From 5,000 feet in elevation, you can see everything in the valley. What do you do when you see smoke in the mountains? First, you call dispatch, inform them of the smoke, and go find the smoke. Wildland fire fighters don’t save people’s lives, they don’t run into buildings and wouldn’t save a cat stuck in a tree. But on the Yakama Reservation the fire fighters save lives of animals by putting out the fire, along with saving the animal’s homes. But first, you have to find the fire.
It was the summer of 1998 when I first applied for a wildfire crew with the Yakama Nation. At the time there were six fire trucks working in Toppenish. Four of the fire trucks were regular size one ton flatbed trucks, and we had two 2 1/2 ton trucks. There was an expected …show more content…
He said “It’s going to be a long day, you can come in and have something to eat.” The Tribal Police operate the Mill Creek Guard Station. The smell of the wood for the wood stove overpowers the musky smell of the cabin. John was cooking some stew in the kitchen and gave us a bowl and spoon. John, 48, used to be a Lieutenant for the Tribal Police, but due to arthritis switched over to the Tribal Fish and Game program as the supervisor of all five of the Guard Stations on the tribal land. John said, “My dad was a bulldozer operator for the tribe, and he worked on most roads throughout the reservation. He showed me most of the roads, and if you need help finding your way around, call me on your tactical frequency and I can help direct you in.” Arnold and I said, “Okay, thanks for the stew” and we were back on our journey to the lookout. Before leaving John said, “Here is a gallon of cold water. You were sweating, so you should drink up since you don’t know when you can be dispatched to a fire.” Thankfully, I grabbed the water and jumped into the