Working with the BLM - Mother Lode Region

My team and I finally started working with the Bureau of Land Management last week.  Our first project was to work on clearing a fire line that was originally made during the Cold War.  The line has been maintained in pieces, since it's construction, but has never been completed in whole, back to it's original size.  The line stretches for over 12 miles, and maintains a 200 foot clearing, down to shrubs of less than 4 inches tall.  Our efforts will, hopefully, complete this fire line before the fire season starts up.

Using chainsaws, we cut down mostly brush and small trees.  Nothing big yet.  Most of my team has little to no experience with chainsaws, so I've been helping them out as much as I can.

The area we were in was awesome!  We were about 2-hours outside of Yosemite National Park, camping on the ridge of a mountain.  We couldn't have asked for better weather, too!  Mid 60's during the day, and upper 30's at night!  I woke up every morning to a sunrise through the trees, over looking the fog that settles into the Sacramento Valley (it looks like a sea of clouds from the mountains), and I went to bed after a sunset over the horizon and that sea of clouds... simply amazing!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2101713&id=45404814&l=4c59cc2cd5

 

This coming week our location is going to change, going closer to Yosemite, and camping out all week.  We were told that the scenery is even more impressive.. can't wait!

 

Talk to you all soon!

Red Card Certification

This past week consisted of four 10-hour days of classroom.  The United States Forest Service taught myself and about 40 other AmeriCorps volunteers the ins and outs of wildland firefighting, in the end, each one of us earning our Red Card Certification.  The class began with a full day of S-190 (intro to wildland fire behavior).  This class taught us about factors which influence a wildfire, such as topography, weather, and fuels.  It was interesting, with a lot of new and useful information for me!  We took a test, which I passed (cough 100% cough...lol), then we started S-130 (Firefighter training).  This course was more like a review for me, although just as helpful and interesting as the S-190.  We went over topics like a VERY abbreviated Haz-Mat Awareness course, another very abbreviated course on ICS, watch out situations while fighting wildland fires, how to cut a line through different terrain and finally, PPE (personal protective equipment - nothing like structural firefighting) and the different pieces of apparatus the Forest Service uses.  Wildland firefighting PPE consists of the following items:  Hard-hat, safety glasses, smoke goggles, ear plugs, hard-hat neck shroud, Nomex long sleeve shirt, leather gloves, Nomex pants, and 10in Hawthorne leather boots with Vibram sole.  The apparatus they use- or their "engines" are basically something between a F350 and an F550 with a 5 person cab and a 500 gallon tank with pump.  Tonka trucks compared to EG eng 2 or 3!  But all in all, they do the job they are meant to do.

Some aspects of wildland firefighting are completely different from structural firefighting, and actually took me a minute to wrap my head around.  Such as, a house, when involved in a wildland fire, is simply more fuel for the fire!  Wildland firefighters do their best to protect the house from the outside.  No interior attacks!  Their rule is to triage the houses, meaning save the ones that can be saved, by either cutting lines far enough away from the house, or to back burning the forest, so as to "pre-burn it" under their control.  However, if a house is already 1/4 involved (normally on the roof), it is considered a loss and they move on to the next house!

Throughout the class, I did some networking and basically was told that my application to the apprenticeship program, was a waste of time.  Enrollment into the program is extremely difficult without 2 or 3 years of wildland firefighting experience, or military veteran status... neither of which I have.  I was told the way to get hired is to start on an engine company for the forest service or BLM.  Make yourself known at each firehouse I want to apply to by making an appointment to stop by, bringing my resume with me.  This is near impossible for me, because I have nearly zero free time, and no mode of transportation readily at hand...   very frustrating.  So really the only way I could get a job with the Forest Service or BLM, is to get a job with the crews that I work with over the next 6 months.

The past two weeks have been really frustrating for me.  With the lack of work, I had plenty of time to think about what I want to do after AmeriCorps.. or realistically, I realized that I have no idea what I want to do!  A job with the forest service would be awesome, but I'm not sure (a) it's possible, (b) where I want to live/work, and (c) what I want to do career wise.  Maybe I'm just thinking too much about it, but the idea of me living 3000 miles away from my family, especially with a neice on the way, is disheartening to me.  I know I have time to think about it, but I think that the next 6 months will go by really quick, and I'll be jobless!

Chainsaws + California forest + Me = happiness!

The two days of classes on chainsaws weren't that bad!  They went by quickly and they were the best training we have recieved so far!  I think it's not only due to the fact that the topic is exciting and interesting, but our instructor was also interesting.  It turned out to be my teams first project site-supervisor, the Battalion Chief from the BLM Mother Lode Region.  After the two days of classes, we got to go out to the forest in El Dorado Hills, CA, and cut some brush and trees down!  What more can I ask for!?!?  The day was perfect, not too cold, not too hot, and cloudy!  We were split into 5 groups of 5 students to 1 teacher.  Using our Stihl 26 inch bar chainsaws we began cutting small shrubbery and brush.  In the afternoon, we each had a chance to fall a tree (up to 8 inches in diameter), limb it, and buck it up (cut into smaller manuverable pieces).  Even though I've fallen trees before, it was still exciting to me, and will always be!  My team and I are now certified as Class A sawyers (meaning I can fall trees up to 8 inches in diameter).  Here's a link to a photo album of the few pictures I took throughout the day.. They are mostly of the other people in my group, and a few of the Battalion Chief falling a staub that was endangering the roadway and a power line.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2100945&id=45404814&l=73bb7e8e39

 

 

Today, we switched roles 180 degrees, and planted shade trees around the city of Sacramento.  The Sacramento Tree Foundation is a non-profit organization that has been satisfying the needs of it's "customers" (at no cost to them) with deciduous trees and assisting them plant their new trees for almost 30 years.  Today, my team and I planted 16 trees at different peoples houses around the Sacramento area.

 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2100946&id=45404814&l=d1adb38e61

 

 

As for that application to the US Forest Service Apprenticeship program, I sent it in the other day.  I spoke with the Battalion Chief, and he said it is an excellent way to start a career in the wildland firefighting field, but with my lack of experience in the field it may be difficult to get accepted.  But definitly worth a shot!  Maybe at the end of the project with him, I will ask for a letter of recommendation to boost my probability!  We'll see how things go! 

 

And, we start Wildland Firefighter training next week!

It's been a while...

It's been a while since I've posted but Christmas break was enjoyable.  I spent a lot of time with family and friends, shot my first deer, and ate some amazing home-made food!  Now I'm back in Sacramento and getting ready to go back to "work" in the morning.  When almost every other team is leaving tomorrow, to go on their Spike, my team is staying in Sacramento, with the other FMTs (Fire Management Teams).  After physical training at 6am tomorrow, we start chain-saw training at 8.  The next two days are all class, about chainsaws... not too sure how much they can talk about chainsaws for 16 hours, but I will let you know!  Then some day next week we get to go into the "field" and actually use the chainsaws.  Nothing new to me really, because I have grown up using chainsaws with Poppy!

As for my life after AmeriCorps, I found out yesterday about an apprenticeship that the US Forest Service offers.  If accepted, they send me through a 4 week academy, located at McClellan Air Force Base - right where I am currently.  Actually the training we will be recieving will be at the same building where the apprenticeship academy is held!  I'm hoping to make connections during training, so that when I send my application in, there is a better chance to get accepted.  After the academy, I would be inaugurated into the US Forest Service, and begin my two year commitment around the Northwestern region of the US.  I would obviously start out as the probie, but the possibility of growth is near endless.  And there is the fact that I would be a Federal employee so the benefits and retirement package are a plus too!

Now I just need to start my training and fill out the application!