Busy times...

Busy times at the rappel base! Its a pretty slow fire season nationwide right now and we're no exception. We had a small lightning bust around the 4th of July and I got on two fires but didn't get to rappel either. Our national helicopter went to California with a crew of 10 but other than that we've been spending a lot of quality time around the helibase. Its bound to pick up sooner or later though. It always does.

Rappel Academy

The week of rappel academy. Lots of tower work, some mock ups with the ship on the ground and then eight live rappels. All six of the Forest Service's northwest region rappel crews are here so its kind of a mad house. Lots of moving parts. Hopefully I can get some pictures and video up soon.

Keystone Fire

Made it on my first fire of the season! The Keystone Mine fire was 20 acres in mixed conifer on a steep south aspect. We IA'd the fire on Saturday and then came back Sunday morning to help mop up. It was a great little fire and a nice surprise. I wasn't expecting to get on a fire until after the academy was over. The grass is still green but the needle cast and dead and down debris is very dry, so we might see some more early fires.

Rookie Training

Well, I made it out to Oregon. I've just finished week one of the four week rookie training program with the Malheur Rappel Crew. The photo is from our first packout. We'll spend this week camping in the woods and brushing up on chainsaw skills, line digging and of course more running. the 3rd week will be S-271 (helicopter crewmember training) and the 4th will be the rappel academy where I will learn how to actually rappel.

Heading out to Oregon

Left for Oregon yesterday. Spent last night in Salina, Kansas and staying tonight with friends in Kemmerer, Wyoming. Tomorrow on to Utah, Idaho and finally Oregon! I was in Boone, NC last weekend for my WFR re-cert so when (and if!) I make it to Oregon that'll be my first cross country drive. This bear was welcoming customers to a gas station in Limon, CO.

S-390 in AZ

Most of the crew and I are headed out to Prescott, AZ for the Arizona Wildland Fire Academy this week. I'll be taking S-390, Introduction to Fire Behavior Calculations, and a one day sand table training course. I've been trying to take S-390 for a while so I'll be glad to get it out of the way. We started driving at 2030 last night and caught the sunrise in NM. There was even a little snow to break up the monotony!

Burning at Fort Chaffee

Just finished up a great burn run. We implemented 2800 acres, including 2200 acres at Fort Chaffee. I had the opportunity to lead all five of the Chaffee burns which was a great experience. We've got a contract to burn 5300 acres at Ft. Chaffee so we're close to half way way there!