Gill: The importance of being ‘on call’

This time of year, I keep my phone close by my side 24 hours a day. At night it’s being charged but is within easy reach from my bed. During the day I either carry it in the clip on my belt, or sometimes in my hip pocket. If I lay it down, it’s always within easy reach. Regardless, if the phone rings, I can answer on one of the first three rings, usually on the first.

So why am I so diligent about carrying my cell phone all day, and keeping it within easy reach at night? This time of year, the answer is simply one word: fires.

My job as a contractor for both Calfire and the US Forest Service, is to be a driver with a pickup. In essence, they rent the bed of my truck, and pay me to drive it wherever they direct. I may haul water, or ice, or Gatorade, or cold lunches, and possibly even hot meals, when I go out to where the firefighters are working or staying in a Spike Camp. These are quickly setup camping areas some distance from the main Fire Camp, but near where the firefighters actually do battle with the fire.

Around the main Fire Camp, I may be asked to go to an airport that has scheduled flights, to pick up someone in Overhead (management) who’s flying in for this fire. Sometimes Overhead is coming off another fire in some other state, or maybe from their home base some distance away. Airport runs are always interesting for we get to meet new folks with interesting jobs. Quite often the airport is several miles from Fire Camp, and since we’re paid by the number of miles we travel, that makes it that much more interesting.

We may also be asked to go to town to one of the parts dealers to pick up a particular item for one of the fire engines. There are always at least a couple of mechanics assigned to any Fire

Camp. When the engine comes into camp with a mechanical problem, their job is to determine what’s broken. They then find a dealer who has the part in stock, order and pay for it, then tell one of the drivers where they need to go to retrieve the new part or parts. These parts dealers are also often a good distance from Fire Camp, so a parts run can be a good one also.

The only other run that can involve good mileage is when one of the firefighters gets sick, or is injured badly enough to need to be taken home. Our hotshot crews come from all over the state, so returning someone to their home station can be a good run.

Depending on many factors, size of the fire, and distance from Fire Camp to the drop points along the edge of the fire, the shorter runs taking lunches, water, ice, and Gatorade may not involve many miles. But they’re vitally important to the firefighters and other crews we serve. Sometimes we get two or three of these shorter runs in a day, which of course will add up.

When I leave home for a fire, I could be gone for two to three days, or up to two or three weeks. I need clean clothes, i.e., sox, underwear, tshirts and meds for 21 days packed in the my big plastic Gobox. Plus I need my tent, a cot, an air mattress, and of course a good chair for resting when in camp.

This all started back in January this year, when the VIPR website (Virtual Incident Procurement Resource) solicitation for bids opened up for the years of 2020-20212022. Since I’ve had a contract with VIPR since 2010, I simply answered their solicitation with the same information I’ve used before. Our new contract hasn’t been issued yet, but is due. Our current contract, issued in 2017, for 2017-18-19, is still good through August 15 this year so if I get a call to go on a U.S. Forest Service fire, I can still go. However, I won’t be able to take my new truck, for the old one is the one under contract. I asked to change trucks, but they wouldn’t let me do that on the old contract. I have to wait until the new contract comes out which will have a new truck on it.

I also have a contract with Calfire and have had it in hand since March. And that one has the new truck as my resource.

When and how do I get that long-awaited phone call? First, the fire in question has to have gotten big enough, and complex enough, to require bringing in an Incident Management Team (IMT) to run the fire. These are experienced professionals with many years of fighting stubborn and difficult fires. When they’re called in, several things happen at once.

First, a location for the Fire Camp must be chosen. A fairgrounds, a vacant camp ground, an unused school ground, all have enough room to hold a camp. As soon as a location is chosen, office trailers are ordered, a slew of porta-potties are dispatched, a food vendor is selected and ordered in, showers and hand-washing stations are ordered, along with the potable and greywater trucks to support them.

Those things just take care of the physical needs of the firefighters. The Logistics head consults with the GSUL under his command, and they begin ordering water trucks, plus bulldozers and their lowboys. And when Logistics and the GSUL decide how many they are going to need, they put in an order for Type I Pickups with Drivers. That’s when I get called.

Once I have all the information I need I can start loading my truck and getting ready to leave. I’ll put my Enumber (E-124) in the right front window, load my Go-box, tent, cot, my chair, an iced-down 2-gallon water jug, my iced-down thermos, fire extinguisher, fire shelter, and my clipboard with my dispatch orders. After a last shower and shave in a real bathroom, I dress in my Nomex, gather up the dogs, and head out the door. After delivering my pups to the kennel for boarding, it’s off to the fire so I can report to Fire Camp.