October 23, 2007

Well that blows like the damned Santa Anas

I was afraid of that.

My little bro the firefighter, who was on shift Saturday and Sunday and was supposed to start vacation yesterday and head up country to the ranch today, never got off shift. Right now he's on one of the fires. Don't know which one, possible Ontario or Arrowhead.

Deer season starts Saturday. I hope to hell he's off shift by then.

UPDATE: Well, I finally got a call back from him this evening. He's taking a break, sitting on the porch of a large house in Running Springs, waiting for the fire to head toward them. More than half his department is either actually deployed on the fires (outside his department's area, BTW) or on active duty.

He had less than four hours sleep since yesterday morning, hasn't had a meal since last night except a sack lunch today ("I'm getting kind of tired of fig newtons and granola bars"). His crew already had the fire "crown" over them while trying to keep it from jumping Highway 330.

And the week they normally have as a maximum deployment time? The clock started ticking Monday morning at current deployment, not during the weekend shift he already worked. That blows like a Santa Ana

Posted by Ken S at October 23, 2007 03:48 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Comments

God bless your brother and all of those firefighters who have made it their job to go toward the fire, especially wildfires.

Posted by: Dave E. at October 23, 2007 04:15 PM

What Dave said. And may he bag his limit over and over again as a reward.

Sad to say they're saying Halloween before the fires are all contained.

Posted by: caltechgirl at October 23, 2007 07:00 PM

Very well said, Dave. My sentiments exactly. I pray for everyone dealing with this in any capacity.

Posted by: Cullen at October 24, 2007 05:33 AM

Ken,
What Dave said. A guy down the hall has a son who's a fire fighter in Lake Arrowhead, and he's been busting his buns all week as well.

I hope he stays safe and gets around to that hunting.

Posted by: Emily at October 24, 2007 05:50 AM

Good luck to your brother, Ken.

Posted by: The_Real_JeffS at October 24, 2007 06:44 AM

I would just like to add my best wishes for your brother as well.

Posted by: Mike Dubost at October 24, 2007 07:49 AM

God bless your brother, and keep him safe.

Posted by: Julie at October 24, 2007 07:53 AM

Ditto!

Posted by: Kate P at October 24, 2007 08:03 AM

Others have said it, but I'll add my two cents: God bless your brother and all the other brave firefighters. And keep them safe.

And I hope he has an awesome deer season after kicking the fires' asses.

Posted by: ricki at October 24, 2007 08:31 AM

God bless the firefighters and keep 'em safe. Hope you guys bag a few good'ns when it's said and done.

Posted by: Nightfly at October 24, 2007 05:29 PM