I'm home now. We were sent to the Washburn Fire in Yosmite Nationa Park 18 days ago. Our deployments ar two weeks (14 days). Much of our task on the Yosemite fire was to protect the Mariposa Grove that contains many giant Sequoia trees. The biggest being the Grizzly Giant, of which my engine crew set up a sprinkler system with a pump and a 2000 gallon portable tank. They allowed CNN, NBC, and Reuters into the grove while we were working and we were filmed and photographed. It was very annoying thing to have people with cameras in your face while trying to work.
Anyway, I could tell we were running out of time because we had been very effective. Many times the fire managers will cut teams loose if the fire is getting good containment because 1) it costs money to have us there and 2) we can get back to our home units or somewhere else to be ready for the next one. Sure enough, on Day 10 on the Washburn Fire we were released and assigned to cover the Sierra National Forest on the southern border of Yosemite for our final 4 days of our allotted time out.
Everything was quiet while covering the Sierra National Forest. Then, the last day, Day 14 we went on a very tough PT hike and planned to go to a diner for lunch instead of our usual sandwich. Just when we were about to leave the fire station we were assigned to go to town for lunch we got the dispatch for the Oak Fire. We got to the Oak Fire just after it started. By Arson, by the way! We worked through the day and into the early morning ours. We put in a nearly mile hose lay directly on the fires edge from the point of origin. Our hose is 1-1/2" and 100 ft long. Our trucks only have a 600 gallon tank but if we can get supported by water tenders we can go as long as we an keep getting hose. The problem was that in that first day there was growth of 400-1000 acres per hour at times.
Guys, I've been on worse fires but this one was pretty gnarly. Having already been zonked from the big PT hike, only having the snacks that was in my fire line gear till about 10 PM, very extreme fire behavior, being on our last day and going a day longer than a normal assignment, getting two separate 2nd degree burns, I will remember the Oak Fire for a long time!
We were finally able to get off the fire at 9 am. We did dig into the dirt in the already burned area around 2-5 am. Our piece of ground was secured. and we mitigated any issues with a lookout. I enjoy this job but it takes a lot out of you sometimes. You are away from family and your body takes a toll but the service to others is why I do it.
