Fire at My Feet: Five Years on the Line - Softcover

Inhaltsangabe

The tales in this book took place during the summers from 1962 through 1966 in southwest Oregon. Most are familiar to my family and friends, as I had a long-time habit of telling and retelling my fire stories to those folks over lunch or dinner for years. After a lot of editing and revision, I realized that select group has some important background information that most readers probably would not. For that reason, this note and those that are found at the beginning of each chapter in this book are included.

These additions are particularly aimed at those readers who have little first-hand knowledge about the wildland forests and fires. These comments are about weather, common wildland fire equipment or terms, and even the specifics of certain agencies. They are to help with understanding for those unfamiliar with the summer culture of fire ( which is pretty common to those who live in areas often affected by summer and fall Fire Seasons especially from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean). Much like the hurricanes along the Atlantic coast or the tornadoes of the mid-west, wildland fires are repetitious phenomena that have plagued western forests and rangeland for centuries.

Droughts come and go, spawning fires in their wake. Those who think the fires are new to the last few years, need to do a little in-depth digging into history. Many western rural residents grudgingly accept the long-standing norm, while urban folks, whose contact has been less frequent - not so much. It is my opinion that with more people, there are more available ignition issues, and more volatile fuels with the urban-sprawl/rural interface – so bigger, more destructive fires happen more often.

Certain short-sighted so-called “conservation” laws have not helped the fire situation; most especially in the western states. Laws will never stop a well-established, weather-driven fire. In Oregon alone, I can easily list off a half-dozen towns that were over-run by big wildfires within the past 150 years. Many businesses, homes and lives were lost. Today, there are too many arm-chair quarterbacks with opinions and easily available social media to express those opinions – even the wacko ideas from the fruit and flake contingent.

Keep in mind that any fire (even the one in your patio BBQ), requires only three things – Heat, Air, Fuel. Likewise, wildland fire behavior has only three factors - Type of Fuel, Type of Terrain, Type of Weather. A lot of stuff about wildland fires seem simple – but these triangle parts cause firefighters a multitude of issues and problems… there is nothing simple about a fire burning in almost unlimited amounts of mixed fuels, where weather changes by the minute and the landscape is essentially undeveloped (without roads).

1. Before There Was A Story
2. First Season - A Slow Start
3. Fire Behavior
4. A Weird Early Season
5. Time Off Leads To Trouble
6. A Lot To Learn
7. New Season – New Crew
8. A Bad Winter - A Great Spring
9. Free But Not Quite Grown Up
10. Leading The Hotshots
11. Distractions And Decisions
12. A Persistence Of Problems

• Epilogue The End of the Beginning
• Acknowledgements
• Thank You
• Glossary
• About Clay Dickerson

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