1/3/02
I have been unjustly accused of spinning a yarn or two over the years; even
though I am very closed mouth about my experiences I bowed to Ken's brow
beating to relate a few stories. This is the first installment of Marty's
corner, remember that my memory is always accurate and the stories contain
only the gospel truth!
My brother Jim
and I were reminiscing on New Year's Eve about his first major fire, the
Sizemore Fire in early August of 1972. The fire started west of Highway
101 just south of the Laytonville Valley in Mendocino County. The fire scars
are still visible, thirty years later, from the highway. The Sizemore Fire
would also provide several firsts for me and although it only burned eight
hundred acres I remember it as one of the toughest, meanest fires of my
career.
The initial attack consisted of five engines, one dozer and the new Laytonville Helitack Crew. My engine was the last engine of the initial attack to arrive and was assigned to the southeast corner of the fire. The Fire Boss was Assistant Ranger (now called Battalion Chief) Bert Bartlett. We called Bert the jolly green giant because he was 6'7" and weighed at least 330 lbs. Bert did not have one of his better days that hot August day in 1972. He spread the five engines, dozer and Helitack crew into seven uncoordinated efforts in a circle around the fire. I never saw another crew until after the shit had hit the fan. The fan came in the form of a dry cold frontal passage, a first for me.
The fire had started in the bottom of a bowl and was slowly burning in all directions in heavy manzanita and scrub oak. My assignment was to lay hose across the south side of the fire to the west and tie in with who ever were there. Being a young, gung-ho seasonal employee I didn't question my orders, never again- another first! I parked the engine in a grassy opening and we stretched the hard line off the left reel into a manzanita thicket and crawled along putting out the low intensity fire. At the end of the hard line we added 1" hose, we were out several hundred feet when the Jolly Green Giant started calling me. This was before handheld radios so I had the outside radio speaker turned up really loud. He called several times which I ignored because I was crawling under heavy brush a long ways from the engine. 1190, 1117. 1190, 1117. 1190 this is 1117! Finally he got to the point, 1190 there is fire all the way around your truck!
Oh! He was finally right! When I cleared the brush there was an oval of fire encircling the truck. I ran through the fire, grabbed a Pulaski, cut the line and drove the engine into the black. We were able to pick up the slop-over and return to our hose lay when the fire blew out in all directions with hundreds of spot fires. This time there was no stopping the fire and I could tell from the radio traffic that every crew was in trouble. I had to pull back out the access road several hundred yards to get out of the blow-up, the other engines were also pulling out and I needed to hold an escape route open for my friends. I parked off the road and we pulled two 1 1/2" lines, the water streams were blowing back on us due to the extreme wind and were not reaching across the road. The other engines roared by and did not see us in the heavy smoke, at least that is what Ken says. I believe that they were running like dogs. Ken- Bad Bob Borba-Wayne Moss three of the best, left us!
Time to cut and run again! First and last time that I ever cut a hose on a fire, although these were the third and fourth of the day! This time I pulled back at least one half of a mile to a spur ridge and parked to figure out our next stunt. Here I experienced another first, probably the most important of my career. Amid a great deal of huffing and puffing the Helitack crew came running up to us, they had run almost a mile but still looked magnificent! Here was Helitack Fire Captain Rick Patterson and his hand picked crew. This was the first time that I met Rick, we were to be friends until his death in 1999 (see our dedication). Since Helitack Captains are fire gods I asked Rick what we should do next. He replied that we should fire from a wet line. I was very impressed, I didn't think that we had a chance in hell of stopping this fire but here was a fire god saying we should attack!
We proceeded to fire from a wet line, after 40 to 50 feet the fire looked at us and got very agitated. A finger of fire came out of the head and raced several hundred feet directly at us. We had succeeded in influencing the fire! This resulted in increased rate of spread, intensity, and flame length, another first for me. Keep in mind that we did not have nomex, gloves, shrouds, or fire shelters. My nozzle man had on a kaki shirt and a hard hat with his toothbrush sticking out of his pocket, he looked at the fire and then at me with very large eyes. I pointed at the fire, he turned, pointed his nozzle at the fire and disappeared in the smoke. I followed with the engine praying that I wouldn't run over him. My other firefighter jumped on the back of the engine and rode through the fire. Safely in the black I located both of my firefighters, the only damage was to the nozzle man's toothbrush, the bristles had melted in a v pattern on his kaki shirt. I turned to ask the Helitack fire god what to do next. The Helitack crew was nowhere in sight, in a panic I ran to the edge of the ridge and looked down. Rick was leading a very rapid withdrawal. The Helitack crew was withdrawing just a hair faster than the fire was advancing down the hill! We watched them run for several hundred feet until they were able to turn and let the fire run past them. We wound up working with a private dozer operated by off duty Fire Captain Lee Wilson, one of the toughest firefighters ever, together we contained the entire West half of the fire by our selves. My final first - I knew for the first time that I was a wildland firefighter.
Now back to my brother Jim's first major fire experience. His engine was the first of the augmented dispatch that was sent when the fire blew up. The fire was spreading rapidly downhill to the east towards the structures in the south end of the Laytonville Valley. His engine met the fleeing engines from the initial attack head on in a tunnel of brush. During the ensuing shouting match it soon became apparent that Jim's engine should join the rout. They performed their withdrawal in reverse at max speed. Very impressive for a rookie! Later in amidst the structures Jim was given the task of keeping a hose line on an unfinished structure and told not to leave until relieved. He also followed orders and kept the water going until a Fire Captain came by and asked him very kindly just what the hell he was doing! Jim told him and he clamed down but left Jim with the insight that when protecting a structure it is best to close the windows first!
The fire blew out of the hills into the Laytonville Valley where the regrouped engines and Helitack crew caught it at the base of the hills on the east side of the valley. Rick forgave me and I forgave Ken and Bad Bob. We worked together for another 29 more years and never had as much fun in one afternoon.