When lightning ignited a blaze in Hobble Creek Canyon around 6 p.m. Monday, forest officials scrambled to get a crew together to fight the fire.
The Pleasant Grove Ranger District garage buzzed with excitement. Crew boss Paul Kitchen and other officials prepared tools and web gear (backpacks worn by firefighters) and listened as constant updates of the fire blared from an outdoor speaker. By 8:20 p.m., the five men and three women on the crew were assembled and ready to go.Anyone can fight a wildfire. Even me.
Every summer the Uinta Forest Service puts would-be firefighters through a comprehensive two-day training course. After training, recruits are issued fire-retardant clothing and web gear; they are then on call until a forest fire occurs. They're paid $7 to $9 an hour, depending on experience.
In mid-May I went through the training process to learn more about fighting wildfires. I put my training to work with other recruits at the Hobble Creek blaze.
Spanish Fork, Pleasant Grove and Heber are the three ranger districts on the Uinta National Forest. For this fire, Spanish Fork District handles the initial attack because it's the closest.
The fire is burning a ridge of a tall mountain in the right fork about nine miles up Hobble Creek Canyon. As we turn the corner of the narrow canyon road, flames can be seen leaping almost nine feet in the air. Adrenalin races through the firefighters - each eager to get up the mountain.
The quarter-mile hike is so steep the crew rests every few minutes to save strength. Around midnight, 1 1/2 hours after starting up the mountain, we reach the fire.
The crew boss credits the 68 percent humidity for knocking down most of the flames. However, large patches of fire are still burning further up the mountain in the thick oak brush.
The main goal of fighting a fire is to cut a firebreak - a two- to three-foot trail around the fire - to take away the fire's fuel. The thick oak brush is going to make our job harder, Kitchen yells.
The process goes something like this: Two workers lead with chain saws, while the crew, half with pulaskis (a tool with an axe on one side and a pick on the other) and half with shovels, very slowly pick and dig the ground until a trail down to the mineral soil is formed.
The beginning of the line of workers is the hardest because workers are digging new trail. The end of the line can either be the easiest if you have a strong crew ahead of you, or hard because you're the last one to clear everything the others missed.
Fighting fires is extremely hard work, but Dawn, a firefighter of five years, tells me I'll get used to it. Dawn is a nurse at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center; she fights fires because it's exciting.
Sweat runs down my goggles as I dig, and at times the smoke nearly asphyxiates me. I'm grateful for the four quarts of water each crew member is required to carry.
Around 2 a.m. we stop for "lunch," cutting small seats in the steep mountain to keep from sliding down. Everyone has MREs - Meals Ready to Eat. Mine consists of a freeze-dried cooked pork patty, cheese and crackers, applesauce and a cookie. I eat the cheese and crackers but decide to save the pork patty as a souvenir.
After hours of hard work, the high mountain air feels icy, and I'm eager to get back to work to warm up. One minute I'm dying of heat, the next I'm freezing to death.
We reach the ridge around 5:30 a.m. and take a long break. A few fall asleep, but most just try to keep warm. Dawn and I talk about being a firefighter. She says she never gets tired of the scenery.
Now rested, we begin mop-up - extinguishing hot spots by turning the soil over with a shovel and breaking up smoldering logs with pulaskis. Experienced firefighters tell first-timers that mop-up is the worst job there is. You get really dirty and it's boring work.
The crew already reeks of smoke and looks like a bunch of children who've just played in the mud.
At 6:30 a.m. we decide to head down the mountain. At the bottom, most first-timers just want to go home and sleep. However, the truck from McDonald's arrives and priorities change. Hunger overrules fatigue.
After a quick breakfast, we head home and the experience is over. At least until lightning strikes again.