995: that’s how many acres were in the prescribed burn unit we
helped out with. It was us, the Midewin
hot shot crew, some members from the Mark Twain National Forest staff, and a
couple of specialists on the scene and the fire went very well…albeit very
slowly. Our group of 5 started off with
a hot shot ignition team, but the burn boss quickly realized that one side
would be left unmanned if we stuck together.
His solution was to put our crew, AmeriCorps Gold, in charge of 1.3
miles of fire line and we patrolled the heck out of that line! By the end of the day we had hiked 8 miles
and I think our side was the only one that didn’t have a spot over. Go team!
Our success came
at a price, however; my cell phone has gone missing. I last remember having it near the end of our
patrol line. We booked it back to the
trucks when we heard the burn boss wanted us elsewhere so it could have fallen
out anywhere on that 1.3 mile stretch.
Losing my phone has been traumatizing; it is my alarm clock, my lifeline
to friends and family outside of the Corps, and a vital medium for updates in
my line of work. As a team leader in
training this is extremely problematic.
Will told the mop up crew to keep an eye open for it so I’ll hope for
the best. If fate is unkind though I
will need to get another phone asap.
Heading to bed. You all take care
now!
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