Burn, baby, burn

Second day in a row I can get to a computer! Woo hoo :)

Today.Best. Day. Ever.

I got to go on my first prescribed burn! I finished my firefighting training last week and that was amazing in itself but it was 10 times better to put all of that learning to use. We spent a whole week in Kinston NC at a forestry center which happened to be in the middle of nowhere. Our days were pretty much set in stone everyday but it was nice to have the structure.

5:30am-PT

7:00- Breakfast

8:00- Class

Noon- Lunch

1:00pm-Class

5:30-Dinner

Then the rest of the night was playtime! We had frisbees, a football, a soccer ball, a ping pong table, and a pool table. A bunch of us would also do some yoga every night at 8:00pm. It was so relaxing. The classes themselves were pretty awesome as well. We learned all sorts of things about creating fires with drip torches, fuzees, and fuels. We learned how to put out fires with fire lines, pumps, fuel types, engines, tools, and cunning tactics! We also learned about safety. Take home message numero uno is that we all come home. There are no super secret equations that figure out what percentage of us will perish in a certain fire... the plan is that we all come home. So, mom and dad (and sister cause I know you worry too) dont worry ;)

I also got to meet so many new people throughout the training. The firefighters are split between three units so I got to know others from the raven and wolf unit and made new friends! :)

Soooo....back to the best day ever. I was assigned to a prescribed burn today with 2 other AmeriCorps firefighters. It was planned to burn about 42 acres and there were 14 firefighters there all together. Well, the weather was pretty crappy so we didnt quite accomplish what we set out to do but it was still awesome. The relative humidity was pretty high and it was pretty cloudy so the sun couldnt dry anything out. We burned about 15 acres and it was a nice "practice fire" The flames didnt get higher than 4 feet and the wind cooperated so it was a great learning experience. I know for my next fire I will be way more confident and comfortable. AND I got to drive a marsh master!!! If you dont know what it is then look it up. Its totally BA. Now I am ready for my nap :)

Fire Team

The fire team!

A quick one

Soooo I only get a chance to get online about once every two weeks. This one will be short.
I am doing AMAZINGLY well! :)
I am now a Type 2 federal Wildland Firefighter! I finished my training in NC last week and now I am back with my team in MD. I missed them so much!
My time is gone but Ill fill you in later!

Finally Getting Some Work Done

The AmeriCorps NCCC motto is "getting things done" and up until about a week ago that meant sitting in large groups and listening to other people talk about what we need to know and what we will be doing, while fighting the urge to fall asleep. However; now, things are starting to get interesting. (But, dont get me wrong, I am extremely glad I got so much training.)

This past week we had our mini spike in Wilmington, DE. We worked with in the state parks completing a variety of tasks. It was quite an adventure packing our van with everything we needed for the week. It makes me very nervous to think about packing the van for 8 weeks....but I guess we shall cross that bridge when the time comes. The day we showed up I got to work at a nature center in one of the parks. I wrestled with a large mass of thorn ridden vines for about an hour. I was beginning to think that the vines would conquer but I soon showed them who's boss. They put up a good fight though, as proven by a few thorn pieces still lodged under my skin and scratches up my legs. The second day we worked at the DuPont Mansion. We cleaned out the basement which was kind of cool. The house was originally built as a castle so there were lots of secret passageways and cool ghost stories. The next day we worked at the Brandywine State Park. We picked up a lot of debris left over from the snow storms. We had to saw a bunch of huge branches into a bunch of small branches. Then we got to do some hiking. For the last day we went back to the nature center and did some sanding and painting. We also got to do a lot of team bonding during the trip and I am so happy with my team now :)

Everyone of us has something to give everyone else. Jamie adds the totally unnecessary (but def in a good way!), Alexa adds the party, Tyler adds the comedic relief, Kathrine adds the sneaky, Alisa adds the awesome cooking and the acting, Evelyn adds the sick nasty , Josh adds the cards and frisbee, Jeremy adds the voices, Rob adds the quiet funny, and I am somewhere in all of that. I am so lucky to have a team that gets along.

In another week we will be going on our for real spike. It will be 8 weeks long and it will be slpit into two different projects. The first 4 weeks will be spent in Conowingo, MD at a girl scout camp and the second 4 weeks will be spent in Camden, NJ working at the Camden Children's garden. I am pumped about the split because that will give us a chance to learn more about different areas. Ill even get to see dinosaurs! ( I hear the children's garden has a dinosaur garden!)

Lots going on but I take it day by day and so far, so good :)