It’s not workable to wear air packs
at wildland fires, but you can usually stay out of the worst of the smoke if
you’re careful. I wasn’t.
Sunday we responded to a fire that
burned into a field and a pine woods. After getting the brush truck stuck (my
4WD success ratio sucks) I ended up in the woods, and underestimated the amount
of smoke while working my way to the front of the fire.
It wasn’t too bad … except it
appears that one of my many allergies is pine trees, and the smoke was from
burning pine wood and needles. I spent all day Monday with a sore throat, raspy
breath, wheezing, irritated eyes, and itchy skin. It was like watching a
political debate. But I slept through most of it (the allergies, not the debate—well,
the debate too), because that’s what Benadryl does to me.
So from a “routine” ground cover
fire I got smoke inhalation, while another firefighter had singed hair, and a
third a cut head. What lesson do we take from this?
You never know what’s going to go
wrong. Not an original lesson, but still.
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| No, not the same fire, Emily took this a few years ago ... I was busy both times. |
Gee, Mark--if it weren't for bad luck, you wouldn't have any!
ReplyDeleteOh, I don't know ... I was smart enough to have my helmet and gear on when I went into those woods, so at least I didn't get scratched up!
DeleteWell it's not dull, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteI was looking at a coffee table book over the weekend I have on the BC forest fires from a decade back. I find myself thinking the West is going to be in for the same sort of thing this summer.
Oh, yeah. If I was 21 again, I'd want to be a firefighter out west this summer ... but now, I'm glad I'm over here.
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