*** The Official Wildland FIRE Thread ***

Subway

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 31, 2008
13,496
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LBNY
Let’s take a moment and appreciate how f-ing cool it is that this online menagerie of degenerate surfers (no matter how well we lead our lives, we’re all degens at heart) we actually get first hand accounts of our friends out battling wild fires. You guys rock :shaka::jamon:
 

Iceman

Phil Edwards status
Apr 1, 2002
6,254
1,017
113
NorCenCal
Still all good out here! Today is day 4 on the line. Been working 12 hour shifts, which is usually a pain, but the piece of line we’ve been working is pretty close to basecamp, so it hasn’t been too bad with the short travel time. Camp is at the Veterans Park in Willow Creek. The fire is basically 4 smaller fires that they are trying to let converge into 1, but also keep out of the communities, which has been successful so far. Lots of firing ops, as the feds love to do.

Nothing too exciting where we’re at. Just a lot of mop up and trying to get things all buttoned up so people can come back to the neighborhood. Supposed to get a lot warmer over the next few days, and this morning has a lack of inversion layer, so fire activity should be a bit more vigorous. Forecast calls for triple digits Tues/Wed/Thurs and some monsoonal moisture creeping in as well. Could get interesting.
 

r32

Administrator
Staff member
Apr 1, 2005
17,932
9,458
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Cambria
Let’s take a moment and appreciate how f-ing cool it is that this online menagerie of degenerate surfers (no matter how well we lead our lives, we’re all degens at heart) we actually get first hand accounts of our friends out battling wild fires. You guys rock :shaka::jamon:
I swear man, erBB has boots on the ground across the world.

We're like the Info Mafia. We can talk to a guy who can call a guy that knows a dude.
 

Firebird

Gerry Lopez status
Jun 5, 2010
1,130
1,098
113
OC
Still all good out here! Today is day 4 on the line. Been working 12 hour shifts, which is usually a pain, but the piece of line we’ve been working is pretty close to basecamp, so it hasn’t been too bad with the short travel time. Camp is at the Veterans Park in Willow Creek. The fire is basically 4 smaller fires that they are trying to let converge into 1, but also keep out of the communities, which has been successful so far. Lots of firing ops, as the feds love to do.

Nothing too exciting where we’re at. Just a lot of mop up and trying to get things all buttoned up so people can come back to the neighborhood. Supposed to get a lot warmer over the next few days, and this morning has a lack of inversion layer, so fire activity should be a bit more vigorous. Forecast calls for triple digits Tues/Wed/Thurs and some monsoonal moisture creeping in as well. Could get interesting.
Good waves just over the hill from where you're at now. I won't name spots, but the conditions and the landlord do a fine job of regulating, regardless of the influence of locals.
 

Firebird

Gerry Lopez status
Jun 5, 2010
1,130
1,098
113
OC
Let’s take a moment and appreciate how f-ing cool it is that this online menagerie of degenerate surfers (no matter how well we lead our lives, we’re all degens at heart) we actually get first hand accounts of our friends out battling wild fires. You guys rock :shaka::jamon:
Dude, I'm not gonna lie. When we were saying goodbye to the other members of our strike team before we disbanded and returned to our respective departments, I got pretty choked up.
It was a moment in my life. I wasn't ready for it to end. If they called tonight and asked me to do another 3 weeks, I'd be out the door before I hung up the phone.
I know why soldiers miss the battlefield. Even though it's dangerous, it is a level of intensity that I haven't found in any other aspect of my life.
 

One-Off

Tom Curren status
Jul 28, 2005
14,121
10,240
113
33.8N - 118.4W
Bears repeating, all of us who enjoy our time in them thar hills owe you guys a debt of gratitude. So thanks man.

Leaving on Monday for our annual Mendocino run. We missed the last two years because of covid so really looking forward to it.
 

PRCD

Tom Curren status
Feb 25, 2020
12,502
8,538
113
Bears repeating, all of us who enjoy our time in them thar hills owe you guys a debt of gratitude. So thanks man.

Leaving on Monday for our annual Mendocino run. We missed the last two years because of covid so really looking forward to it.
Bring a canoe.
 

Firebird

Gerry Lopez status
Jun 5, 2010
1,130
1,098
113
OC
Bears repeating, all of us who enjoy our time in them thar hills owe you guys a debt of gratitude. So thanks man.

Leaving on Monday for our annual Mendocino run. We missed the last two years because of covid so really looking forward to it.
I'll wave as I go by on Wednesday! Going up to Humboldt to see my daughter now that I have some time off.
My wife had to get my daughter moved back up to school without my help last week since I was gone on the fires. We had planned to make a mini vacation of it. Got an Airb&b in Ferndale. Had to cancel.
I realized that now that she's gone, I wont see her until Xmas. So I said screw it. I'm headed back to NorCal to visit with her for a few days.
Bringing a few boards and fishing rods because of course, she won't want dad around all the time. So, I'll keep myself occupied with my favorite stuff.
 

Firebird

Gerry Lopez status
Jun 5, 2010
1,130
1,098
113
OC
Back out for more! Our section of line is cold as ice, but how often do you get to 4wheel a 14 ton vehicle?
Haha! I had the same thought!
I was on a Type 6 OES engine and I was thinking that jeepsters would pay big money to offroad where I was. Breathtakingly beautiful terrain. Sequoias everywhere. Yet, I was using someone else's vehicle and getting paid!
 

One-Off

Tom Curren status
Jul 28, 2005
14,121
10,240
113
33.8N - 118.4W
I'll wave as I go by on Wednesday! Going up to Humboldt to see my daughter now that I have some time off.
My wife had to get my daughter moved back up to school without my help last week since I was gone on the fires. We had planned to make a mini vacation of it. Got an Airb&b in Ferndale. Had to cancel.
I realized that now that she's gone, I wont see her until Xmas. So I said screw it. I'm headed back to NorCal to visit with her for a few days.
Bringing a few boards and fishing rods because of course, she won't want dad around all the time. So, I'll keep myself occupied with my favorite stuff.
Actually we’re stopping in Santa Cruz to visit UCSC with my daughter. Heading from there to Van Damme State Park on Wednesday. So if you get stuck behind a white 85 VW Westfalia don’t get mad. It’s floored. And I’m enjoying the view…:waving:

Oh, and we rent outriggers and paddle up Big River. So cool.
 
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Firebird

Gerry Lopez status
Jun 5, 2010
1,130
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Actually we’re stopping in Santa Cruz to visit UCSC with my daughter. Heading from there to Van Damme State Park on Wednesday. So if you get stuck behind a white 85 VW Westfalia don’t get mad. It’s floored. And I’m enjoying the view…:waving:

Oh, and we rent outriggers and paddle up Big River. So cool.
Just sold our '03 Eurovan Westfalia that we bought new in '02. Back then, my wife wouldn't drive a minivan but she had no problem driving the veedub.
Tough to sell after raising our kids in it and countless road trips. Lots of silly belly laughs coming from our three kids in the backseat. So many goldfish cracker crumbs, took me two weeks to vacuum them completely.
It became a spare vehicle and mostly sat in the garage outside of a few road trips and beach days. Every time we took it for service, it was $2k. My wife decided she was over it when the AC needed service and the part was no longer made and they had to cannibalize it from a junkyard VW. She saw the writing on the wall and we decided to sell. Got $3k more than we paid brand new! Even with 180k mi on it.
I miss it, but not the expensive maintenance.
Might think about a Vanagon in the next few years.
 

One-Off

Tom Curren status
Jul 28, 2005
14,121
10,240
113
33.8N - 118.4W
Just sold our '03 Eurovan Westfalia that we bought new in '02. Back then, my wife wouldn't drive a minivan but she had no problem driving the veedub.
Tough to sell after raising our kids in it and countless road trips. Lots of silly belly laughs coming from our three kids in the backseat. So many goldfish cracker crumbs, took me two weeks to vacuum them completely.
It became a spare vehicle and mostly sat in the garage outside of a few road trips and beach days. Every time we took it for service, it was $2k. My wife decided she was over it when the AC needed service and the part was no longer made and they had to cannibalize it from a junkyard VW. She saw the writing on the wall and we decided to sell. Got $3k more than we paid brand new! Even with 180k mi on it.
I miss it, but not the expensive maintenance.
Might think about a Vanagon in the next few years.
A lot of Vanagons, including mine, are repowered. Mine has the Audi engine used in the A3 and VW Jetta. So there are a ton of parts...but not many mechanics willing to work on it. My guy is about to retire...:eek: Most common are the Subaru swaps but the engines they use are now hard to find with low miles. The "Rolls Royce" of engine swaps is the 1.8t (turbo). But it is $$$.

No goldfish crumbs in mine, but my daughter lost a owl feather she found on one of our camping trips behind the back bench seat and has been pestering me to take apart the interior to retrieve it since she was 10 years old...

Too bad VW missed the mark when they redesigned the bus...
 
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One-Off

Tom Curren status
Jul 28, 2005
14,121
10,240
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33.8N - 118.4W
Didn't make it up to Mendocino. In year's past we were always able to score a first come first served campsite. They always reserved a few for that purpose. When we got to Big Sur (Pfeiffer State Park) they told us the CA State Parks are now strictly reservations only. Our usual next stop was Van Damme SP. Now that was out of the question. So we went to Monterey. Spent a full day at the aquarium. Love that place. Then to Santa Cruz. We were going to visit Big Basin but were advised against it. 97% of it burned last year. We saw the western edge of the burn at Waddell Creek. I didn't realize the burn was so extensive.

We did visit Henry Cowell Redwoods, then went to SF and visited Muir Woods. Not the trip we planned but was nice nonetheless. Surf was pretty flat everywhere but I score uncrowded, chest high waves in Big Sur.


ps good news- most of the old growth redwoods survived the fire in Big Basin (CZU Complex fire).


 
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Aruka

Tom Curren status
Feb 23, 2010
11,981
22,509
113
PNW
The town my GF grew up in is probably going to burn up in the rum creek fire tonight. The house that her mom lives in which her grandparents built. Her dads place, her cousins place. All the neighbors. Its pretty fcked.
 
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