Week 2... More Training!

Week two of train-up was absolutely packed. We had the final member of the crew join our team. Thea arrived on Monday, and we introduced her to the park with the Fire Orientation Meeting and Bar-B-Que down at the park.

Tuesday, we did our fire refresher which included the Fire Shelter drill. Here are a couple of pictures of the crew during the Fire Shelter drill.

Each crew member takes the opportunity to practice deploying a practice fire shelter. The day cooperated well, winds were gusting at about 15-20mph which made for a more realistic deployment practice.

The crew gathered around one particular crew member that not only successfully deployed in a decent amount of time, but had a great seal... he set a great example of how it should be done.


We're glad to have Paul Damron back on the crew once again. He did a fabulous job during the shelter deployment drills...

We understand that deploying practice shelters on a lawn is not nearly realistic to what conditions will be like if it becomes necessary to utilize our shelters in the field, however the more repetitive the action is for the crew... the better prepared they should be to use the shelters if ever necessary. This is only the first of the shelter deployment practices we will have... these drills will be revisited throughout the season.


We followed shelter deployment with a team building P.T. The weight chase is a simple game, with simple rules. Two teams of equal size are created. The team members are bound together with a rope, which they are able to disconnect from if necessary. Each team member is handed a bag of weight... for this particular exercise it was 20 lbs per bag.

Each team starts on an opposite end of a course... then moving in the same direction they chase one-another until one team catches the other team. Simple.... right?


In the picture above you will notice that the teams have reduced in size... that is part of the rules and strategy of this game play. Each member has the option of dropping off the rope line if they feel their team will do better without them. They can do this but before doing so, them must hand their weight to another team member increasing that team members burden. In the picture above you will notice that team 1 is down to three... team 2 is down to two and moving in fast.The final shot of the race.... as one team catches the other... in the background you will see that those who have dropped out from exhaustion or strategy, are rooting their team on!


It was 50 push-ups for the losing team... but as you can see, on Zion Helitack we are not a group of teams... we are one team!

The season is off to a great start... the crew making it through week 2 of train-up! Only one more week to go prior to the ship coming on. The projects are starting to stack up, and the weather is looking promising for a busy season. As always, we'll be ready!

Week 1 Photo's.... Enjoy!

Paul Damron, pictured above, moves in for the kill! He is sporting the ever popular Tri-Max 3 Compressed Air Foam (CAF) Extinguisher... all joking aside, it was a great day to light up some barrels and put out some fire during extinguisher training. The guys had a lot of fun... That is pretty evident by the look on Norman "Iceman" Allen's face in the picture below...

Paul and Ice decided to get into an extinguisher war... Tri-Max CAF against the tried and true ABC Purple K extinguisher... This was the next best thing following nailing each other with the extinguishers... which the boss (me) put a stop to early on! My dad used to have a fabulous saying,"A boy is a boy, two boys are only half a boy, and three boys aint no boy at all" These guys definately became half a boy while playing with "big boy" toys... but having fun is the best way to learn!

Ben Suerig (lead crewmember) had to jump in and have a little fun himself... you can only watch the fun for so long without having to join in with this crew!

We also did some time staring at maps and trying to orient compases... not an extremely exciting picture... but for the record, we did do some mentally stimulating math during our map & compass training!

The "Cap" to the whole 1st week was a friday full of Physical Fitness testing... of the morning we did our 1.5 mile run, pull ups, push ups, & sit ups... The afternoon brought us the Pack-out! In my opinion both Ben Suerig (below) and Ben Thayer (2 below) are way to happy as they wait to begin the Pack-out...

I was hoping to wipe those smiles off their faces as we began the Pack-out... but as you can see below, they still had their smiling faces about them as they motored through the 3 mile timed event.

The two leads led the day... finishing with a time that is near Pack Test pace... only 50 minutes for them to go 3 miles with 85 pound packs on their back! They liked wearing the packs sooo much that they even lingered in the parking lot for a minute or two before dropping the packs after the testing....

Even the boss seemed to be smiling as we powered through... although if you look closely you'll notice it is more of a grimace than a smile! Let me just say that the thumbs up on my part was simply a mind game I was playing with myself... the pain had definately set in by this lap... was that lap 8 or lap 9... I think I've lost count!

Speaking of losing count... the picture below is the crew rallying around me to see me across the finish line. It wasn't until later that I was informed that either by mistake or for the joke of it all (stories seem to differ on this point) I was given the wrong number of laps starting on around lap 8... I was just tired enough not to pay attention... and thus did an extra lap! So I may not have been the fastest... but I went the furthest!


Some may be asking about the track thing... as a crew we like to do the first couple of pack-outs on a track where people can monitor their pace... and we are close enough to respond if someone is having trouble medically... by week three of train up we will be doing typical terrain pack-outs where we don't time the event, but rather just look for everyone to complete it. Typical terrain is difficult... navigating various elevation changes, brush, and loose footing... I am looking forward to torchering the crew with that one.

Side Note - the bags we are packing are not the typical pack-out bags that most rappel crews utilize... however they are Metoleous haul bags that we use in our Cargo Let Down... I wanted to see if they would work for our long pack outs... we came to the conclusion that they are not the most comfortable thing to wear, however would work in a pinch to get your gear off the hill! My butt is very sore this morning as I sit writing this... the damn pack rubbed me raw! (no pictures will follow that commentary :)

Until next week... I am going to enjoy a couple of deserved days off!

Cheers,

Week 1 - Train-Up!

Just keeping you informed -

P.T. (physical training)

Monday - Pack Test & 2 mile run

Tuesday - Fire-Fit training which included 1.5 mile run / push-ups / sit-ups / various planks / stretch testing / grip testing / vertical leap / and more & Hose Pull Circuits (we did 3 rounds)

Wednesday - Power Hike

Thursday - C-Trail Power Hike (4 miles & 2,000 feet elevation gain)

Friday - P.T. Standards (1.5 mile run, push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups & 85 lb timed pack-out)

Training

Monday - Gear Checkout & SOP's

Tuesday - PPE (care & fitting), Tool Maintenance & Driving Training

Wednesday - Map & Compass, Lat / Long's & GPS Use

Thursday - Fire Extinguishers, Radios, I.A. / Dispatch Procedures & Crash Rescue

Friday - Sand Table Exercises, Facility Maintenance, & ????

The crew is definately feeling the pain, but doing well! We haven't confused anyone too badly and no injuries with the P.T. We hope to amp it up next week to another level... I'm sure the crew isn't looking forward to that! It's all for the good of being safe, efficient, and injury free!

I'll post again next week!

Cooper Knoll RX

We were invited to assist the Forest Service in accomplishing some more acres on the Cooper RX, which has been an ongoing prescribed burn plan for many seasons now. On the day we went out, there weren't a lot of resources available. Two heavy engines off the Dixie N.F., several members from the Cedar City Shot crew, some miscellaneous overhead, and myself and the two leads off of Zion Helitack.

We accomplished approximately 30 acres. It was a slow go burn... the idea being that we wanted to get rid of the ground litter and dead debris, take out most of the sage brush, however leave the Ponderosa and other trees in place. We had to take it slow... as you can see from the pictures, even taking it slow wasn't enough to avoid the occasional tree torching out.



Overall it was a successful day... with relatively few resources we accomplished a decent number of acres, given the terrain and fuel type we were dealing with. We enjoyed getting back into the swing of things... Helitack spent the day on torches lighting, and occasionally helping to hold what fire we had on the ground.
At the end of the day we were tired... smelled like smoke... and were anxious for the fire season to begin.

Since the burn (May 4th), most of the crew has come on. We have spent the last 3 days pounding out the miles in P.T. I am sure I speak for most of the crew when I say there are some sore muscles and plenty of blisters, and everyone will be glad to see the 1st week of train-up behind them as we head into the weekend.

Only one crewmember still remains to join up with us... She will be here on Monday! That will complete all of the crewmembers that are returning this season. I hope that this Cooper Knoll RX is a good sign of the type of fire season we have ahead of ourselves...

Cheers,

Welcome Back

Crew starts tomorrow... May 11th! I'll report back soon enough to let you know how things are progressing. Sounds like we will be spending some time down at the park completing grass burns for several days, week 1. Stay Tuned...

The Drop Zone 2008!

It is great to see the various methods by which aviation helps to conquer our wildland fires today...

I wished to post this video in order to remind all of us firefighters that there are a group of men and women that pilot these aircraft, whom take their job as seriously as we do... they often don't receive much in the way of "Thanks" from us, as they are hear and then gone again! In light of the recent crash of a firefighting Tanker (P2V) in Utah... and to the many other men and women who have lost their lives in aviation incidents, I say "Thank You" and God Bless!