Days Off in Redding
According to my contract, I can work 14 consecutive days, then have to take two days off for R&R, or Rest and Recuperation. This in effect, “resets my clock” and I’m good for another 14 days on the job. Under some special circumstances, I may be allowed to work 21 days without an R&R day. This requires obtaining permission from your home forest (in my case SQF — The Sequoia). Then they can work you for the extra week. The usual case after working 21, is you will be demob’d (demobilized) and sent home. This often happens near the end of a fire, so rather than working 14, take two off, and come back for only a few days more, they do the “twentyone and done.”
When my first twodays-off came around, I drove to Arcata then down to Eureka, looking for a good place for a late breakfast. I really enjoy red meat, and the kitchen preparing meals for firefighters and support staff like me seldom present us with steak. The steaknight meal often coincides with the last night of the departing management team. A new team is coming onto the fire, taking over the responsibility in the morning. As a farewell to the departing team they sometimes bring out the steaks.
The IMTS (Incident Management Team) also work on a 14-day cycle, which means we only get steak every two weeks, and sometimes longer. When I go off-site for R&R I often order steak and eggs for my first breakfast, which is precisely what I did in Eureka. The next order of business that morning was to find a clean laundromat in Arcata and wash two weeks of dirty clothes. I take 21 of everything just in case I get into a threeweek assignment. As I looked on the internet before my days off I found two or three around Arcata, but one seemed to stand out.
When I drove up, I was pleased with the appearance. The lady running the shop was friendly, and the building and machines were clean and all working. Yes, this one will do fine.
I unloaded my dirty clothes bag and filled two washers. While the machines worked, a steady stream of Humboldt State students came in and put clothes in a washer. They all spoke to the lady as she seemed to know them all. When my clothes were clean and ready to come out of the dryer, she helped me fold, visiting with me about the fires.
There were some scheduling problems with my second twodays-off, so I ended up taking only one day, then returning to work for five more days. True to form, I stopped in Weaverville for a steak and eggs breakfast.
Prior to my one-dayoff, again with two weeks laundry, I again did a little searching on the internet in the Redding area and found a five-star laundromat. It was in excellent condition, clean, bright, and most importantly, all but one of the machines worked.
Needless to say, when I did get my two-daysoff R&R in Redding, even though I only had five days of washing to do, I returned to the nice clean laundromat. I was pleased to see the one machine that hadn’t been working had been fixed. Somebody was taking care of this one, and it showed.
I looked on Yelp for breakfast, and decided to go to “Trendy’s” out in the general direction of the laundromat. I didn’t get steak and eggs, but did have an excellent breakfast. The second morning, I again looked up a good breakfast spot, and went to “Sweetie’s” on the western side of town. Another outstanding breakfast, but still not steak and eggs. I’d decided to save steak for the final
dinner at “Cattlemen’s Steakhouse” not far from the hotel. And the huge bone-in ribeye was excellent.
Returning to work this past Wednesday morning, my “clock was reset” so now I’m good for another 14 days. This period will end September 28.
On Saturday of this past weekend, a storm passed through our area. There was plenty of discussion before Saturday. Would there be sufficient rain to slow the fire enough to get it controlled? If the higher RH numbers (Relative Humidity) slowed the fire activity down, maybe the firefighters could gain some ground. And if they did that, maybe by 9/28 they will be ready to demob me.
Saturday morning, I was assigned a run to
carry some supplies from Junction City, down the beautiful Trinity River Canyon, to our spike camp at Willow Creek. Because it was a relatively small order, I stacked the smaller items on the passenger side floorboards. Several pair of gloves, eight chainsaw chains, and some office supplies, all stayed dry inside.
As I started down the canyon, I met the rain 15 miles down-river. It wasn’t a hard rain, just a nice wet storm. It rained on me all the way to Willow Creek, while we unloaded, and after I started back up the canyon. Even after I got back to Ground Support, the rain continued coming down gently.
The weather app indicated rain would
start about 9 a.m. and end around 3 p.m.. Surprisingly, it did exactly that. I feared it was going to come out hot and sunny in the afternoon and become a sauna. However, the clouds remained over the area. The temperature in my trailer, even with a window open and the screen door latched, remained at a comfortable 70 degrees most of the afternoon.
Morning Briefing on Sunday reported approximately 0.25 inches across the fire. Will this be enough to help control it? Will this rain mark the “beginning of the end” of my assignment to the Monument Fire? Only time will tell.