“What I did on my summer vacation…”

 With school back in session, this Labor Day I thought a reflection on the past 3-months might be… worthwhile or fun (?)

Carpenter 1 plume

“Safety Dude” had a summer that was “plume dominated” - I’ve been on several wildland firefighting assignments this year, starting with the Tres Lagunas (Pecos/Santa Fe NF), Doce (Granite Mtn., Prescott NF), Silver (Gila NF), Carpenter 1 (Mt. Charleston/Humboldt-Toiyabe NF), Millville (Utah State Forestry), Santaquin Pole (USF), and Chestnut (H-T NF again; I’d never been to Gabbs, NV before).  As I write, the Rim fire (in & around Yosemite National Park) dominates national wildfire attention, and the little bit of media coverage I’ve been able to see was fairly good. Of course it has been a tragic fire season with the loss of the Granite Mountain Crew and others. The evening of the Granite Mountain entrapment I went into denial when informed. After all, I’d been at briefing with them just 6-days prior (Doce) and we don’t lose entire crews. More information is becoming public and it appears there were many warning signs & established safety signals lined-up as dominoes to come cascading down on that one. As a long-time believer and supporter of “Lessons Learned” I think the best way to honor those that have fallen is to gain knowledge from their story, with the hope that wisdom will follow:

http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/082113_yarnell/evidence-mounts-that-granite-mtn-hotshots-shouldnt-have-deployed/

Twenty years ago when I became the Safety Officer on a Southwest Area Type I Incident Management Team, and an instructor for S-520/Advanced Incident Management, we worked to see that medical services were more quickly available to firefighters. I’d been a Medical Unit Leader before being a Type 2 IMT Safety Officer and carried the rule-of-thumb: 1 EMT per division/group per operational period. We’ve come a long way… we usually well exceed that and often have line qualified paramedics. The National Registry is the accepted standard most places, especially in time of emergencies when out-of-area professionals are needed. Recently, the rumor was Rim Fire was (or is) allowing orders for paramedics to go unfilled if they can’t be filled instate. When I was an EMT on the National Registry, this native Californian always found it more demanding than the Calif./Los Angeles County standards. 

Accompanying the grapevine mumbling is that they want to keep the Federal funds (FEMA) in state. “If” the rumors are true: shame, Shame, SHAME… Fire should not be viewed for its local revenue generating aspects: unfortunate that it will probably take death, mayhem & lawsuits to correct = these are a National Forest & a National Park. You use the closest available qualified resources, but sometimes you need to go national to get-the-job-done (remember our 1^st objective is health & safety of incident personnel and the public).

           

Rim Fire

sometimes on fires you forget to shave

Other summer subjects I’ve thought about: it was great seeing my mom, sisters, nephew and family, Aunt Virginia & many cousins at a family get-together in early June; TENNIS; this USTA Official missed much of the French Open(so what), The Championships (Wimbledon: DARN!), the U.S. Open Series Tournaments (Que Lastima!) and the opening of the  U. S. Open (don’t miss the jingoistic jabber about this being the best [it isn’t, just because you have the biggest stadium doesn’t make it the best tournament], and certainly don’t miss Martina Navratilova’s incessant blather [shut up and watch the point]); how ‘bout them “Boys of Summer” (Los Dodgers? They were 10-games behind & now 10+ ahead (quien sabe); bet my dermatologist will find much to counsel me about (regardless of the 50 spf applications); Isn’t it ironic that he Mount Charleston Blue Butterfly is threatened & endangered because its fire dependent habitat was been shrunk by fire suppression and this year a fire threatened the population with extinction while creating a lot more habitat? (note: they survived, as they have for a long time, with much more range now); July showers DO bring August flowers (here); Northern Idaho visit to Nancy & Pete Erickson’s place at Hayden Lake as A-OK (we’d do it again; Neighborhood Watch reception is coming up: I move we change the title from “Block Captain” to “Block Head” (since I-r-it); yoga: missed too many classes; grapes: nothing sweeter than your own homegrown…