One Foot in The Black
A WildFire is one hell of a spectacle, from far away. From far away you can see the dark gray and black smoke billowing up into the sky until it breaks through the clouds above it. The glow that comes off of it at night keeps your interest. You fall asleep after posting pictures of it to social media with “this fire is terrifyingly beautiful”.
Photo taken by me
You wake up the morning only to realize the fire is now one very short mile from your doorstep. Suddenly that beautiful distant fire isn’t such a beautiful thing after all. It’s a monster, a monster that you can now smell, and hear in the distance. It creates a sound like a train rumbling by. You grab a few things and open your front door to leave. And there, walking up your driveway, and in the direction of the cloud of smoke that is now burning your eyes is a group of individuals smiling and joking with one another and waving to you as they pass you by.
Photo taken by me
To that group of individuals THAT moment, walking towards a fire that everyone else is running away from. That’s the moment we live for. Some people say we are batshit crazy, adrenaline junkies or lunatics. All are correct lol, truth is I think you have to have a screw lose in order to enjoy the work that we do. If you ever get the chance to have a conversation with a Wild Land firefighter just ask them if they like their job... Then watch them as they smile from ear to ear and tell you that they couldn’t imagine doing anything else. 99% of the time, that’s the reaction you will get.
Photo taken by me
The fun Starts when the saw Team is called up to start cutting line, trimming trees and brushing along the fires edge. When that first saw starts up everyone in the squad is putting gloves on and getting ready for the hardest work they have ever done in their lives.
Photo Taken by Me
Eyes burning, Snot running, glasses fogging up from sweat and your muscles screaming at you with every swing and chop of your tool. Everybody side by side embracing the suck. Nobody stops, stopping means someone else has to swing harder to pick up your slack. Everyone understands the risks of stoping. The homes behind you with people entire lives just waiting to be turned to ash with one wrong move on your part or one strong push on the fires.
(Cabins burning on the Brianhead fire 2017)
Photo taken my Me
And that’s only the second to worst possible thing that could happen. Hence the caption of this post “One Foot in The Black”. Keeping one foot in the Black (burned area) quite literally means keeping one foot in the Black and the other in the green (unburned area aka fuels waiting to be burned). Doing this is often the difference between life and death. Unburned fuels between you and the fire means the fire could easy turn with a wind shift and you will be caught dead where you stand. Keeping one foot in the Black prevents that from happening. If you have ever seen the movie “Only The Brave” towards the end they talk about pulling back into the Black. The Black is the safest spot to be when the fire changes direction or suddenly gains speed. The term “good hard black” is used often to describe a spot that is 100% safe for you to sit and wait for the fire to die down a bit before going back at it.
Photo taken by me
I hope this post didn’t bore anyone that took the time to read it. It is a story style post but it is explaining the job that I have and love. In hopes that people can have a better understanding at what makes people choose the life of chasing down one of mother nature’s scariest beasts’. In the end I do because I love this land, and I love the wildlife that resides in it. I fight like hell to save as much land as I can in order for the beauty of it to last for the generations that will come after us. But even when we are fighting to stop a fire from spreading, sometimes we are forced to pull back and watch as it charges on in front of us and in that moment even though it is destroying everything in its path it is still a beautiful sight to see.
Your job looks very dangerous but very fun. The pictures in the post are in spectacular. Thanks for sharing your insight.
Hi @daywoo0311 ,
The new Curie Author Showcase that includes this post is now up and ready for viewing.
Thanks for being a part of it!
Gene (@curie Curator)
I saw where @derangedvisions introduced you to the Vets on Discord, so I'm glad y'all posted this link so I could find you here and follow you! Really enjoyed your post!! (and welcome!)
Thank you for the follow and the warm welcome! Looking forward to making friends and telling more stories here!
Awesome first post!! Welcome to the club! I am excited to watch you and Chloe grow in this awesome community!!
I used to be called on fire crew in Idaho and Wyoming when I was a teen. I remember it as a fun job.
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Wow we had one here in South Texas earlier this week and about 2 days later it was raining ash.
I had my eyes on that fire, it seemed to blow up pretty big at first but now it seems they have it close to being contained so that’s good to hear!
following
@daywoo0311,
Welcome to Steemit.
Incredible post!
I see you're a friend of @derangedvisions. Any friend of Wes is a friend of mine. Feel free to drop by my feed ... I'm a classier version of Wes.
By the way, my name is Paul.
Upvoted & Followed.
Haha thank you for the welcome man, I will go check out your feed now, so far I am a fan of everyone that @derangedvisions has sent my way! Looking forward to getting to know you my friend.
@daywoo0311,
Ditto.
Welcome to Steem @daywoo0311 ,
I doubt you have bored anyone who has read this! Your storytelling of your job description kept me engaged right to the very end. It is amazing what you do for a "job", which is so much more than that. Thank you for all that you do out there.
This post was nominated by a @curie curator to be featured in an upcoming Author Showcase that will be posted mid-evening Monday (U.S. time) on the @curie blog. If you agree to be featured in this way, please reply and:
You can check out our previous Author Showcase to get an idea of what we are doing with these posts.
Thanks for your time and for creating great content.
Gene (@curie curator)
Hey I’m sorry if I’m to late, I am just logging on here. Feel free to quote text and images both 😁 it’s awesome that I was even nominated!! Thank you!
You actually have some good timing. I am currently writing the post, so I can still get you in! Just let me know if you wanted to add anything about yourself, your work, anything really. (but please don't take too long if you do want to add something. I have about 90-120 minutes till it should be done.)