I Love Red Lake

So I've been here for almost 2 weeks now... and I LOVE it here. The people are great, it's a very different vibe than the last 2 summers in Fort. The town is beautiful, and there seems to be a force field for bad weather. These huge systems are coming straight towards up and then they just divide and completely miss Red Lake. While Southern Ontario and even lots of Northern Ontario have been getting snow, rain and hail we've been sunshine and beautiful weather! Last week I also go promoted to a crew boss.. so now I have a new crew. At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to be a crew boss but I accepted. Since the turn over rate is higher here, people move up the crew system a lot faster so a 3rd year crew boss (like me) isn't uncommon. I went out chainsawing for my first time this last summer... I was nervous at first getting back at it but it came back to me pretty quick. We've also been doing some pump set ups, trying to remember everything I've learned the last 2 years. We've got about 1/2 the crews here, and the rest will be filtering in next week. The bunks have been do-able but I imagine it's going to get pretty hectic when everyone gets here. I go to the SP-200 course next Monday until Saturday. It's the crew you have to take to become a crew boss. I'm really looking forward to it, it'll be a lot of good learning about fire behavior and how to scout fires. It's at Vedette Lake FAB (forward attack base) which is in Fort Frances- not a bad place to spend a week. We've got 10 people going from Red Lake, a good group of people. I might head into Fort for a night to say hi to everyone. We haven't had any fires yet but Kenora has had about 25 and Fort and Dryden have had a few. The indicies (dryness of the trees/ ground) are really high for this time of year and receptive to lightning. At this rate we're in for another summer like last year but it's always so hard to know. We could have a whole bunch of rain and end up getting no fires all summer- you never know!! Hope all the snow and crazy weather has stopped at home. <3

Red Lake- Day 1

Well, I made the drive! It went faster than I thought surprisingly. Took me about 24 hours driving time.
Its COLD up here, much colder than home. Although today it got sunny and nice out during the day.
The bunkhouses are about what I expected. My room is tiny; 2 beds, 2 little nightstands and 1 cupboard. I share a bathroom with 3 others (when others get here). There's only 1 other girl here right now (warehouse girl) but she's in another pod. There's ONE kitchen for all of us.. About 35 people- mostly guys. I can only imagine what it'll look like in a month. Hopefully its a really busy summer and I'm not here very often! Then there's a TV/pool/shuffleboard/foozeball/cards/game room (wicked!) which I'm sure will be rowdy soon enough.
My crew seems good so far!! My crew leader has been a fire tech for the last few years but was missing action on the fire line so he's back- that means he'll have a lot of knowledge and hopefully get us some sweet gigs on fires! My crew boss I met 2 years ago in BC and I worked with his brother. He's really laid back and fun so I was pumped when I heard I was on his crew. And then the other crew member is from sioux lookout, its his 2nd year working fire.
Today was my first day. We wheeled barrels of gas around "the boneyard" (a yard with a bunch of stuff in it). It feels good to be back at work, no easing in, just straight into manual labour. :)
The base is right on the lake it is GORGEOUS!! Can't wait for it to get warm!
I got a tour of Red Lake- its actually bigger than I was expecting. I told that someone today and they laughed- its really not big so what was I expecting?! Population is 4500.. About half of fort frances. A lot of the population are miners, there's a huge gold mine up here. Since miners make a lot of money, it apparently makes rental houses really expensive. Pretty standard pricing compared to Southern Ontario but for the North its expensive.
After work today I went with all the guys from the bunks to play road hockey! It was awesome. They've got a great paved court in Balmertown. (Which is about 5km away- has a few other restaurants/ stores).
Looking forward to the rest of the week- hover exit training tomorrow!
(Heard it was beautiful at home today- hope everyone enjoyed the heat!)

Hi Ho, Hi Ho... back to work

I've been home for about a week, and in another week I'm back off to Northern Ontario for my job. I'm doing forest fire fighting again, but I'm going to be based in Red Lake this summer instead of Fort Frances. I was looking for a change of scenery and I've heard a lot of good things about Red. My buddy from Fort Frances also got hired there so we'll be sharing a room in the bunkhouses. Red Lake, unlike Fort, has bunkhouses were all the fire rangers live for the summer. I've got my fingers crossed for a summer like last so I won't actually be spending much time on base!

I'm not looking forward to the drive... it's SO long, it always seems like I'm never going to make it. But once you're there it's so worth it, can't wait to be back.

The fire season is already in full swing, Kenora has already had 13 fires! (Red Lake is still at 0 haha) but it's early so you never know what's going to happen.



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