Volunteers needed in Washington State fire fighthing

Maybe we should channel water from CA to fight our fires? It's not like this is a new idea although it is twisted...

usmcshepherd wrote:
its a great representation of what makes America great! When fellow American's answer the call for help in situations like this.

YES; All 2% of us who raised our right hands!

Of course now days, I tend to be with the 98% who had 'better' things to do than 'run and gun'.

Tough call for folks 'that care'.

JoeChiOhki wrote:
Sounds like its getting bad enough that blasting whole mountain sides off to make massive cuts (Oso mudslide sized stuff) might be needed to get these suckers stopped.

that won't help much. The Chelan fire jumped the Columbia where it's a mile wide. There's sparks and hot ash landing miles away from the fires.

Sounds like its getting bad enough that blasting whole mountain sides off to make massive cuts (Oso mudslide sized stuff) might be needed to get these suckers stopped.

They're updating these videos daily
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTVoDfnmNlM

My sister was evacuated on Thursday. They were able to go home today. She lives in Springdale, WA and it's the Carpenter Road fire near them.
Scary part about that fire is the winds are now blowing it to the SE and there's an abandoned Uranium mine, they left 2 million pounds of it on the surface when they shut it down. If it gets to that point the winds are going to be blowing that Uranium towards Spokane.

Mine is called the Midnite Mine.

When the fire was 4 miles from my sisters place they were getting burned pieces of bark landing on their place. Fire breaks don't do much with fires like this. The Chelan fire jumped the Columbia where it's a mile wide.

Naio wrote:
When I worked fighting forest fires, training consisted of a step test to see if we were in shape, and a few minutes talk about stuff like, if the fire catches you, go down into a draw and lie in the creek.

Newbie crews did mop up. We learned on the job.

For people not in top physical shape, it still might make sense to call and offer your skills. They may need drivers to ferry crews around, and TC'ers would be perfect -- skilled at driving big, heavy rigs of FS roads. Some folks here may be skilled at timber falling or driving cats, etc.

Me, I only herd cats.

Training? ha..in '65 I was part of a seasonal crew and there was only OJT. Two close calls and I wouldn't go near one now.


Gary Haupt

If you have a backhoe, dozer or other needed equipment it sounds like they would take you even if you don't have a red or blue card.

Info: Washington State DNR Facebook page

jaycocreek wrote:
A lot of mis-understanding of how it all works.Having been on multiple fires as a volunteer(Logger shut down from fires),you do not go on the actual fire line.To do that,you have to be Red Carded as my wife is/was.Go to fire school and take there courses and finish there pack test in the allotted time,then you get the Red card.

Most likely as a volunteer yu would do minimal jobs that release other qualified people for more dangerous work.I mostly fell timber and drove people around or delivered supplies..This now requires a CDL,used to be just a Chauffeurs licence.

Many people in the community I lived in(McCall Idaho) hired there pickup trucks out to the Forest Service for a decent wage.It does have to pass there vehicle inspection.Others worked food concession/helped in the warehouse and office and did driving,if qualified.None worked the fire line.The loggers did fall hazardous timber for them without a card but were well qualified.The FS rented the loggers saw and sometimes furnished a guy to carry it and be on watch,basically a Red Carded employee to keep the volunteer out of harms way.

If qualified a volunteer can make some good bucks...

Our son was a paramedic, then a first responder, fireman.... and a wildfire fighter (never a smoke jumper)

He and another guy formed a company called "Wet Net" that trained and tested Wildfire fighters (in East Tennessee)for the forest service and other governmemt agencies. I built the step boxs for them.

Most people that applied to be wildfire fighters were in pretty good shape for the physical part... but there were still a lot of failures. All were huffing by the time they got through.

I can remember many of the qualified wildfire fighters being hired by the Forest Service and I think even the BLM... The agencies would pick them up in Knoxville and fly them west... they also fought the big fires at the east end of I-40 in the Florida swamps... and the big ones in the Appalachians. A lot of the wildfire fighters spent Thanksgiving in the Mountains of western Virginia (west of Staunton or Harrisberg) one year... they were excited when they finally got home.... they made enough extra money for a big Christmas that year.

Our son continued his education and training, he is now a Fire Protection Engineer... over seeing research projects...

He also serves on State and Federal code committees, etc

I still say... even at a great risk saving lives counts... all of the homes in the USA aren't worth the value of one firefighters life.

People that aren't in Harms Way are often the people that send others into life threatening danger.

Tim, thank you for your service.... for all of those deployments... for bringing your troops home, for being the best of the best.

And yes... after 3/4 of a century I am now basically just a computer key pounder.... but I promise you, I have proudly served in many ways.

A lot of mis-understanding of how it all works.Having been on multiple fires as a volunteer(Logger shut down from fires),you do not go on the actual fire line.To do that,you have to be Red Carded as my wife is/was.Go to fire school and take there courses and finish there pack test in the allotted time,then you get the Red card.

Most likely as a volunteer yu would do minimal jobs that release other qualified people for more dangerous work.I mostly fell timber and drove people around or delivered supplies..This now requires a CDL,used to be just a Chauffeurs licence.

Many people in the community I lived in(McCall Idaho) hired there pickup trucks out to the Forest Service for a decent wage.It does have to pass there vehicle inspection.Others worked food concession/helped in the warehouse and office and did driving,if qualified.None worked the fire line.The loggers did fall hazardous timber for them without a card but were well qualified.The FS rented the loggers saw and sometimes furnished a guy to carry it and be on watch,basically a Red Carded employee to keep the volunteer out of harms way.

If qualified a volunteer can make some good bucks...