What I did this week (Week 58)

9/14/24

Writing to you from Oakridge, Oregon.

I’m finishing up the last couple days of this assignment on the Willamette fire complex. Tomorrow will be our last working day, and we will be out of here by tomorrow night.

A new paramedic is with me on the ambulance for these final two days. He’s got a wife and three kids, so he is eager to get back home.

Really, everyone is ready to get off of this fire…

Plenty has changed in the past week and a half. The fire we have been on in the complex blew up several thousand acres. A hotshot crew was with us to conduct burning operations to take out the major fuels before the fire worked its way to the road.

At one point the division supervisor brought my partner and I up to the fire to check it out. Medical personnel don’t often get to be directly in front of the fire, but our division supervisor was laid back - a cool guy for sure.

The big uptrend in fire activity came to a standstill when we got rained on for a day and a half. The fire isn’t done, ju…