Back at Fire Camp
As a driver, when we arrive at fire camp one of the first things we do is to get our home for the next few days set up.
For me, this means unloading a tarp, then staking it down with big nails called timber or bridge nails. I unbag the tent and pop the legs into shape, then hook the cords connected to the corners of the tent over the nails and tighten them down. This system has held the tent secure in pretty hefty winds. Of course, the fact there’s a big heavy Go-box inside the tent doesn’t hurt the staying power of the tent. Once the cot, air mattress, and sleeping bag are unfolded and in position, I’m ready for bed.
When I arrived at the Ground Support area for the River Fire, the drivers were directed to set up camp on the far side of a huge parking lot. This area is part of the parking for Cal-state University Monterey
Bay, which is built on the edge of the former Fort Ord grounds. The parking lot is paved, so I could only get two nails in the ground. The rest of the tent extended into the parking lot pavement.
At night the parking lot would partially fill as engines and crews filtered in from duty on the fire line all day. Early in the morning, these crews would rise and prepare to return to the fire line.
Along the edge of the parking lot, two rows of porta-potties were deposited. A pair of shower trailers and a wash-basin trailer were parked in one corner. There was also a laundry trailer parked near the showers. This assembly of trailers was about 100 yards from where I set up my tent.
After a few days on any fire, one of the first questions becomes, “When do you think you’re going home?” It’s not that we are anxious to leave, but it’s handy to know how much longer we’re going to be away from home and how they’re doing with putting out the fire.
One morning last week,
I was startled when the guy at the showers said they were leaving that day. By evening, not only were the shower trailers, the wash basins, and the laundry all gone, but they’d also hauled all the porta-potties away. Though it was a good 150 yard walk from my tent, now I had to actually get in the truck and drive to get to the “grey phone booth” at the Ground Support building. It wasn’t the end of the world, but was just inconvenient.
I’m writing this segment of the column on Sunday afternoon, and the private contractor mechanics are being demobed this afternoon. We expect to learn the drivers will also be thinned out, but we really have no firm knowledge of that. We’ve heard there may be some demobs done on Monday, then again, maybe not until Thursday. Only time will tell, and it will probably turn out to be rather abrupt. It’s entirely probable we’ll walk into our Driver’s Waiting Room first thing in the morning, to be told, “Go pack up your tent. You’re being demobed today.”
Going to a fire is always interesting, and something we all look forward to doing or we wouldn’t be here. No matter how many years we do this, the end of a fire is always a little disappointing. Yet, there’s always the pleasure of getting to return to our homes. During the time at the fire, we get to see and visit with old friends we’ve made during previous fires. And there are always at least a couple of new folks to meet.
As we approach the end of the River/carmel Fire, the real question now is, do we get to go home, or will we be assigned to a new fire? If we go home, the odds are good we will be called for a new fire within a day or two. There are several other fires looking for additional resources (pickups) and the dispatchers are liable to call us in short order.
When we’re out on a fire, it’s always interesting when we get a call from the dispatcher trying to find one more pickup for service on some new fire. Since I’ve been on the River Fire, I’ve had three calls wanting me to go first to the Santa Cruz fire. The next call wanted to send me to the Mendocino Complex. The last call, at 9:30 p.m., was to return to Porterville for the Castle Fire. Each time, I had to tell them I was already assigned to the River/carmel Fire.
Knowing the other fires are hurting for resources, as soon as I’m released from this fire, I will probably get a call quickly for another assignment. I hope I get a little time to go home, wash my clothes, refill my med-box, and refill my dogs’ dinner bags, wash the grime off the truck, and remove the “E-227” carefully written inside my windshield. This number is my “request number” and relates directly back to me anywhere on the fire.
Before I left for this fire, I filled 21 little pint bags with the chicken and rice mix for my dogs, and put them in my freezer. By the time I get home, I’m sure I’ll need to make more little packets for the next time I get sent out. And, the way things look right now, there almost certainly will be another assignment.
I’ve never been reassigned before I got out of the Demob Office, but am always asked, “Are you available for another assignment?” Of course, I always quickly answer yes.
As of Monday morning, the River/carmel fire has lifted all evacuation orders, and it looks promising we will be demobed today sometime. At the moment this is being written (7:30 a.m.) I sit in the drivers waiting room, nobody seems to know anything new. So, we wait for instructions.
Finally, about 1 p.m., the word came in, “Demob all but the two drivers who live closest.” By about 2:30 or so, I was rolling down 101 toward Paso Robles. I decided to go that way because mileage that direction, or through Los Banos, was nearly the same, and I hadn’t been that way. By 6:30 p.m. I was unloading the truck at home.
After a good night’s sleep, I hurried into town to bring the dogs home. Though I haven’t been called yet this morning, it’s highly possible I will get called to serve on the Castle Fire in our backyard. And of course, if that call to go to the Castle Fire comes in, the dogs will go back to boarding for a few more days.