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!