First Fire Of The Season

We were just at that point during dinner where you contemplate having seconds. You know that argument where you want more because it tasted so good but you know that if you do you'll regret it later? The tones decided for us.

Type 3 Engine

We headed out to the apparatus bay and put on our wildland gear. My captain and I jumped into the type 4 engine while the engineer and the other firefighter hopped into the type 3. We then headed for the neighboring city.

As we approached we could see the header. Fortunately the area that was ablaze was not populated and on flat terrain. Unfortunately it was in 3 foot tall, dry grass and it was windy. As we pulled up to one flank we saw a Calfire crew starting a progressive hose lay over a barbed wire fence. I'm not to sure how they thought they were going to catch a fast moving grass fire like that.

A couple hundred feet down the road a crew on a type 1 engine (affectionately know as a pavement princess since they really don't do well off road) had just cut a section of the fence. We radioed them and told them to get out of our way which they happily did. We just had better equipment for this kind of fire.

Type 4 engine

As we pulled up to the flames my captain came to a stop. I dismounted and started up the pump on the back. While I was doing this my captain ordered the guys on the other engine to go to the heel of the fire and to work their way back toward us in a pincher move to stop the fire.

For the next 30 minutes we battled the blaze. A couple of times the wind shifted and the fire jumped our lines. We then had to backtrack and catch those spots. Once the Calfire guys saw how we were attacking the fire they abandoned their progressive hose lay and started a mobile attack like us.

We were able to catch this fire quickly and kept it to about 20 acres. Once again it left me with the feeling that I love my job.