On Tuesday we were on red alert again and we got the dispatch call at 5pm to go to Cat Lake which was a 30 minute flight from Pickle. I was SO excited fore my first fire. Riding in the caravan was an adventure all in itself, you feel allll the turbulence. I had the death grip on my chair and I looked over and everyone else is sleeping haha. Apparently after a few years the hum of an airplane or helicopter puts you right to sleep.
We flew over the fire and it was right beside the runway (basically a huge gravel pit). We landed and the CFO (community fire officer) of Cat Lake met us with his truck to take our equipment to the lake. We were jammed in like sardines and the CFO commented that the tr
uck even came with air conditioning (the back window of the truck was completely smashed out haha). The CFO took us to the water and we set up our pump. The hose lay to the fire was about 1200ft and then it took us about another 1200ft to wrap the fire. It was so cool!! I loved it... minus the fact that it was a billion degrees. I got to lay hose, strangle the line and nozzle!
After we had done a first forward and second forward pass (secured the line) my crew boss asked me to take one of the hoses and straighten it out, so I was walking around and I heard a crackling noise. I looked over to the other side of the fire and I could see smoke and flames. I got my crew boss and told him there was a flare up on the other side... it was so exciting! We broke into the line and put out the flare up which had jumped over our hose somehow. It was easy to put out with the hose though, pretty standard procedure.
We worked till about 1030pm and called the fire UCO (under control) which was when it started to get dark- they have so much daylight up there right now. We were standing at the tailgate having a snack before bed and we heard a dog barking from across the runway. We heard it getting closer and then my crew leader could see it coming closer. It was a ragged white dog, it was getting closer and closer, and then we saw 2 dogs, 3, 4, 5, 6 wild dogs. A pack of Northern wild dogs. They all started trotting toward us so my crew boss and I booked it into the trailer that was beside us and my crew leader and other member hopped in the truck (with no back window). They turned the truck on and tried to scare them away... but they just kept hanging around. Our crew leader finally got out of the truck and they seemed to leave him alone. I had to come out to get my bags and I stepped on one of the dogs by accident, he just yellped.
We stayed in an MTO trailer which was right at the airport. There were a few guys staying there who were building a new MTO place. It was SO hot during the night. We started the next day at 7am to look for smokes that we hadn't gotten the night before. We found 3 or 4 which I think is about normal. We called the fire OUT at 11am and we had scheduled for the caravan to pick us up at noon. It didn't show up until 330pm because it was busy shuttling people to a big Red Lake fire that was nearby.
The fire ended up being 0.5 hectres, some parts were Rank 1 (smoking, no flames) and some parts were Rank 3 (flames less than 2 metres). All in all a great fire to start out with, I had a great time.
For the rest of the week we were on red alert with the caravan... it was at least 30 degrees everyday and less than 30% RH (relative humidity)... When the temperature is higher than the RH they call it cross over which is prime fire conditions. Unfortunately there weren't many sources of ignition (lightning, people etc.) so we didn't end up getting any more fires.
On Sunday morning we drove to Savant Lake which is a forward attack base of Pickle Lake. It was a nice location- right on a lake, but the accommodations were sort of dodgey. I didn't even sleep in the bunkhouses- just pitched my tent at the lake front, it was really nice. We were on yellow alert there for the day. After our shift we took out a little tin boat out, my crew leader and boss fished and I was their trolling motor with an oar. It was awesome- so relaxing. The guys caught about 15 fish, mostly Walleye, one Northern. I got eaten alive- mosquitoes, blackflies, noceums. SO ITCHY!!
Holiday Monday we were sent home :( We stopped in at the Sioux Lookout base which was cool, their warehouse was smaller than ours but it seemed like they had a bigger base.
The crews I met in Pickle Lake were really cool, I enjoyed getting to know them. It's a much younger base than Fort Frances- I met a guy who was a 2nd year crew boss (my crew boss has been here for 7 years and he just got crew boss this year). It's because they have a hard time retaining people- I think mainly because nobody really lives in Pickle Lake. A lot of the old timers at Fort live here so it's easier for them to commit every summer.
We stayed at the only motel in town- The Winston. It was a typical small town motel. The first thing I did every night was take off all the bedding, I slept in my sleeping bag and used a tshirt as a pillow case haha. One of the nights we were there the whole front half of the motel flooded. Another crew got all their stuff soaked, luckily we were in the other half of the motel.
One thing I learned this trip is that plans change every second. One minute you're on yellow alert with your truck, the next you're packing the caravan on red alert, and the next you're back on yellow alert because the caravan had to fly to Thunder Bay to pick up some crews. It's a huge waiting game, you wait for all the conditions to align and lighting to strike in just the right area (or for someone to light something).
After we had done a first forward and second forward pass (secured the line) my crew boss asked me to take one of the hoses and straighten it out, so I was walking around and I heard a crackling noise. I looked over to the other side of the fire and I could see smoke and flames. I got my crew boss and told him there was a flare up on the other side... it was so exciting! We broke into the line and put out the flare up which had jumped over our hose somehow. It was easy to put out with the hose though, pretty standard procedure.
We worked till about 1030pm and called the fire UCO (under control) which was when it started to get dark- they have so much daylight up there right now. We were standing at the tailgate having a snack before bed and we heard a dog barking from across the runway. We heard it getting closer and then my crew leader could see it coming closer. It was a ragged white dog, it was getting closer and closer, and then we saw 2 dogs, 3, 4, 5, 6 wild dogs. A pack of Northern wild dogs. They all started trotting toward us so my crew boss and I booked it into the trailer that was beside us and my crew leader and other member hopped in the truck (with no back window). They turned the truck on and tried to scare them away... but they just kept hanging around. Our crew leader finally got out of the truck and they seemed to leave him alone. I had to come out to get my bags and I stepped on one of the dogs by accident, he just yellped.
We stayed in an MTO trailer which was right at the airport. There were a few guys staying there who were building a new MTO place. It was SO hot during the night. We started the next day at 7am to look for smokes that we hadn't gotten the night before. We found 3 or 4 which I think is about normal. We called the fire OUT at 11am and we had scheduled for the caravan to pick us up at noon. It didn't show up until 330pm because it was busy shuttling people to a big Red Lake fire that was nearby.
The fire ended up being 0.5 hectres, some parts were Rank 1 (smoking, no flames) and some parts were Rank 3 (flames less than 2 metres). All in all a great fire to start out with, I had a great time.
For the rest of the week we were on red alert with the caravan... it was at least 30 degrees everyday and less than 30% RH (relative humidity)... When the temperature is higher than the RH they call it cross over which is prime fire conditions. Unfortunately there weren't many sources of ignition (lightning, people etc.) so we didn't end up getting any more fires.
On Sunday morning we drove to Savant Lake which is a forward attack base of Pickle Lake. It was a nice location- right on a lake, but the accommodations were sort of dodgey. I didn't even sleep in the bunkhouses- just pitched my tent at the lake front, it was really nice. We were on yellow alert there for the day. After our shift we took out a little tin boat out, my crew leader and boss fished and I was their trolling motor with an oar. It was awesome- so relaxing. The guys caught about 15 fish, mostly Walleye, one Northern. I got eaten alive- mosquitoes, blackflies, noceums. SO ITCHY!!
Holiday Monday we were sent home :( We stopped in at the Sioux Lookout base which was cool, their warehouse was smaller than ours but it seemed like they had a bigger base.
The crews I met in Pickle Lake were really cool, I enjoyed getting to know them. It's a much younger base than Fort Frances- I met a guy who was a 2nd year crew boss (my crew boss has been here for 7 years and he just got crew boss this year). It's because they have a hard time retaining people- I think mainly because nobody really lives in Pickle Lake. A lot of the old timers at Fort live here so it's easier for them to commit every summer.
We stayed at the only motel in town- The Winston. It was a typical small town motel. The first thing I did every night was take off all the bedding, I slept in my sleeping bag and used a tshirt as a pillow case haha. One of the nights we were there the whole front half of the motel flooded. Another crew got all their stuff soaked, luckily we were in the other half of the motel.
One thing I learned this trip is that plans change every second. One minute you're on yellow alert with your truck, the next you're packing the caravan on red alert, and the next you're back on yellow alert because the caravan had to fly to Thunder Bay to pick up some crews. It's a huge waiting game, you wait for all the conditions to align and lighting to strike in just the right area (or for someone to light something).
Now I'm back in Fort Frances (for now)... we had a CRAZY thunderstorm last night which hammered us with lightning. The rain was intermittent, some areas getting up to 50mm, some got none. We had one lightning fire yesterday and one today- hopefully more tomorrow!
Hope everyone had a good long weekend.
Miss you guys.
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