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 :)