My first summer as an Ontario FireRanger was in 1998. I was as green as they come and excited about everything from my first initial attack helicopter ride, to carrying a backpack pump and looking for “hot spots” during mop up. The veterans on my base called me a “keener” because I was constantly looking for something to do. Keeners are usually the first to volunteer to accomplish any task and the last ones to sit down. This is probably because most first year crewmembers want to impress their supervisors so they’ll be hired back the following summer.
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| Figure 1. Four Ontario FireRangers waiting for a helicopter pick up, by their man-made bridge. |
The biggest challenge for me was learning to wait on the whim of nature. When it rains, it pours and there are literally no fires to put out. As an Ontario Ranger you become familiar with an old fire saying “hurry up and wait,” because you could be waiting a really long time for the weather to improve! During this down time there are many other targets a Ranger Crew is involved in. These range from fire line training with your crew, to equipment audits in the warehouse and if you are fortunate, to being involved in lending district staff technical support on some interesting field projects.
As a rookie you’ll be broken into the fire line system by being given one of two jobs: “pump person” or “hose layer,” alias “hose donkey” by your crew. I was the donkey! This is where the term “grunt work” must have originated. Laying hose is not as easy as you think! Walking through the bush with a cumbersome 70 pound hose pack on your back over blow-down or through an alder swamp is a totally different ball game than the physical fitness test required for the job that is taken in a gym.
When you finally reach the fire edge and begin to put a line around the fire perimeter, sometimes it is so smoky your eyes burn and water non-stop. You can’t help but to look like you are crying. This is when you’re most likely to get poked in the face with a twig or have the hose fall out of the pack in a big tangled mess. During this high stress period of time it sometimes seems the harder you try to accomplish the orders being yelled at you, the more it feels like you’re fighting with everything in your way. Just when you think you’ve laid the last bag of hose and give a huge sigh of relief, your crew leader sends you back to the pump site for
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| Figure 2. Happy crew members heading home in a helicopter. |
another bag. If you happen to be working on a really long hose lay and are very lucky, more hose may magically appear, as bags are free-dropped from a hovering helicopter.
After working on the fire line for several hours you eventually start thinking about supper and how hungry you are for a big steak dinner! Then you realize it’s your turn to set up the propane cook stove and since steaks aren’t part of an initial attack food kit, it’s boiling water for a wholesome Mountain House meal instead. I have yet to cook one with the right proportion of water or wait long enough so that the noodles aren’t crunchy! As thrilling as it is to be the first to arrive on the scene of a fire, sometimes it is also exciting to leave for a hot shower, soft bed, and fast food!
