horseshoe 2

horse shoe 2 a video by stevepassmore on Flickr.

Wallow Fire

Wallow a video by stevepassmore on Flickr.

Hazard Tree Fall

treefall a video by stevepassmore on Flickr.

90 second video of the last couple fires. Just found out why the Internet at the base was down. Someone shot up the copper T1 cable and box. Darn vandals! Can't you people stick to road signs and rotten trees.

Wallow Fire pictures

Just realized I have to make all flickr video under 90 seconds. So video will have to wait. Enjoy the pictures.

Wallow Fire

From what family and friends are saying this fire has been all over the news in the US and abroad. 2nd largest fire in AZ history maybe the 1st largest now, I don't know. Reserve, our home ranger district, is only a few miles away from one of the many ugly heads of this massive fire. We jumped at the opportunity to keep the Wallow fire from burning into New Mexico. Two of the small towns close to Reserve had to be evacuated. The air up at Negrito fire base is still hazy with the smoke from Wallow. The views from the 180 road I've been driving to AZ for years are now forever changed.
Stopping a large fire like this requires stepping back aways from the fires head. In this case several miles in front. We could barely see the fire off in the distance most of the time. Growing mid day into a huge column of smoke. The crew plugged along constructing fire line to be burned off as the main fire approached. At this point we heard our division is getting some of the most active fire of the Wallow. Then due to high winds we retreated from our spike camp several miles down the indirect line. Taking all our overnight gear with us since helicopters couldn't fly. An extra 45-60 pounds on top of our saws/tools and line gear packs. I got a great picture of Josh looking like a Sherpa with all his gear on. During the hike I heard humming of the song from the Scottish band The Proclaimers. "If I could walk five thousand miles..." Finally on the second to last day we saw fire. Our attempt to stop the beast failed and sent us running. We waited out the fire in a smokey safety zone. Then hot footed it to clean air where we racked our brains for the words to the Beatles song "Yesterday". A weeks worth of work burned up. Leave plan B for next roll we have mandatory days off.

Whats a safety zone? Basically its like a snow day in elementary school. The fire picks up to the point where you can't work safely anymore so you wait it out.

Erin got her picture taken by the media and they liked it some much it got posted all over camp and the internet. Erin, you owe us all beer pay up.

R&R days in brief. Cat fishing with Burg on the Frisco. Waters a bit to low from the drought this year. Perfect weather for some swimming.

Notes from Horseshoe 2 Fire

Best quote from this roll which actually originated on the crew from some engine guy last season. "Water.. Fire hates it."

Welcome to the Chiricahua mountains home to lots of special birds that people seem to be very fond of. Big water show with lots of type 1, big, helicopters. Very active fire of the kind that does not want to be stopped. Even when every bit of man power, machine power and millions of dollars is thrown at it.
One particularly active fire day we worked well into the night holding some hot windy fire that spotted over the fire line. It was not pleasant and I was having a bad day to begin with. One of my fellow sawyers asked how I was doing and I'm now quoted as saying "How do you think I'm doing.. I'm in the depths of hell!". It wasn't really all that bad. If you watch the video I posted see if you can pick out which clip is from that night. Hint: it was extremely windy.
I'm not up with the news reports but I figure the fire might have been started by drug runners. Near the border with Mexico fires get started by dehydrated immigrants as a form of distress call. Sometimes rival drug running gangs will burn the others territory to gain the upper hand in smuggling efforts. Other times fires are set as distraction to border police while people pass into the US. A campfire could have started it or just about anything else.

Back online!

The internet at Negrito Fire base is back up and running. Its nice to be a part of the inter-web again. Finally got pictures from the Horseshoe 2 Fire up. That fire is still burning last I heard. Also got a video put together. Enjoy!

Back from the Miller Fire and on days off. My new macbook has arrived and now videos are going to be added to flickr. The Miller fire is still burning in the Gila Wilderness about 40 miles from our fire base. Its burning through tax payer dollars more than anything. Last cost report was 4.5 million. Aldo Leopold is turning in his grave with all the chainsaws, helicopters and retardant in use. But that's beyond my pay grade.

We should be out the door again come Sunday. The southwest is the place to be this year.

Last Chance Fire

Sorry no pictures of the really smokey night time burn out. I was in no mood to take pictures.

Quote of the Last Chance Fire

Christian, "I'll chew it with my throat" in reference to a banana

Videos are on hold till my new computer gets back from apple. This old one can't handle video.

Last Chance Fire

The Last Chance Fire. Great name for a fire. "Road trip!" exclaims Lark. And yes, in a way, many dispatches start that way. The road trip took us through southern NM and into the low desert country near Roswell NM. Let the travel pay start. Per diem. Latin for each day. English for paid meals by the Forest Service. Not only do we get meals paid for during travel. While away from our base we get paid 3$ a day to cover rent. Our rent is $3.38 a day. Leaving a whooping rent check of .38 cents a day. Its only that much because we have a common area and wood stove. The girls bunk house lacks the latter leaving them .04 cents a day to pay for rent.

Arriving late at night to a 20,000 acre fire leaves you in the dark. A type 3 fire management team leaves you even more in the dark. Located on a mix of BLM land and FS land the fire was wind driven and moving through PJ and grass. Not just wind driven. Micro burst, gale force, blow your hat off, sand in your eyes, howling, plain nasty windy. Gusts from 20-40 mph. What do the Gila Hotshots do? Get in front of the fire and burn off the nearest road. Wind, embers, fire and smoke in our faces. Ever seen the movie ground hog day? Three days of burning and holding roads. Fire can be like predicting the weather. You think you know whats going to happen. Then comes an act of god. On the third day. The winds blew strong. 5 miles of road to burn off. Gusts to 40 mph. Sustained winds at 20 mph. % Hope of keeping the fire from spreading to the knee high grass just on the other side of the two lane highway? 0%. Against all expectations the road held the whole way, late into the night. Somehow the millions of embers landing in the grass didn't catch the extremely dry fuel on fire. A day for all present to remember! Less out standing but closely related was the amount of smoke we breathed during the operation. More smoke than any of the most experienced guys could claim to have sucked down. Hours of smoke so thick you could barely see the guy 30 feet in front of you. Ironically the safety briefing was on smoke the next day. The Forest Service recommendation in smokey situations. "Move out of the smoke". Thanks FS. Like we were given that option...
Timed out after 14 days of fire. More including travel. Leaving us with 2 paid days off and some R&R. For me Java Blues in Springerville AZ. Good coffee, good food and later good beer. All on a Sunday in a Mormon town. Pictures might be up by Monday I'll be working on the editing today.

Pine Lawn Fire

Pine Lawn Fire is our first fire of the year. Enjoy the snap shots. The camera I'm using is new to me and I'm still figuring it out. Videos to come as well!

Yellow Fire

Yellow Fire pictures have arrived! The new Mac is still lost in the mail. Trusty old G4 pulled through. The scary hairy guy is me. Soon to be trimmed... Can't look at myself with laughing.

The name of the fire comes from Yellow Mountain. Yellow Mountain gets its name from the yellow volcanic tuff found all over the area. I know this thanks to Chance's geology skills.

Running and Gunning

Off to a good start. Two fires under our belts and its only April 23. Which means two things to me. One, this is shaping up to be a good season for the pocket book. Two, trial by fire for the crew. What has surprised me most this early on is crew moral. The guys this year really know how to laugh and make the work day fun. Such things go a long way a few months from now if we can keep it up. A wise creep once said, "No work and all play makes Jack a dull boy." Here is a brief and potentially boring description of the fires we have concord so far.

Pine Lawn Fire 400 some odd acres. Started at the "million dollar s(*&ters" located on the highway near Reserve and the Ranchero Estates. My guess is a cigarette butt thrown in the grass at the rest stop. It quickly grew to the point of risking the Ranchero Estates and the suburbs of sprawling Reserve, NM.
In comes the Gila Hotshots with flashing lights to save the day. We drove our Buggies through the flames and parked in the safe already burned black. After the typical brief confusion we started attacking the head of the fire with chainsaws and hand tools. The fire moved though the Ponderous Pine litter quick. Once it hit the PJ (Pinyon and Juniper) it slowed and we caught it. The smoke was thick as molasses. Really messed the lungs up. Soon after we tied in with the engine crew working towards us a spot fire started. No time to catch our breath. Off to the races. Again caught it in the PJ and scabby rock. Time for me and Matt (my saw partner) to put some burning snags near the line to rest. No rest for the weary. First hot tree of the year. Stood in the hot ash to long and had to take a break in between my face cut and black cut. Hot feet! Done for the day? Nope, time for night operations. Dozers had arrived from Springerville AZ and we held the dozer line burning off unburned sections until around 2 am.

Day two consisted of snagging the highway of hazard trees. Rushing off to catch another spot fire. And of course every wildland fire fighters favorite activity mopping up. Mopping up in short is putting out anything burning.

Day three highlights. Did my first double bar tree of the season. A double bar tree meaning any tree that is wider in diameter than our 28 inch saw bar. Requiring one to cut from both sides of the tree to complete the cuts. All I can say is BOOM. The tree was a hazard to telephone crews fixing burned up telephone boxes.

Day four we started our day with mop up on the Pine Lawn Fire and got dispatched to the Yellow fire in the wilderness.

The Yellow Fire was started by the age old "Put your campfires out, dead out" not being followed. These careless hikers stated a 40+ acre fire. So much for leave no trace. We ended up spending five days in the wilderness on the Middle Fork River. The hike in was 5.5 miles down hill which took us till dark. Most of us packed sleeping bags but still spent a frigid night on the canyon rim. The next day we drop into the fire which had mostly burned itself out over night. Hung up in the rocks and scree of the canyon. In the wilderness we use MIST. Minimum Impact Suppression Tactics. With the blessing of the wilderness people we had use of our chainsaws. Wilderness crews use cross cut saws and follow a no power tool policy. In an attempt to preserve the wild atmosphere our tactic was to pile any logs we cut and burn them. Anything that can not be burned is covered in dirt or hidden from view of the trails. Also, we try not to put in fire line if at all possible. The canyon walls are steep stree so everyone got a chance to break in their balance. Lots of rolling rocks. But, the hazards are well worth our office windows view.
After a night in the cold we got our gear slung in by helicopter and slept in comfort after a bon fire next to the river. The next night got even better. The helicopter slung in hot buckets of food for the crews working with us. Literally buckets filled with hot food. Shredded chicken, mashed potatoes, briskets and peach cobbler. Umm Umm good. A much welcomed break from MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat) the same stuff the guys over seas in the military are eating. Lots of trans fat... Thanks uncle sam. What a change from slow food. Heli food and uber processed food.
The crew personality really shined in the wilderness. Lots of laughs, stories and silliness to be had. Towards the end of the fire it became apparent just how many people hike the Gila Wilderness. Close to 50 people hiked though including a NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) group. The hike out was up hill about a thousand feet and took about 2 and half hours.

Pictures are on hold for now due to computer troubles. Memory went south again.

Quotes of the week

Thanks to Andrews great note taking ability I have some funny qoutes of the week. Most likey you wont find them funny. "you had to be there"

"you think the Red Cross police are going to come and take your birthday way"

"you can't turn into a blow hole whale or something"

"If you turn blue I'm not wasting my time on you, your DNR man"

Headed to build practice fire line on the Gila. The weather is dry. The sun is shining. Cloud cover low with lots of dry tall grass among the pines. Good pressed coffee in the belly. New buggies are riding smooth with a steady flow of road dust flowing in to the back. The cold I have been fighting is well into the recovery stage. Most of the morning is spent ridding my throat of flem these days. Crew moral is good. Word is spreading of fires and prescribed burns on the docket for when we become available nationally. How could we not be excited. Andrew (a Americorps alum) has discovered my blog. Apparently he used to follow my 08 season. I'll have to watch what I say, haha. In the past I got in trouble a couple times for not being politically correct enough. I stick to first names and keep incriminating pictures to myself. The plan right now is to get some funny videos. Today is our saw certification of me and Zach the newest additions to the 2011 Gila saw team. He writes for ski magazines and speaks of lots of Pacific Northwest saw experience. That translates to dropping lots of big trees (hooters). Hooters is in reference to the (hoot) sound you make as a you celebrate the experience of a successful drop and the fantastic sound it makes. Not meaning anything else one might imagine. Now to the new buggies. I'm typing this out on my old Ibook G4 while riding in the buggy. Something that I was never able to do in past Hotshot seasons. Every seat has its own power hook up. SWEET! On my travels west my new Macbook Pro lost Wifi capabilities. I dropped it off at a the genius bar in Knoxville TN and it should be shipped to Reserve Ranger District office this coming week. Just got confirmation the practice line is in Devils Park. Not sure where on the forest but the name might speak to the county we will be in come an hour from now. Another big change from 08 is the addition of cell service in Reserve. What a world of difference that will make for keeping in touch with people back home. In other news, we got the over heads good blessing to put some new crew jackets together. Sierra Design makes warmer gear than our Carhart jackets. Pro deals are also going to go in soon. New Smartwool sox and Smiths can't be ordered soon enough. Other changes are the crew shirts. Gila IHC has moved from brick (pink) colored shirts to light brown. For years the crew was famous for its shirts making us well known in fire camps and in the hotshot world. Its sad to lose the reputation which comes with pink shirts. I wouldn't give up my new ones though. Note to self: Order large or x-large. That medium fits like a belly shirt.

Practice fireline at Devils Play ground complete. Re-certified as a class B sawyer. Dropped four frees right off. Good cuts went right where I wanted them and quick. Only correction was to spend 90% of time looking up for falling limbs 10% watching your cut. Safety first and limbs do come down. Cut first tank of gas on the practice line. The line will be burned eventually as part of a prescribed burn. Which translates into our work being useful to the forest. As the spring progresses into summer you might find some of my views on forest management coming through in my writing. Fire use and prescribed (RX) fire are in my humble opinion paramount to forest health. Back to cutting, it went well and just added to the anticipation of getting on the first fire of the season. Word around the base is Monday RX. Dewy seems confident we will be out on a fire by Saturday. Gila is the only available IHC in New Mexico if spark comes to grass.

Tonight? Crew bonding around the campfire perhaps?

Some random pictures of the snow this morning and the drive up the hill on my arrival.

Mohawk Gila Hotshot style

Ever heard of the Tennessee waterfall? I hadn't either. Imagine... Long curly golden locks transforming into the best mullet you've ever seen. No offence Tenn, its a term of endearment. To kick off the crews camaraderie, carry on tradition and start off with a fresh cut Gila Hotshots are often inspired to do a Mohawk. Some may find it intimidating. Others humorous. I myself believe its a powerful act of sacrifice and thus opted out. Props to the 2011 Gila Hotshots. Never have I ever seen such fine heads. And the prize goes to the Hawkzilla.

Elk Hunt

Often times I've referred to living at Negrito Fire Base as Boyscout camp for adults. I still feel this to be a fair statement. Case in point. Typical afternoon activity: searching the forest (Crystal Canyon or maybe Creek) for Elk horns. Elk lose their horns in the fall and regrow them every year in the spring. These "sheds" are a prised possessions when found still brown and velvety. Over time if not located they bleach white in the suns fiery rays. In order to be prepared for this hike Matt thought it prudent to bring a short barrel 45 long bullet rifle. I know I'm describing the rife incorrectly. Let me say this. Its the kind of thing you want to have in the face of a grizzly bear. The Gila National Forest does not have grizzly bears. Fortunately for me I'm confident Matt has no intention of burying me in the woods. Together we walked for several hours. Matt packs for hunting guides in the off fire fighting season. His tracking skills didn't lead to any elk sheds. However, we did discover a bear skull and some freshly chewed up elk parts. Lots of old rubbings and droppings. Next time I'll bring a camera. All in all a great search and the gun is pretty accurate too! Kumbayah fellow scouts!

Arrival at Negrito Fire Base

After well over 2000 miles of driving, way more petrol then I care to admit and several long days I have arrived. I-40 was not a scenic route but you can't get lost either. The only hitch I ran into was loading the car with groceries. A lot of groceries mind you. Negrito Fire Base if very remote. Going to the store requires at the very least an hour and a half drive. As I removed the cooler to load it with goodies I discovered some delicious homemade jam from my mother had exploded all over the inside of the cooler and its contents. At least it was in the cooler not on the seat or in the trunk. I figure the altitude change must have been to much for the poor ball jar to handle. Maybe I took a turn to hard and things shifted. Who knows? Then I managed to drop my beer and exploded 6 cans all over the pavement. Opps. The drive up the mountain to Negrito Fire Base sure was beautiful. I missed that sun set behind the mountains and the windy dirt road. Upon arrival I was greeted by many new faces and a few familiar friends. We will have many month to get to know each other. After a few minutes of the name game and complementing each others beards I unpacked the car. Today I'm hoping to acclimate with a little run, lots of water and treat myself to some cold medicine.

Links added

A request was put in for links to import Forest Service web pages. At the bottom of this blog is a section labeled (Important Forest Service Links). The top link is to where Gila IHC (my crew and location) is located along with all the other IHC crews in the South West region. It shows our off forest rotation and has a key at the top that explains the abbreviations. Below that link are local and national fire news briefings. We print these and read them everyday. Its a bit technical at times and one might find it less then helpful unless you know the name of the fire I'm currently on.

How to use Steve's Location Link:

http://gacc.nifc.gov/swcc/dispatch_logistics/crews/sit300/sit300.htm

First off people in the Forest Service call it the SIT300

Go To:

-Type 1 IHC status

-Gila-

-status - Currently "U" or unavailable (sorry ladies) haha

- Incident/Remarks - Shows what fire we are on. Use this to look up fire news using either the local or national fire news links I posted

Leaving West Virginia

West Virgina is just as wild and wonderful as the license plate says. Its time to push further west toward New Mexico. Leaving my nephews behind to celebrate their first birthday.

Living Conditions

The Gila National Forest has its offices in Reserve, NM that also happens to be the closest town to Negrito Fire Base where I will be stationed. Side note: Gila is pronounced with an "H" (hila = gila). Spanish influence I presume. Reserve is known as the location where Elfego Baca held off a gang of Texan cowboys who wanted to kill him for arresting cowboy Charles McCarty in 1882. In the 2000 census the population is recorded as 387.

Wikipedia has this to says about the gun fight. Take notice no references are provided for the information. The history of events is also contentious with the local population.

In the 1860s, Mexican-Americans established a string of villages along the river, naming them the Upper, Lower, and Middle San Francisco Plazas. In the late 1870s Anglo settlers began arriving. They renamed Upper Frisco Plaza as Milligan's Plaza, naming it after a merchant and saloon owner.

Milligan's Plaza was the site of the legendary Frisco Shootout of Elfego Baca. In 1882, or perhaps 1884, the nineteen-year-old Baca apparently appointed himself deputy sheriff and rode 130 miles from Socorro to the Plaza. There he set about bringing justice to the Mexican-American community which had been beset by drunken cowboys.

Outnumbered by 80 Texans, Baca holed up in a jacal, the flimsiest kind of hut, and was besieged by the mob. Bullets and dynamite could not dislodge him, and in a gun battle lasting 33 hours, he inflicted death and grievous injury on some of his adversaries without being injured himself.

Map location:
Even my New Mexico geography is poor. I had to look at the map just today and realized I had Santa Fe and las Cruces geographically switch in my head for the longest time.

Reserve via google maps:


View Larger Map

Negrito Fire Base:


View Larger Map

The image quality for remote places has improved a ton. Last time I looked up Negrito Fire Base its was a blur.

time line

I linked all my blogs from previous years at the bottom of the page. As much for interested parties as for myself. On the occasional winters day I read old posts the way you read a old journal. Often I don't get to far before my own punctuation and grammar mistakes drive me nuts. Proof read, proof read, proof read. Maybe if I say it three times it will happen?
Several times recently people have questioned the time line of my life. How long did you do that? How many months? I tend to guess because I frankly don't remember. Quick people tend to do some mental math and it turns out I should be 45 years old. It'd be much easier if I just stayed in DC taking pictures of Retinas for the last 4 years. Or would it be 5 years?

Thanks to government background checks I have great records.
Early years:
-Born: Salt Lake City, Utah
-Orlando, Florida
-Methuen, Massachusetts
-Start pre-school: Rochester, New York
High School Graduate: 2000
-College: Rochester Institute of Technology 2000-2004
College jobs: Assistant Retinal Photographer, portrait photographer, YMCA lifeguard/summer pool manager, teaching assistant, bookstore photo dept, warehouse guy.
-National Retina Institute, Maryland & DC metro area (July, 2004 – January, 2006)
-Americorps NCCC, Denver Colorado (January 2006 – November 2006) 3 months Chicago: Taxes, remainder Nederland CO: wild fires
-Keystone Colorado/Vail resorts: Drunk bus driver/ski bum (December, 2006 – April, 2007)
-Gila Hotshots, Wildland Firefighter (April, 2007 – September, 2007)
-Keystone Colorado (November, 2007 – April, 2008)
-Gila Hotshots, Negrito fire base New Mexico.(April, 2008 – September, 2008)
-South East Asia & Europe (Jan 2009 - Aug 2009)
-Montreal, Canada (Aug 2009 - March, 2010)
-Sisters Hill Farm, Hudson Valley (April, 2010 – Nov, 2010)
-Boom Truck Driver/Operator, (Jan, 2011 - March, 2011)
-Gila Hotshots (April 2011 - )

cameras

My bachelors degree is in the realm of photography. Specifically Biomedical Photographic Communications. I know... Everyone has a friend who studied that in school. I'm just waiting to start my masters in Firespam Boom-drive'in Traveler. Because of my imaging background I often carry a camera with me. During the dusty, sandy, ashen summer ahead my camera will take a beating that no camera has been designed for. So far every year I've fought fire my faithful camera had to be retired because of a goofy lens, cracked screen or Error Code ####. 2011 will be different. With age comes wisdom.
Camera solution:
Canon S95 - solid metal body, Canon S60 treated me well, small, wide angle. Does magic in low light.
Pelican Case - Impact, dust, water and dirt resistant. Hooks to a backpack (line gear). Padded and Small. The military uses these to protect their expensive war gear.

packing the bags

RIP with your new owner...

A month ago I sold my 2008 Toyota Tacoma which had at one time been a pride and joy. When you live the tough guy fire fighter life. On the road 6 months a year. Sleeping on a cot in the back of your pickup is a right of passage. Not only that but its nice to throw all your worldly belongings willy-nilly into the back when the time comes to hit the road again.
As time progressed the vehicle I drove defined me less. Friends didn't want to ride in the tiny half cheek seats in the cab. In New York I rarely got to throw her in 4 Lo and plow over a tree or up a coolie. In fact the most fun I'd had with it in a year was driving through my parents back yard in a foot of compacted snow. As gas reaches back toward $4 a gal. 19/city and 23/Hwy just doesn't sound as efficient as it used to.
Come Monday when the 2,100 mile solo road trip begins it will be in a 2002 Chevy Prizm graciously handed down from my Grandparents. I look forward to the ensuing Tetris game to fit all the packed bags and sporting goods in.

cold hard winter

These are questions I often answer to when it comes up that I've sold my soul to Uncle Sam for the summer. A summer commitment is typically made sometime in January.

Gila Hotshots are a wildland fire suppression crew based out of Negrito Fire Base in the Gila National Forest of New Mexico.
Before I go further its been brought to my attention over the years that New Mexico and our southern neighbor OLD Mexico get confused by some less traveled Americans. New Mexico is the 47th state in the union. No, we don't speak Spanish there. Many people do speak Spanish and Navajo in NEW Mexico but its still part of our English speaking country. I recommend a map and the inter web if this hasn't gone far enough.
In short a Inter-agency Hotshot Crew (IHC) is a crew of approximately 20 firefighters that are a highly trained hand crew available as a national fire suppression resource.
Another side note... We don't jump out of planes. Smoke jumpers jump out of planes. Occasionally we hitch a ride in a helicopter or fly to a far off fire in a commercial jet. Typically we travel to fires in trucks often called buggies.
The fire season in the South West is April to September. Fires will take us on a "roll" which in full is 14 days of fire fighting with 1-2 days of travel on both ends. Crews go in a rotation to fires outside of the South West Region. New Mexico has 8 Hotshot crews the Southwest (NM & AZ) has a total 20 crews. Nationally there are 110 (I think) Hotshot crews. Originating from many government branches, Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Parks and a handful of state/city fire departments.

The End