Red 26

I'm back from Red 26- it was a 2 hectare fire about 15 miles north of Bak Lake started by lightning. We got dispatched on Wednesday to a smoke report near Sandy Lake (northern fly in native reserve). As soon as we lifted off we saw 2 smoke columns- neither of them had been called in yet. We did fire reports for both of them- Red 26 (2 ha) 1 km hose lay to the fire through a swap, Red 27 (15 ha) 1 km hose lay to the fire up a rock cliff and then continued up to Sandy Lake. Red 28 was 20 hectares but it wasn't in a zone that we action so it was called a BOB (being observed) fire. By the next day it was 120 ha so now they have started putting crews on it. By then we'd been flying for an hour and a half so we had to set down in Sandy Lake to refuel and then we were instructed to go back to Red 26 as a second crew in. The hose lay to the fire was through a swamp where you had to hop from pile of mud to pile of mud- if you misjudged you sunk up to your hips in sludgy swamp water. New meaning to the word 'soaker'. The black flies were relentless- and we saw a bear twice when we were up at the fire but luckily he stayed away from our campsite. By the time I had gotten to the fire (after cutting helipads) it had been killed by the water bombers so there wasn't much left. We got pulled off Sunday morning- good thing because we got about 40 mm of rain last night. Glad I wasn't in the bush for that!

A is Bak Lake, B is Sandy Lake

Refueling H-36 in Sandy Lake My crew member's knee brace came today!!! That means he can join us and we're a full crew- good if there are any out of district/ province dispatches. With all the rain we're pretty sunk for fires for a while- the far north may still have decent numbers though. Missing everyone- I hear it's beautiful down south. <3

McKenzie Island!

Just had 2 days off, spent them on McKenzie Island!! After a week of rain/ snow/ freezing temperatures and windddd, we got 2 BEAUTIFUL days! Gorgeous. My crew leader lives out there- it's an island about across from Cochenour. There's a person ferry that goes to and from the island. You can get cars there on the winter roads, other wise it's boat access only. 125 people live on the island, there aren't any stores or businesses there. Real estate is really expensive in Red Lake because of the mines, but the island is a little more affordable. There are a bunch of fire people who live on the island and boat to work every day. I got to shoot a gun for the first time!! It was so cool :D I asked what kind it was 5 times but I still don't remember.. I know it was a shotgun- a 12 gauge. My first time I hit 3 targets in 3 shots- a natural. It had pretty good kick back and it was LOUD. We also went fishing- I bought my fishing license. A guy on my crew caught a walleye but I didn't catch anything. Then we went back to my crew leaders house and had an amaaazing BBQ dinner. I even tried a deer burger- my crew leader shot the deer in the winter. Everyone talks about how good game meat is and one of the main reasons I don't eat meat is because the animals are kept in little cages and aren't treated well while they're living. Game seems a lot more humane so I figured I'd try it out. I'm glad I tried it because it's been about 10 years since I've eaten meat and maybe I'd changed my mind. Nope- I'm not missing out on anything great... it tasted alright but I didn't like the texture. I'm good with my veggie burgers :) We had a campfire at night and played darts- I can't aim darts like I can aim guns apparently though, got beat quite badly. I'm hoping the weather stays like this and we dry out... crews are starting to come back from out East so hopefully we're out next!

Crew member and crew leader playing darts.

Brewski, crew leader's dog <3