones I took this year. Came as a complete surprise since a team mate submitted them for me.

As for life after Americorps... I've been putting in applications to CO ski resorts Vail, Keystone and Eldora. Seasonal FS wildfire jobs start getting posted in December. I'm looking at hotshot crews in NM, NV, AZ and CO.

YMCA of the Rockies. Spent the last two days at a conference for Americorps entitled Legacy. Most branches of Americorps were represented (Vista, Senior corps, etc). The lectures were awful so I spent my time hiking in the camp and the bordering Rocky Mountain National Park. I don't have any pictures because it was snowing, cloudy or foggy. However, hear the view of the mountains is awesome from the YMCA camp.

The sky is falling.
Looks like over a foot of snow in the mountains tonight. Our goal for tomorrow is to burn some piles of limbs from our forest thinning projects. The rest of the next two weeks will be mostly Squad Boss training (131) and Pumps training.

Settling into camp

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Chucking debris off the cliff

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Working with this view beats any office window.

The textbook cut

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My fellow sawyer Adam was impressed with this particular cut so I posed for a picture with it. Note: It was a level cut; it just looks slanted because it’s off the stump and on uneven ground.

View from ridge line

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We tied into the rocky ridgeline, which kept the chains of line we had to dig reasonable.

Stop taking pictures and dig!

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Digging line for the controlled burn.

Fort Collins. Spent this week (Mon-Fri) digging & cutting line for a controlled burn outside Fort Collins. Ten of us Americorps and two Forest Service camped out in the cold fall weather at 8,500ft. The experience was great. It was an opportunity to bond with everyone. We sat around the campfire every night and enjoyed all hamburgers and hot dogs one could eat. Due to weather conditions the burn had been postponed from Saturday.

Indian Peaks Wilderness - Lake

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Aspen colors

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First snow. Spent the weekend camping at Brainerd Lake and hiking in the Indian Peak Wilderness. Camping the first day at 9,000 ft proved to be extremely cold and windy. The next day Melanie and I hiked to one of the many lakes in Indian Peak Wilderness. Most of the other hikers were headed to one of the near by peaks. They all had crampons and heavy down winter parkas with them. We turned around at the lake since we had tennis shoes and fall jackets.

A group of four Corps members left for California on a two-week dispatch this weekend. The Cali fires have been getting tons of media coverage here.

Cutting Complete! Every year the FS (Forest Service) is given a quota of acreage to thin in the forest. For that reason Americorps has been manning chain saws and swamping debris. Lately it’s been a made rush to get done before the deadline. Today we completed the FS goals. What do you win for completing early? Even more work next year. More importantly people can continue to be sent on dispatches. Dispatches are important for Americorps enjoyment, FS employee over-time and keeping FS costs down to stay on budget.

More pictures. If you want to see more pictures from UT. Check it.

http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c206/stevepassmore/

Bumbershoot. Spent the last 5 nights in Seattle WA with Melanie. Near a hundred bands played in the Seattle Center. Got to see Tribe Called Quest, Steve Miller Band, Kanye West and Atmosphere. Seattle Center was home of the worlds fair and bumbershoot is British for umbrella (also the name of the festival). Also got to see some good friends, Laura and Rob.

Mainstage with Kanye West

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West is a huge sell out

Space Needle

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Melanie and I at the Space Needle

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Laura and I at Steve Miller Band

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Seattle skyline from Space Needle

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Northern CO crew

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Last day. We stayed around to help clean up after all the other crews left. Highlight of the day: I was bet $20 to jump in a huge water pumpkin. They hold water for heli bucket drops and are the size of a small above ground pool. The guys on the crew learned quick that us Americorps will do anything for money.

pano of salt flats

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View from Pilot.

Save the fish! The fish expert’s electro shocked the water and saved 172 fish from the stream. The electro shock stuns the fish and they float to the surface. I forgot to mention that the fish holding pond got a direct hit with flame retardant so they have to move the whole breading operation. We heard over air to ground "you know the pond we weren't supposed to hit. Well, its red now sorry."

Long days = cat naps

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View from Helicopter

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Saw line. The fire has been burning areas of unburned fuel inside the boundary of black. Today we worked on reinforcing the retardant line with a saw line. The goal is to remove heavy fuels with the chain saw. By keeping unburned areas it helps re-growth and controls erosion. Also in this case the fire could still spread up the ridge line to the top of the mountain then back down to the fish area (very small chance of that happening). One more thing, I got another Helicopter ride.

2851 acres. 70% of that is actually burned. Known in the fire world as a dirty burn. More of the same mop up. Got a Helicopter ride 1/2 way up the mountain. It was my first time in a helicopter. Also the Americorps Tahoe got a flat tire. Turns out if something breaks on a fire they fix it for you. Goes for ripped pants, tires, tools and anything else.

Waiting

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Helicopter rides!

Mop up. Now the long process of securing the edge of the fire begins. By this point we are all getting a little tired from the 16 hour days and long steep hiking. Our saving grace is the amazing catered dinners provided to us each night. We had steaks a few nights as well as tasty locally brewed root beer!

Controlled burn

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Controlled burn

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