Working on fires is a fun part of my job with the Forest Service. It offers a break from the everyday work and can let you do a little travel for free. I have been to fires in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and California. I even went to help work on the World Trade Center support team and searched the woods of Texas on the Space Shuttle recovery team. The people on fires are great. There is a camaraderie among the people that is refreshing. There is nobody there that does not want to be there. Not to mention the food is usually pretty good (so you have to watch your weight). Fighting fires is sometimes intense but most times it is mopping up the fire and not seeing any flames at all. My favorite fires are small district fires that are small and don't get too big. We can put them out overnight in one 20 hour shift.

Fire camps are a great experience. It is amazing what goes into them. There's food, showers, laundry service and tents for all the functions of the operations, and usually a vendor selling anything from T-shirts with the name of the fire on it to foot powder. If the fire gets big there is usually a big screen TV with a VCR.

Prescribed burning is another aspect of fire. We intentionally set fire to the forests to help keep them cleaned out so there is not much left to burn if a big fire hits the area. Often it is a chance to see a lot of flame. I think I have seen the biggest flames on a prescribed burn. We can sometimes use ATV's to set our prescribed burning. There is nothing like the feeling of hauling ass through the woods on an ATV with a dripping stream of flame behind you.

Being Spiked out is a whole other experience. A spike camp is set up when the main camp is too far away from the fireline and it just takes too long to get the crews back to the main camp. There are usually not nearly the amenities of the main camp and you could be eating MRE's or eating food out of buckets delivered from the main camp. Being spiked out is roughing it but it is a whole lot of fun.