Fire Season 2009: End of Season Report

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! Oh, sorry I was just resting after my long and exhausting fire season. This year marks my 5th season of fire and my third season with the Helitack crew. To be honest I had been looking forward to this season ever since Nathan left because I knew it was going to help me pass the time and pass the time it did. If working 1,211 hours in 119 days doesn't keep you busy I don't know what will. This year there weren't many really big fires in our state and that means we were doing our job, keeping 90% under 5 acres. Just because there weren't many large fires doesn't mean there weren't little fires keeping us busy hopping around the state. This year I started on June 8th and my first fire was on June 11th, my last day of work was October 15th and the last fire I was on was on October 13th. All said and done I worked on 32 different fires and some days I worked as many as 3 fires a day. Like last year I didn't spend much time in Ellensburg and for me that is a really good thing. The less time I spend in Ellensburg the more days I work and the more money I make. To be honest this job isn't all about the money but since I pretty much have to give up my summer I might as well make as much money as possible. This year I worked a total of 119 days, 57 of those in Omak, 48 in Ellensburg, 4 in Pomeroy, 3 in Olympia, 2 in Goldendale, 2 in Ephrata, 2 in Cashmere, and 1 in Hoquium. I consider it a good year if I spend half my time in Ellensburg and as you can see this was a very good year. This is the first year I have ever been to a fire on the west side of the mountains and to make things interesting I went to 4, three one day and then one a month and a half later, all of them were human caused, which isn't surprising considering 3 of them were on the 5th of July. I didn't really have anything exciting happen this year, there weren't any hydraulics failures or run in landings. I did however get to spend a lot of time with old friends and even made some new ones. I got to watch some really interesting foreign films and listen to some interesting debates. I ate out more than anyone probably should in 4 months and to be honest I can't imagine spending my summer any other way. Fire hasn't always been a part of my life and I know I can't do this forever but I am thankful for every year I have had in fire and I hope I have many more fun, exciting, and safe years left in me.