Written in Fire Camp for the Holy Fire
Since one never knows what is going to happen around Fire Camp, I could get busy and be delayed in getting a column written. So today, Sunday, it looks as if I’m going to be at least late afternoon before I get a run.
The Orange County folks have allowed us to take over the entire Irvine Regional Park for our Fire Camp. With plenty of trees and acres of green grass, it is a very pleasant place to set up operations. Some of the places we claim for a headquarters are not nearly as nice. The “Lovely Camp 9” in Lake Isabella for example, is hot, dry, dusty, and often has blowing sand. We’ve joked about the jackrabbits having to carry canteens.
I spoke to a firefighter from Lake Isabella this morning at breakfast. He commented it was 110 degrees at home, so he was enjoying the weather here.
Our daytime temperature has topped out around 91 or 92 over the last couple of days, often with a nice breeze. Sitting in the shade of a nice big tree with a few of my fellow drivers is a pleasant way to pass the time between runs.
Of course, some days we have runs all day. Yesterday I had no activity until after I finished my lunch and actually took a pleasant nap. At 1:00 PM two of us loaded up and headed off for the interior of the fire with a load of hose, pumps, portable collapsible tanks (1,500 gal), and nozzles, valves and various fittings for the hoses.
Management here has registered our license numbers, truck descriptions, and our E-numbers with the folks who oversee the toll roads in this area. Several of our drivers accidently got on the wrong roads, and feared they would be facing large fines since none of us have the requisite transponders that automatically bill drivers. But now we can use any and all toll roads without fear of having to pay either the tolls or penalties. Given a run to the top of Hiway 74, to a spot directly above Lake Elsinore, I thought I could take the 241 Toll Road to get to the 74 quickly and easily. If I’d known the correct turn off the 241, I’d have been in great shape. But, when I discovered the I-5 going by underneath me, I knew I had a problem. Fortunately, my Maps app on my phone bailed me out by routing me around, and I do mean around the surface streets until I got on the I-5 South. Seventeen miles south I was almost in San Juan Capistrano before I was able to turn east on the 74. Needless to say, I’ve researched the right turns now.
When we found where “Division Romeo” (the person in charge of Div R) wanted us to unload, an entire fire crew piled out of an engine and helped us get unloaded in a hurry. Then we had to head home, and the best route was down a very steep and twisty road leading into Lake Elsinore. Once down on the valley floor, we took the I-5 north to the 91, then west to the 90 (which is also the Imperial Highway), south to Santiago, and back east into the park and Fire Camp.
I’d headed into town toward a service station to buy fuel when my phone rang.
“Where are you? How long will it take you to get back here?”
“About twenty minutes, why?”
“Nobody else is here, and they need two trucks.”
“I’ll wait to fuel. I can be there in about ten minutes.”
Two days earlier, two of us took a load to the Heliport. We had delivered hose, pumps, fittings, fuel for the pumps, and twenty-five gallons of “drip-torch fuel” used to light backfires. Now we were to return to the Heliport, reload all the stuff we delivered the day before, and take it to where it had been intended to be flown by one of the helicopters. We never did hear why it wasn’t airlifted, but we were to haul it up the side of the mountains in two pickups.
Our route was narrow and twisty until the road went through a gate about eight miles up the road. Then the road became even narrower, and more twisty. At least it was a paved road. Finally, after two or three miles, the road became a dirt surface. After another three miles of dusty climbing, we topped out and found the drop point. By the time we unloaded and made our way back to camp, it was nearly 9:00 PM.
I grabbed clean clothes then stopped at the kitchen first to eat dinner. By the time I got to she shower trailers, the fire crews had arrived at the showers. I waited about twenty minutes before I was able to get into a shower. Clean and back at my tent, I fell into bed about 10:30 PM. I knew my 5:30 alarm was going to sound off way too soon.
However, this fine Sunday morning, I sit in my chair in the shade of a big live oak tree, enjoying the morning. The temperature is about 85, and a light breeze is gently moving the leaves. Because my name is at the bottom of the list, I won’t be going out anytime soon. So, I probably better quit writing, lean back, and take a nap.
Ahh, the rigors of being on a fire.