This journal is an account of my activites as a wildland firefighter
Wildland Firefighter Foundation
The Wildland Firefighter Foundation is a wonderful organization that provides support to injured firefighters and their families. Visit their site and please consider donating if you or a loved one are a firefighter.
I arrived in Montana in early May and spent the first week and a half at the Medicine Lake NWR. I worked at the refuge last summer and wanted to see my friends up there again. I showed up a couple of days after a 1000+ acre wildfire a couple of miles from the refuge, but despite the drought conditions we managed to sneak a couple of small grass burns in, which helped pay for my gas back to Miles City. I started working for the BLM on May 12th and have been doing training and orientation since then. I've gotten on one fire so far, a small (~10 acre) fire in ponderosa/juniper and grass. The Custer County fire folks had it pretty well under control by the time we got there at 1930 but we spent 4 or 5 hours improving the line around it and mopping up. Nothing spectacular but a nice break from the monotonous training. The above picture was taken on the fire by Toni Snelling, who works on a BLM engine in Miles City. Its been raining for the last week and the grass is starting to green up, so I don't think we'll get too many fires any time soon. My hope is that when our ship gets here at the end of the month we'll get sent out somewhere with more fires. Maybe New Mexico or Arizona. Or even Florida!
Howdy to anyone who might end up here. My goal for this page is keep a journal of the fires I get on this season (hopefully with some pictures) as well as anything else interesting I happen to get myself into. This way anyone who is interested can swing by and get a glimpse of my life and maybe an idea what wildland fire is all about. Disclaimer: This page contains my views only and is in NO way affiliated with any of the agencies or organizations I describe.
I got started working in wildland fire in the summer of 2005 with The Nature Conservancy's prescribed fire program in Texas. Since then I've worked as a seasonal firefighter doing both prescribed fire and wildfire across the country. I'm currently enjoying my second year with the Malheur Rappel Crew in John Day, Oregon.