My First Forest Fire, Part 2

 The photo above shows the building that used to be the McBride Ranger Station.

    My wife drove me the 6 miles into town and dropped me off at the ranger station. I kissed her good bye and began walking up the sidewalk. I couldn’t help but notice that there was a distinct lack of chaotic rushing around and the yelling of orders, that I had expected to see at the Forest Service office with a forest fire to be fought. Instead I saw a quiet sunny morning with no activity at all, in sight. 

        I walked up the concrete steps, opened the door and stood by the counter. A man wearing a beige shirt came up to the other side of the counter and asked if he could help me.   I replied that I had received a call from Alastair, and that I was there to help fight a forest fire. The man walked around a wall and called to Alastair who came to the counter and welcomed me.  He  then introduced me as David, his neighbor who was a teacher. He told me to follow him. 

        Alastair led me into a large room in the basement of the office, and handed me a big brown envelope with a string tie and told me that since I was a teacher, I was going to be the “Timekeeper” on the fire. He had me open the envelope and as I took out and looked at all of the various pads of paper forms and cards, he explained to me what each of them was and what I was to record on them. 

    Alastair then introduced me to Grant, who was to be in charge of the fire. I was then left on my own in order to spend more time reviewing the various timekeeper pads and forms.  Grant returned to tell me to make sure that all of the pencils were sharpened. 

        Things seemed to be moving a whole lot slower than I had expected. There was still no other fire fighters that I could see.  As I sat in the basement studying the Timekeeper’s forms, I was introduced to a couple of other Forest Service guys and began to glean a bit more information about the fire and what was going to happen.  

        The fire was caused by a lightning strike, up one of the tributaries of the McGregor River, which was about 50 miles northwest of McBride. There were no roads close to the fire so I was going to accompany a truckload of supplies to Dome Creek, the nearest  community to the fire, where a helicopter would pick me and the supplies up, and fly to the location where the fire camp was to be sited. I would be helping set up the camp. The firefighters would not be flown into the camp until the afternoon. 

        I then did a lot of waiting, which was followed by more waiting.

        I accompanied Alastair to the grocery store to pick up the food order that had been filled for the Fire Camp. I was starving; firefighting is hungry work. I took advantage of being at the grocery to buy myself a chocolate bar to tide me over until I got something more substantial to eat. We drove the groceries back to the office and where I did some more waiting. The guys at the office had some sandwiches brought end and fortunately I was a recipient of one of them. 

You can see my paintings at: davidmarchant2.ca

My First Forest Fire Call Out

           My life took an unexpected turn when the phone rang at 9:30 on a hot and sunny August Saturday morning in 1978.  It was a phone call that had an immediate repercussion, but also had further repercussions two years later that led to a 25 year change in the direction of my life.

        The call was from Alastair, a neighbor who lived a couple of houses down the road who worked for the B.C. Forest Service. In our many visits with him and his family, I mentioned that I was available and eager for any kind of work, and fortunately Alastair remembered that, and was on the phone to tell me that there had been a lightning strike that had resulted in a forest fire up the McGregor River drainage, and the Forest Service was in need of fire fighters. Was I willing to come and help?

        “Sure”, I told him “What do I need do? 

         “Just bring some boots and gloves and come down to the ranger station as soon as you can”, Alastair  replied, then added, “You’ll probably be away from home for a few days, and this is a helicopter show, so we will be flying you in and camping.” 

        Wow, a helicopter ride!, Now, I was really excited. It was mostly the pristine mountains that had attracted us to move to the Robson Valley and the McGregor River was a totally untouched wilderness drainage, about as pristine as it comes, and now I was getting an opportunity to ride in a helicopter and see the mountains from the air. I had never been in a helicopter before, and jeez, I had never had to fight a forest fire before. My mind was racing, by this sudden opening of new opportunities. 

        I pictured myself as a fire fighter;  I stood stoically, axe in my hand, as an inferno of flames snaked up nearby trees and sparks swirled around me.  I neatly stepped aside to dodge the incendiary branches that crashed down beside me.  I paused for a few seconds, exhausted from the exertion of using the axe.  The heat was intense. I took off my hardhat and wiped the sweat from my ash smeared brow. The fire roared, my 30 seconds of rest was over, I must returned to the fire fight.

    Back to reality:  I filled my wife in on the details of my exciting phone call, then gathered some work clothes, my heavy duty hiking boots, and a pair of work gloves. A camera, I mustn’t forget to take my camera. I was ready. 

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Happy Canada Day

     We’ve got a fairly grim looking holiday going for us today.  It is coolish and raining, so I thought I would pull out a more scenic photo for the occasion.  This Is a picture taken on the way up to Kinney Lake in Mt. Robson Provincial Park.  The beautiful, but unnatural looking color of the water, is due to glacial “flour”, a mix of ground up rock carried by the river.

    Like every other country these days, Canada is suffering from the erratic, chaotic, and unstable bullying of the child-like president of the US, but it is muddling along.  

    Our weather will no doubt put a damper on the Canada Day events scheduled in McBride.  We will probably drive into town later today, to get some doughnuts from the local food truck.

You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca