July 20 - Update

Availability

FL 04 - ASSIGNED - Iron Complex - Weaverville, CA

FL 05 - ASSIGNED - Lime Complex - Hayfork, CA

FL 06 - Unavailable

FL 07 - RELEASED - Available on Wednesday - July 23

Good morning.

Thanks to "The Hippie" for updating this while I was deep in the woods, away from the rest of the world.  Spike camp is always fun. Seven days with no phones, no internet....no generators. We got to see an impressive 9 mile burnout operation. It was perfectly executed. Not a single spot fire. Nine miles of fireline in three days.

I am standing down for a couple of days. We will making a few needed repairs on equipment. FL 07 will become available on July 23 .... maybe July 22.

Fire season is well underway. We are seeing a very high number of viral infections. The common issue in all camps is hygiene. Don't wear your dirt as a badge of honor for your hard work. When you return to camp .... shower. If you come into camp late, and the showers are closing ... come see us. We will see that the showers remain open for you. It will cost the incident more money to keep them open late, but it is a small price to pay for healthy fire fighters.

I had one crew tell me "we don't have orders for showers". You are adults. You don't need permission to wash yourself. You can rest assured the Incident Commander has directed you to shower. If that directive is lost some where down the chain of command, let us know ... we can easily fix that problem.

There is no miracle cure for viral infections..."camp crud". Prevention is the only thing that can keep an infection from spreading throughout the camp. As fire season progresses and crews become more fatigued, we will become more insistent on proper hygiene. IC's will send crews home for refusing to shower. When you get to the front of a long line at dinner, and you still have dirty hands, you will be sent back to the hand washing station. 

In short... WASH YOURSELVES. We CANNOT keep you healthy if you refuse to do your part.

Have a great day. Stay Safe.

d

ps. Toaka says..."Oh boy!...Dad's back!..I know he's got snacks in the trailer!!!"