My First IA as Crew Leader!

I finally have some days off so I'm posting  a few blogs.

As I mentioned in my last blog, my crew leader was offered a new job in Fort Frances that she had been hoping for so she left in the middle of July. Since I did my crew leader course (SP300) this spring I was asked if I wanted to take over her position. I was a little reluctant because I really enjoy the crew boss position- I like cutting and the amount of responsibility I have. I ended up accepting the position, one of my crew members was also promoted to crew boss and we picked up a new crew member. It is definitely a different feeling, being the person in charge, having to make all the decisions. It helps that I have a strong crew of guys with me that I can rely on.
After our set of days off we were on Red Alert a few times before we finally ended up getting an IA. Red Alert means that the helicopter is packed, you are in full nomex and you are supposed to be dispatched within 5 minutes of the alarm. We were all doing jobs around the retrieval area, and I wasn't feeling confident that we'd get a fire that day. It had been a slow last few days so I was expecting another slow day.

WRONG!

When the alarm when off I swear my legs went numb... it took me a few seconds to process what was happening. Everyone in retrieval and the warehouse was wishing me good luck but I couldn't even hear them. I was so nervous! My guys were at the chopper within 2 minutes and the pilot was close behind. There is always an IC3 on the chopper along with the red alert crew (I am an IC5 which is the lowest level, the lower number means you have more experience). This was comforting, especially because it was one of my favorite tech's named Jamie. He helped me a lot, told me I was going to do fine and that I'll always remember my first IA and how awesome it is.
When we lifted off we were originally dispatched to fire in the Kenora district, but were quickly re-routed to a fire in the Red Lake district that had been called in by a fishing lodge. From 15 miles back we could see a little white smoke. The closer we got the more comfortable I started to feel. It wasn't a massive black column, I knew it was a manageable size for us. When we got overhead we were circling to check out the fire and look for a place we could land to unload. The fire was burning on an island, and there were trees all along the shoreline which made landing impossible. We noticed a boat a few miles away and flew over to them, a group of American fishermen. We flagged them down the siren on the chopper and waved them over to the shore. We dropped off our cutter and a person to help him on a shore and the boat of fishermen came over and drove them to the island. Our cutter cut enough trees that we were able to just put our nose on a little rock outcrop. The shoreline was steep so the pilot had to hold power the whole time we were unloading. We were a good 10 feet off the ground, passing our bags and equipment down to our 2 guys on the ground. Jamie (the IC3) got out with us (they always get the IC3 to get off for a crew leaders first IA to help out. Once we were on the ground the fire was easy, it was a quick hose lay to the fire and we tied off to the lake on both sides. Jamie was picked up within half an hour and left us to the fire. We set up a cool camp for the night, and got POURED on. There were massive storms all night with loud thunder and lightning. We got 12mm of rain on our fire so it was pretty quiet the next day. We worked on it all day and were picked up that night.

Jamie during our hover exit

My first IA- RED59

The Holman Crew
Shawn, Greg, Scott, Me!

It was such a great experience and I got good feedback from Jamie and the managers when I get back. They said I had a good scouting report, and I sounded confident on the radio. After the feeling came back to my legs and I realized that we were actually being dispatched I felt pretty confident. It was the perfect fire for my first IA, good size, still good fire behavior but nothing too crazy (and no blow down or waist deep swamps!) I'm back in Red Lake now with 2 days off (my 3rd day off since my July 1st). I'm tired from the whole month of July and excited for the time off. Things have been quiet the last few days because we got a lot of rain. It's supposed to be nice for the next week though so things may pick up again.
I would love to get at least one more IA before the end of the summer- put all the things I learned from the last one to use.
Other provinces are also getting hot and have been asking for crews- Quebec, Northwest Territories and Manitoba. I'd love to get an out of province tour if we stay with our low hazard here.
Taking time on these days off to figure somethings out for school in September as well. This summer has flown by I can't believe there is only one more month till I'm starting my Masters!

Fire Season 2013

It had been a pretty quiet summer for Red Lake. On July 1st we were at 12 fires. By the end of the day on July 2nd (my birthday!) we were at over 40. Probably couldn't have asked for a better birthday present than that. We were dispatched to RED013, but it was one of the lower priorities due to it's size/ fire behavior so we didn't leave until the morning of July 3rd. The plan was to drive to Bak Lake (our forward attack base) and then get flipped into the fire from there. The fire was only 3km from Bak Lake. Well, in typical MNR style we ended up waiting at Bak Lake for several hours before we were able to get into our fire. It was a VERY busy morning for helicopters because a lot of the fires were showing intense fire behavior, between putting new crews on fires and re positioning crews to safer spots they hardly set down at all. Two choppers came in to refuel while we were waiting in Bak Lake and asked us if anyone was on the fire just over the ridge because it was putting pretty good smoke. That was Red13, and we told them that we would be on it as soon as there was a free chopper.
When we finally got to the fire it was called in at 2 ha... that was short lived. The head of our fire was going pretty good when we got there and we had our helicopter stay and bucket on it while we started laying house. Eventually the buckets weren't of any help because the head was so intense, so my crew leader called air attack (water bombers) and they came and started bombing on the fire. By that time our fire now had a spot fire a couple hundred feet ahead which was the priority for the bombers. The bombers stayed on the spot fire and the head of the fire until they were out of gas and had to return back to the airport. The bombers left our fire pretty quiet, but it still had a lot of smokes on it. It ended up being about 14 ha, and the spot fire was about 2 ha. We had 3 other crews on it with us, 1 on the main fire and 2 on the spot fire.

Watching the bombers on our fire

The helipad we originally were dropped off at was a "floating" bog (I would hardly call it floating because we were up to our knees at the best places, and past our waist at the worst). After we crossed the bog to the fire we were in complete blow down, at some points over my head. And if it wasn't blow down, we were scaling the side of a rock cliff. It was a pretty crappy place for a fire, there was no easy walking and we had to do A LOT of cutting. That part I don't mind though because I love cutting- especially in blow down.

Our helipad 

The bridge we built so we didn't have to wade through the swamp to get to our helipad

Deciding what to do with all this blowdown

We stayed on fire in total for 10 days, the last 3 days my crew leader had to go to Dryden for training for her new job (resource technician position in Fort Frances) so I was left in charge of the fire. At that point the fire was pretty dead, but we had a big furry friend visit a few times. We got to our helipad one morning and a bear had eaten almost everything on it. Jerry cans of gas, 4 gallons of chainsaw bar oil, dry powder fire extinguishers, bug spray- and then all our food. The only thing it really left was a Big Turk chocolate bar... which we found funny because everyone always says how they're the worst chocolate bars but I love them- guess the bear didn't. In the midst of cleaning  up all the garbage, the bear reappeared on the ridge. We scared him away with the chainsaw but he came back 20 minutes later. The helicopter came over and scared him away for the rest of the day. He was just a little guy, probably curious about what we were doing and enticed by all the food. He came back that night and ate more bar oil and gas, we scared him away a few more times with the chainsaw and then eventually he just stopped coming back. I think the bar oil and gas may have got the best of him...
While all of this was going on we were getting more new starts and Red31 was going for multiple km runs every day. The final size of that fire was about 20 000 ha and took up most resources in the province. Bak Lake became the hub for the incident management team and logistics for the fire...

HOME! Trip Highlights.

What an unbelievable trip... I am so lucky for everything I was able to experience, and everyone I was so fortunate to meet, and reunite with. The trip home was loooong, but pretty uneventful. I had a pretty scary bus ride from the Cambodia border to Bangkok- the driver was going at least 190km/hr on a 2 lane, which he turned into 4 lanes. He was FLYING- I've never been so scared in a car. We asked him several times to slow down but with the language barrier I'm not sure if he understood... or maybe he just didn't care because I think he went even faster. I'm doing a lot of reminiscing, looking at my pictures and remembering all the good times so I decided to do a highlights blog. I know I'll forget something, but this is what I can remember.

Highlights of South East Asia 2013! 

(Thailand) Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, (Laos) Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, Vientiane ,(Thailand) Koh Phangnan, Koh Tao, Tonsai Beach (Indonesia) Ubud Bali, Kuta Lombok, (Cambodia) Phnom Penh, Siem Reap.

- sky bar with the boys (insanely overpriced Mojitos)

- epic Jenga games that led to meeting Jorgen from Sweden!

- 3 people and our bags in a tuk tuk, Burge's sandal holding on for dear life

- Matt's reaction when he found out our servers were lady boys

- detours leading us to the Chiang Rai night market (and the boys eating maggots)

- Karen long neck tribe

- first day of the slowboat rocking ear plugs the whole time

- meeting Renee and Aaron from Guelph

- meeting Francois and Mischa from Montreal

- the after hours bowling alley in Luang Prabang

- teaching English by candlelight to our trekking guide

- riding an elephant

- VIP night bus from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng, switchbacks the WHOLE way

- tubing!! amazing.

 - night one at Lalaland with Burge, playing the hand game

- discovering the world's best sandwich (man) and then watching everyone's reactions when they tried it.. and being assured it was in fact the best sandwich in the world

- my chain falling off 20 times on the bumpiest road in Laos

 - 3am private bus rides.. probably the worst plan of the trip

- pedicures with the boys :)

- meeting up with Red Lake!!!!!!
- BUCKETS!

- fire skipping (Koh Phangnan and Tao) 

- full moon <3 nbsp="" p="">
- Marcus Yolo

-meeting Dustin and Karmen



- bonding with Lou and Cait <3 nbsp="" p="">

 

- our sandbox bed in Koh Phangnan

 - the wig that still made me laugh after weeks

- diving for the first time!

 - my crazy Swedish diving friends

- deep water soloing

- toffee's magic tricks at Sunset Bar in Tonsai

- the death hill in Ton Sai... sooo sweaty

 - Caitlin violently puking and asking me to kill her

 - 3 to a "bed" (boxspring)

- Mama's chicken!

- out of business airlines

 - missing my bus

 - "public transportation"

- motorbike rides from nice strangers


- the hotttesssttt ferry ride to Lombok

- Deo, my Indonesian surf teacher

- Surfing!! (and the terrible sunburn on the back of my legs)


- Gado Gado (most delicious Indonesian food)

- power yoga in Ubud

- Indonesian dancers

- meeting with Rolf and Violeta


- 3 on a scooter in the rain

 - homemade dinner from Violeta

- trying to find dinner in Bangkok w no English and getting a cold bag of noodles

 - the Killing fields

- meeting Keira (Germany) again a month later

- Bob from Australia!

- Massive bike rides and sore bums

- Sunrise at Angkor Wat
Thanks to everyone for the amazing memories, will not be forgotten.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

I've been in Siem Reap for three days now. The bus ride wasn't too bad- it was a typical Asian bus, not a foreigners one. The difference is the local buses stop 100 times from point A to point B, where foreign buses would only stop once. The locals just hop on and off at their leisure which usually makes the trip a bit longer- but it's ok. Siem Reap is a busy city! It's a lot smaller than Phnom Penh but because everything is so condensed it seems just as, maybe ever busier! I got to my hostel and found that I was sharing a dorm with a girl who I had previously met in Laos a month ago! I couldn't believe it! It was normal to run into the same people throughout Thailand and Laos because often tourists do similar routes but I wasn't expecting to see anyone I knew anymore. I also made a friend from Australia who I did all the temples with. I was happy to meet someone to share a tuk tuk with because it majorly cuts down on cost- and he was a lot of fun so it made it a good time. The first day we took a tuk tuk to Bantaey Srei which was one of the farther temples, and on the way home we went to the Landmine Museum, and a collection of other temples (Banteay Samre, Pre Rup, East Mebon, Ta Som, Neak Pean and Preah Khan. I must say, I'm not much for the temples... they are certainly magnificant but that tour took us 9 hours... and it was HOT, and DUSTY.. and the tuk tuk is veryy bumpy. The landmine museum was my favorite part of the day. I didn't know much history or the current situation of landmines so I was happy to learn. The center also houses 40 at risk kids that they teach, feed and help them find work. The second day my friend and I were feeling energetic so we decided we were going to bike to the rest of the temples. We woke up for sunrise at Angkor Wat (530am), but it was too cloudy/ overcast to see the sunrise which was too bad. Then we spent the rest of the day biking to the rest of the temples. The Bayon (temple of many faces), Takeo (my favorite one, on a mountain with amazing views and no one else up there!), Ta Prohm which was also another cool one because it had MASSIVE trees growing through the bricks. I may have missed some because it really was difficult to keep them straight. I was exhausted after the day, I think the ride was 30 km, and it was HOT! Today I've just been relaxing and making the final plans for my trip. I have a bus back to Bangkok in two days, and I will head straight to the airport from the bus station. Tomorrow I am going to get up for sunrise again, I'm hoping it isn't overcast this time, and then I will bike the route again without stopping at any temples. The scenery is beautiful but I'm tempeled out! I've lucked out in Siem Reap, I met a lot of great people to hang out with for my last few days of traveling. <3

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

I arrived yesterday after a quick flight from Bangkok. I know I keep mentioning it, but my sinuses!! They're crazy, with 3 flights in less than 24 hours I was hurting. Especially a quick 1 hour flight, my ears were just settling and then we were starting our descent. I could hardly hear anything when I got off the plane, multiplied by the language issue I was struggling.
First impression of Cambodia... it's a different place. Firstly, they take US dollars more than their currency (riel) which I find bizarre. They'll give your change in US as well, but anything less than 1$ is in riels. Also, if there is even a tiny rip in a bill they won't take it. I've got an old, ripped 20$ bill that I can't get rid of (thanks a lot airport). But worse case I'll bring it home- I actually paid with a bill that was in 2 pieces once, we clearly don't have the same standards.
The hostel I'm staying at is pretty cool, I have air conditioning so it really can't lose! The day I got here I spent the day around town. I saw the pagodas, the palace, Wat Phnom and the central and Russian markets. I have been to a lot of Asian markets but these were for sure the most extensive ones I've ever seen! It had everything; clothes mad shoes for anyone, any size, housewares, jewelry, electronics, beauty products, bags, purses, car parts, tools, cooked food, raw groceries (meat, seafood, veg, fruit), fresh baked buns, clothes tailors, hair dressers, nail shops. It was crazy... and I didn't even buy anything haha. The other stuff was pretty standard, temples and grand places. Theyre nice, but not my favorite.
Today was Cambodian history day. I started at the Tuol Sleng genocide museum, also known as S21 jail. It was the largest jail during the Khmer Rouge rule, it was formerly a high school. You can walk through all the buildings and see the cells some of the victims were kept in. There were hundreds of pictures of the people who went through the jail, an estimated 20 000 people, most who were moved to the killing fields to be killed. There were pictures of what they found when the jail was liberated in 1979. They are very graphic, showing dead people all over the rooms. When they arrived there were 7 people remaining, most who had used their skills like painting or small machine repair, to get in good with the soldiers to have their lives spared. It's really hard to imagine this was so recent, and the trial for the leaders of the Khmer Rouge even more recent.
After S 21 I went to Choueng Ek killing fields which is 15 km outside Phnom Penh. It was formerly a Chinese cemetery before Pol Pot turned it into a massacre sight. The buildings from the original sight were torn down shortly after the liberation because the local people needed building supplies. There is an audio guide as you walk around, it was very informative and there were stories from people who had found the mass graves. All through the place there are large depressions where the mass graves were dug up. Even still after a hard rain, bones and clothes will surface from them. It was a very chilling place to know what had gone on there. In 1988 there was a large memorial built in the center of the killing fields. It's 17 levels of all the bones and clothes from the graves. So many skulls and jaw bones- you can see the damage on a lot of the skulls. The Khmer Rouge didnt want to "waste bullets" so most people died from being hit in the head with various tools.The idea of these museums is to preserve that part of history, despite how terrible it was, in hopes that it will prevent something like this again. A day I definitely won't forget.
<3

The Home Stretch

The last few days in Ubud have been great! This has been my favorite place on my trip so far. I somehow still have a sinus infection so I've been keeping my activities pretty low key. I did yoga every day, a bunch of different kinds of classes. I did a power yoga class which is my favorite kind, but after sitting on the beach for the last month and a half it was a lot harder than it should have been- I still loved it though. It was so nice seeing 2 of my friends who I met in India. Violeta and Rolf. Violeta had us to her house one night for dinner which I really appreciated. After traveling for so long itb felt good to be in a home.
Since Violeta lived a little out of town she suggested I get a mototaxi. The plan was to follow Rolf and Karen on their motorbike because I didn't know where to go. Rolf was sure we could just all fit on his bike. I can say now I feel like I've been christened into Asia. 3 grown people crammed onto one little scooter. Similar to 2 adults and 2 kids plusThere wasn't anywhere to put my legs because I was on the back. I just held them up the whole way. It rivaled power yoga for a leg and core workout. To make it even funnier, it started pourrrring! I couldn't see anything I was just holding up and my legs and hoping the plastic bag full of water wouldn't break open or my flip flops fly off. I wouldn't have said anything if it happened because turning around would have been out of the question. We made it though, big smile on my face and soaked!
One of the "main attractions" in central Ubud is the monkey forest. It's a walled in forest with monkeys everywhere. It's not completely enclosed so the monkeys roam even outside the walls. I was torn about whether to go or not- I've heard lots of people say he monkeys are crazy, aggressive, try and rob you, might bite you... and I read a bunch of trip advisor reviews about it. There were all these warnings- don't bring a bag, dont bring food, don't tease the monkeys, don't scare them, and whatever you do- don't reach into your pockets... I decided not to go- the last thing I wanted to deal with was beige accosted by a gang of rabid monkeys tryin to bite and rob me... sounds like a nightmare haha. And I saw my share of monkeys just roaming around town eating garbage and playing with things they probably shouldn't, like aerosol cans. It was actually sad, and I don't support the idea of feeding wild animals. Now these monkeys are all obese, greedy (apparently crazy) and dependent on humans for food. Anyways, I'm sure it would have been an experience to write about but I got a whole blog out of NOT going!
I'm on my way to Cambodia now, there was no direct or easy way of getting from Bali to Phnom Penh so I'm spending a few hours tonight in Bangkok then fly to P.P. early tomorrow morning. I only have 10 more days which, given how long I've been away, feels like nothing. I've got a lot I hope to see in these last few days though.
As usual when I near the end of my trips I start looking forward to being back home, being in Asia always makes me thankful for little things- like free public toilets, hot water and English!
<3

Ubud!

Made it safe and sound to Ubud, Bali. I looooove it here! It's artsy city- there are local crafts and vendors everywhere, lots of shopping and walking, and SO many amazing places to eat! I could probably be here for a month and eat at a new place every meal. Indonesian food is so delcious and a lot of it is vegetarian! I did a lot of browsing today (and a bit of shopping...) and then I went to a yoga class. It was great, the classroom was open air and the teacher was a local- he reminded me of Jackie Chan he just did all these crazy transitions, I don't think his feet ever touched the ground.
I was told I couldn't come here and not see a traditional Balinese dance and music show. I went tonight mad it was pretty cool. It was called a "Legong Dance". The orchestra were about 10 guys playing drums and ,metal instruments with mallets, and the dancers  were girls with beautiful makeup, dresses and head pieces. We got q little outline about the dances, their meanings and stuff but I still didn't really understand. It was still a cool experience, adds to the cultural/ artsy vibe of Ubud.
Happy Valentines Day also!
<3