The Wildland Firefighters Diary 5 (The "Springs Fire" Aug 25th-26th)

The date was August 25th 2009 now and I was on my 5th day of my fire assignment. I slept pretty good at the Vallermo Station in my tent. They had thick grass that acted as good cushioning. I was up by 0500 and began my daily routine of washing up and getting dressed in my uniform. The whole crew was up and ready to go by 0600 so we loaded our crew buggy and headed for Denny's to pick up breakfast that we had pre-ordered the night before. I was looking forward to my "Lumber-Jack Slam" and hot cup of coffee. We arrived at Denny's in Santa Clarita, CA and ate our food. The time now was 0700 and we were headed to the Texas Canyon Station to help cover there area because of short staffing. By 0800 we had made it to Texas Canyon Station and had begun doing work around the station waiting for a call. I maintenanced my chainsaw in the shade and hydrated while the rest of my crew went about there daily duties as well. The temperature was already reaching the 90's and it wasn't even 1000 yet.

By 1200, the crew broke for lunch and the temperatures had reached the late 90's with very low levels of humidity. I sat on the yard at the station eating my sack lunch and then my mind began wandering off. I started thinking about when I would go home, trying to guess the date based on weather and other crews. I couldn't come up with a conclusion. I began thinking about my career and what lead me to fighting wildfires. Fatigue of only 5 days out started kicking in and with that comes a mild depression for me. I mainly missed my wife and kids but also missed some of the little things like watching baseball and taking a shower. As my lunch began to settle in my stomach, I could hear the breeze whirl through the canyon and the sound was relaxing. I extended my legs on the lawn to get the kinks out of my knees and then my eyelids began to feel heavy. Lunch was almost over but I figured I could get a 15 minute power nap before getting back to work....that's when the call came in.

Over the loud speaker at the station came three beeps. The three beeps means to pay attention that there was a response. I listened intently and heard the dispatcher say there was a brush fire off the 138 in the back of the Angeles N.F. right before the San Bernardino County line. As the dispatcher gave off the information, my crew was named as a resource to go to the fire. I got up quick and ran to my crew buggy along with the rest of my crew and we took off sirens blaring. After looking up on the Thomas Brothers map book, we gave our ETA to the incident at a little over an hour. The fire was far away in the middle of nowhere but we were going. I listened to the radio transmissions and heard the fire at five acres but making a run uphill. Los Angeles County had a patrol unit on scene and said that if the fire wasn't caught at the ridge that it would take off. My heart pumped and adrenaline flowed. It seemed like the longest hour of my life trying to get to the fire that was now named the "Springs" fire.

When we arrived on scene we quickly tooled up and engaged the fire. It was an interagency fire. Cal-Fire had inmate crews cutting line uphill over the ridge and LA County had inmate crews from Camp 16 taking the right flank. My crew and another Forest Service crew took the left flank and after 6 hours of cutting line we all tied into each other and held the fire at just 20 acres. After the line was cut, the sun began to set and we started mop up operations. I walked through the charred area and cut down any and all brush burning. There were Joshua trees that had been scorched that I removed with my saw. The wood was real moist and came down easy while other crew members came in with hose and doused the heat with water and foam. As we worked we heard over the radio that a fire in Azusa had broke out and was already up t 200 acres. From where we stood, I could see a big plume of smoke off in the distance that was later called the "Morris" fire. Many crews began getting released from "Springs" fire to go help with the battle in Azusa but my crew was committed to the current fire so we didn't go. By 2000 hours the incident commander released us from the fire but ordered us to come back the next day.

We spent the night at Vallermo again and made it back to the "Springs" fire by 0800. It was completely out now but the work wasn't over. Hose line laid all over the burn area and our assignment was to roll up all of it. There was thousands of feet of hose so this was going to be an all day task. I went up and down the side of the mountain 6 times before the last stick of hose was rolled. The last climb to the top was to do a final grid for hot spots before we left. The crew lined up and walked down the mountain in unison looking for any smoke's or hot spots. We found none.

It was 1500 now and the sun was scorching as we rehabbed our tools and topped off our water containers. It was August 26th, 2009 now and I had been out for 6 days. As I secured the lid to my camelback hydration system in my line gear, I heard the three beeps on my crew bosses radio...."Brush fire off Angeles Crest Highway 2 just north of La Canada Flintridge...." Here we go again, another fire. We jumped in the buggy and headed off to the new fire. Again, our ETA was an hour. On the way I heard over the radio transmission, the fire was 5 acres and running up the side of the mountain. It was named the "Station" Fire!

To be continued......