*** The Official Wildland FIRE Thread ***

vanrysss

Billy Hamilton status
Mar 25, 2019
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from Oregon, now SD
Did fire as part of a private crew for a summer while I was in college. Got worked like an absolute dog, but the money was worth it imo. If you don't mind tramping around in the woods and manual labor its a good gig as a young dude.
 
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youcantbeserious

Billy Hamilton status
Oct 29, 2020
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Location location
:jamon:

Q: what is the difference between god and a hotshot
A: god doesn't think he's a hotshot
Yep.
But in all seriousness, Hotshots and Smoke Jumpers are pretty gnarly people by nature. Generally mountain men.
The crew regarded by most West Coast Firefighters as the baddest of the bad was the Los Padres Hotshots from Santa Barbara from the 90's and early 2000s. Surfers, but also super tough mountain men. Drop them from a plane or helicopter in the middle of the wilderness and they could be self sufficient for days.
[/QUOTE]

My friend Tyler was on that crew. Absolutely animal.
 

Chocki

Phil Edwards status
Feb 18, 2007
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Planet Earth
Yep.
But in all seriousness, Hotshots and Smoke Jumpers are pretty gnarly people by nature. Generally mountain men.
The crew regarded by most West Coast Firefighters as the baddest of the bad was the Los Padres Hotshots from Santa Barbara from the 90's and early 2000s. Surfers, but also super tough mountain men. Drop them from a plane or helicopter in the middle of the wilderness and they could be self sufficient for days.

Preach, but.
Every fire crew that has rolled through town this summer has had some rad chicks on it.
 

crustBrother

Kelly Slater status
Apr 23, 2001
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Preach, but.
Every fire crew that has rolled through town this summer has had some rad chicks on it.
Seriously. My son got his hookup on his current gig with a type 2 IA crew through a female who's a total smoke show (in my humble and extremely primal opinion) and also a female who knocked it out on the line.

And from what I'm seeing, she's not really an outlier.

 
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Firebird

Gerry Lopez status
Jun 5, 2010
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Preach, but.
Every fire crew that has rolled through town this summer has had some rad chicks on it.
Wait until you see the female convict crews. Some of those girls make you wonder, "What the hell did you do so wrong that you landed yourself in jail?"
 
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Firebird

Gerry Lopez status
Jun 5, 2010
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That's all I know!
As you can imagine, there's not a lot of interaction between convict crews and sworn Firefighters. You just see them in fire camp or out on the fire line. But you never get to hear what their story is.
My best guess is they get themselves wrapped up with the wrong dude and go down as an accessory, etc.
 

TeamScam

Miki Dora status
Jan 14, 2002
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Mid-Atlantic
Tell us more!
Now this is a joke, I like to respect women but these ladies sound like perfect candidates for my Prison Brothel System of criminal rehabilitation. You scratch my back I scratch yours. Win/Win! Waste not want not. A kooter-flapper is a terrible thing to waste. In all seriousness, well, just make it back.
 
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Subway

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Dec 31, 2008
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:jamon:

Q: what is the difference between god and a hotshot
A: god doesn't think he's a hotshot
Yep.
But in all seriousness, Hotshots and Smoke Jumpers are pretty gnarly people by nature. Generally mountain men.
The crew regarded by most West Coast Firefighters as the baddest of the bad was the Los Padres Hotshots from Santa Barbara from the 90's and early 2000s. Surfers, but also super tough mountain men. Drop them from a plane or helicopter in the middle of the wilderness and they could be self sufficient for days.
[/QUOTE]
Someone please write this script and get it made k thanks in advance. I’m looking at you, Hollywood employed erBBers. There’s like 17 of you
 

Subway

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Wait until you see the female convict crews. Some of those girls make you wonder, "What the hell did you do so wrong that you landed yourself in jail?"
Vixen.com has probably already made this movie 17 different ways
 

Subway

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well thanks for solving my “what to watch on a lazy Sunday”’mystery
 

PPK96754

Miki Dora status
Apr 15, 2015
4,683
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Kauai's north shore ~
:jamon:

Q: what is the difference between god and a hotshot
A: god doesn't think he's a hotshot
Yep.
But in all seriousness, Hotshots and Smoke Jumpers are pretty gnarly people by nature. Generally mountain men.
The crew regarded by most West Coast Firefighters as the baddest of the bad was the Los Padres Hotshots from Santa Barbara from the 90's and early 2000s. Surfers, but also super tough mountain men. Drop them from a plane or helicopter in the middle of the wilderness and they could be self sufficient for days.
[/QUOTE]
:jamon:

Q: what is the difference between god and a hotshot
A: god doesn't think he's a hotshot
Yep.
But in all seriousness, Hotshots and Smoke Jumpers are pretty gnarly people by nature. Generally mountain men.
The crew regarded by most West Coast Firefighters as the baddest of the bad was the Los Padres Hotshots from Santa Barbara from the 90's and early 2000s. Surfers, but also super tough mountain men. Drop them from a plane or helicopter in the middle of the wilderness and they could be self sufficient for days.
[/QUOTE]
"The summer I spent working on a mop up crew was epic. Keep living your dream bro."
ha! My 1st year working on a crew. Mop up and making water bars. Dragging dead animals into a pile and burning them in a debris pile and more water bars. Over hill n' dale.

2nd year in was the Marble Cone Fire in 1977 in Big Sur. Got a call on my pager when I was living in the back harbor in Santa Cruz, got on the bus two weeks later after a few quick class's and review at UCSC then down 101 to King City for deployment. Huge fire camp in Carmel Valley. Crazy night sh!t. Double canteen carries. Sleeping in paper sleeping bags. Couple of guys bringing the wrong boots and got lit up. Some good friendships made. Still in contact with two guys after all these year on FB.
Stay safe, firebird. Give that young man of your's a hug for me.
 
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PPK96754

Miki Dora status
Apr 15, 2015
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Kauai's north shore ~
Preach, but.
Every fire crew that has rolled through town this summer has had some rad chicks on it.
:roflmao:

We had a "sawyer" (chain saw guy) n' his girlfriend on our Crew. She carried the fuel and tools on the Marble Cone Fire in Big Sur in 77. Big fire camp. Not many women then. They had showers there. One area was walled off for woman.
Couple of guys from a different crew snuck up for a peek at the women showering and got caught by "gladdy" (Gladys) from our crew. Heard she come out spitting n' preaching fire n' brimstone at the dirty sons of bitches who was looking in on the girls taking a shower and she was personally going to cut off their legs at the kneecaps with her chainsaw. Tough lil hippie chick from Soquel.
Boys got caught and booted out of camp.
 
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Chocki

Phil Edwards status
Feb 18, 2007
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My crew chief the summer I “fought fires” aka worked on a mop up crew out of Eugene OR 30 years ago?

Biker Sue

We just walked around looking for and putting out hot spots with hand tools for the most part. but there was one night on the Awbrey Hall fire where Bend OR was threatened to the point that I was behind a fire line looking for spot fires. Wasn’t on a part of the line that was threatened too much and all I really remember is how crazy it was with all the commotion especially the bulldozers plowing through the trees

1658680135457.jpeg
 
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One-Off

Tom Curren status
Jul 28, 2005
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33.8N - 118.4W
When I worked in Flagstaff there was a guy on our (construction) crew who did fire fighting during the summer (back when fires had seasons). He told me a story about the Native American crews. He said one fire he was on they put the Apache camp near the Navajo camp. The Navajo were not happy about it. Then one morning they (Navajos) woke up and had all had the SAME nightmare. They were totally freaked out about it. They blamed the Apache and moved camp.