Frequently I’m queried about “why do you go fly fires?”

Occasionally, I ask myself that same question.  However, this morning while out walking around the tanker base, I found some insights coming to me.  Not sure it will make sense to anyone but me, but, on the other hand, I don’t think it necessarily has to make sense to anyone else.

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As I was readying to leave Georgia, headed to make the trek West, the cute girl (now fiancee) driving me to the airport  looked at me, somewhat askance….

“You’re headed to summer camp”….

Huh?  Never really thought about going out to fly fires as “summer camp”….but it got me to thinking.  Summer camp, as a kid, always involved “church camp”.  No sir, none of those fancy/schmancy camps where you go and have catered meals.  We stayed in rudimentary cabins.  No air conditioning, and in West Texas the lack of air conditioning approached child abuse.

The food was relatively healthy…fresh goat meat, occasionally a hamburger, beans.  Always there were beans….and if you were a junior high age boy, that provided it’s own source of amusement.  Activities varied from sitting and having worship services, to cleaning, to organized games…and the ever present campfire at night.  Not that we were going to suffer too much from lack of heat, but it did seem to provide an internal warmth that I remember to this day.  I still love a campfire, even if it’s way too warm to *really* need one.

We had the morning class/lecture/inspirational talk.  Most of them were clearly unremarkable, other than the fact that they seemed to be delivered by people who truly believed what they spoke.  Lunch was a time to look forward to, if for nothing other than being able to get out of the heat, into the air conditioning, and get something down to quiet the growling from your stomach after breakfast had long worn off.

The fire season day usually begins about 5:30 am or so for me.   My body is still on Eastern time, and even when in the Eastern time zone, I was an early riser.  “Show time”, or the time that we have to be ready to be utilized, is either 0800 or 0900…0800 today.  Because I am the relief pilot, I get out to the air field a bit early, to go over the plane that has been flown by another pilot for the past couple of weeks.  My mechanic/driver/loader (another Stan) helps me get things ready.  Naturally, the rudder pedals have to be adjusted….which, in an 802, is really easy….if you are 5’0″ tall and weigh about 125 pounds.  For those of us who are taller, heavier, and have an abdomen that has expanded over the years, it’s not quite that easy.

Bending over, trying to avoid impaling my head on the control stick, opening a nice laceration on my right arm, and using a few choice words somehow helped get the pin into the correct place.  Better to suffer for a bit early, than suffer sore ankles and legs from pedals that are way too close. (Ever notice how mechanical objects seem to require the shedding of blood?)

Then the morning brief.  The weather report is read in a monotonous tone (but how in the world can Battle Mountain, Nevada, be too excited about a front moving moisture in over Ohio?), and the fire “sit report” (situation report) including Alaska, is read as well.  A discussion of the LAL (lightning activity level), the Haines index (google it), and the mixing level of winds occurs.

Time for PT.  The young, healthy, fit ones go for a run.  Us slightly older…(well, maybe a lot older) ones walk around the base.  Some of the guys go off for a cigarette and a cup of coffee.  I take a path leading out to an old abandoned C-123, with the JATO still mounted on top (Jet Assisted Take Off).  I ponder what it was like to take an elderly, much used work horse, add a jet engine to it, load it with retardant and light the fire in the jet, put full power to the old radials and hang on.  More likely, add all the power and hope that nothing broke, and that you could get the thing airborne.

Now, waiting on lunch.

You know, there are certain parallels.  Maybe this really is summer camp.

I have had a request for a “translated” version of some of my posts.  Rather than do that, I will publish a glossary of terms, and if you have questions, put them in the comment section.  I’ll add to this as time permits…..(some are a bit tongue in cheek….)

SEAT-Single Engine Air Tanker.  Most underutilized of modern wildfire fighting assets.  Flown by the best and brightest of pilots, who are capable of aviation, navigation, and Continue reading →

A very vivid lesson that was driven home to me in SEAT training was the video of a car in the path of 800 gallons of water.  A firefighter in the open, who had several hundred gallons of water dropped on him at best would be covered, gooey and sticky for days.  At worst, he could be killed or injured. Continue reading →

So, I moved into the pit, the hose connected, and I watch very carefully as the “mud” is pumped on board.  My phone usually rings during this time, but I ignore it.  This time we are loading from the right.  It’s the first time I’ve flown *this* particular 802 since February or March.  With the right window open, we get a full treat of the exhaust fumes in the cockpit.  I turn the a/c on “high”, which helps some.  I time my “hand drop” perfectly, and I have 700 gallons onboard.  Allegedly.  Things don’t always work out…. Continue reading →

A few days ago, sitting at a SEAT (Single Engine Air Tanker) base in Oregon, four of us were ready to go.  The “dispatch order” (the order in which the tankers go out) had been posted.  I was number 3 in line, and was ready to go.  A dispatch came in, but it was just for two SEATS…ah, well, things don’t always work out…. Continue reading →

Welcome to “cafmustang.com”.  This will be a repository of “stuff I write”.  You are welcome to comment, but remember….general nastiness and meanness will not be tolerated.   Unless, of course, I am the one being nasty and mean…(it is my blog, after all).  You are also welcome to ask questions (which I may or may not answer, depending on my mood).

Currently, I am in Chester, CA, sitting on fire call.  So far today, the biggest event is eating a couple of large trout caught by the SEAT base manager this morning early.  From happily swimming in the lake, to being lunch, was only a few hours.