Despite the fact that I completely disappeared from this blog after I wrote my last post while covering the fires in Southern California, I did make it home safely.
There were points I thought I was going to die. Not from getting burned over, but of exhaustion. I was up at 4 a.m. each day, I worked 35 hours in two days and I drove more than 1,000 miles on the whole trip.
My second day was a lot more interesting than the first. I ended up hooking up with a local strike team and heading out to the fireline. The battalion chief was nice enough to just let me come in his truck instead of having to be babysat by a spokesperson.
It was pretty amazing to watch these commercial-jet sized tankers making retardant drops. We would all stand there looking up till the red haze hung in the air, then duck down behind a tree to try and keep at least the front of our Nomex clean. We got slimmed about a half dozen times, to the point where I don't think my back could have started on fire if I went and stood in it.
I went back to the base and wrote my story with retardant caked in my hair. I could taste and smell it the rest of the day until I was able to take a shower that night.
The whole trip was one of the hardest things I've done for my job thus far, mostly because I was on the move constantly. I never knew what what was next or where I was going to sleep that night. But it was worth it. I learned a lot.
Lesson learned: There is nothing like a shower and pizza after a day on a fire.
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