Sierra Fire Season Has Begun

Posted by Catherine Stifter

May 30, 2008

I've been a volunteer at my local fire department since the mid-90s. I was very active for about 7 years and now find myself on the deep reserve list.  I have a med kit, a yellow nomex jacket emblazoned on the back with a large red "NSJ," and a pager that would let me know when my department needs to respond to a 911 emergency...if only I could locate the battery for it.

I admit I haven't been listening to the pager this winter.  But, the local Cal Fire (CDF) station opened up a few weeks back and the new firefighters there are keeping those red engines polished and ready to go.  I saw a few of them humping hosepacks on the their morning workout as I drove to the Post Office.

Last Wednesday night I attended a mandatory fire department training, a re-training actually, on Wildland Fire. I always feel the wake-up call to the possibility of fire this time of year, but seeing videos of wildland fire in southern California made my stomach go flip-flop this night.

Our fire chief says he has a bad feeling about this year.  Our rural area of the northern Sierra saw its last big fire in 1989.  We're overdue by all predictions.  So, that means our volunteer department needs to get itself ready.

In a big conflagration our job will be the wildland interface, the I-Zone, the place where man and nature meet. Where I and hundreds of my neighbors have built our homes on that special piece of property we were lucky enough to buy. Where there are few road signs and fewer still house numbers. Where the dead-end dirt roads are overgrown with bushes, trees, and old cars or other junk clutters up the access.  Where there are few ponds and fewer water tanks to draw from in an emergency.  Where generators run the well pumps and you better have enough gas to keep yours going if you need to protect your own house.

At this training, I was refreshed on the 10 Standing Fire Orders and reviewed the LCES protocols (Lookout, Communications, Escape Routes, Safety Zones) that could save the lives of the men and women who will fight fires here someday. And renewed acquaintances with old firefighting buddies and the new (to me), youngsters who are the department's core.

I was there because I still hold a Class B license with all the credential to drive a water tender. If needed, I'll get into a big ol' truck that can carry 3-4000 gallons of water to refill our Type 3 or Type 1 engines on the fire ground.  It was a terrifically exciting (and fun) job when I did it on the Pendola Fire, and for house fires, and smaller, no-name wildland fires, and training exercises in the past.

Do I want this job? Hell, no! I always hope I and my thousands of gallons of water are never needed. But, I would do the job as soon as I'm needed.  I want to chip in, to help my community combat a fire catastrophy.  And I've got the skills and training to help.  It doesn't take a lot of muscle to drive a truck full of water into a working fire zone, but it does take guts.  I hope I've still got 'em if I need 'em.