Please utilize this thread for all questions and discussion items pertaining to the following fires now being managed as a Complex.
Head Fire
Note: The Head Fire Questions and Discussion thread found here: CA-KNF-Head?? will be closed for further updates and discussion
Elliott Fire
Scott Fire
Malone Fire
California Conservation Corps (C’s) sending several crews from various Work Centers including Monterey Bay/Watsonville to support the incident/ICP. Pretty cool opportunity for young adults to get that experience and I know the IMT’s appreciate the extra hands and hard work they do supporting logistics on the incident.
NIROPS UTF last night for this fire due to mechanical issues.
QR for Maps:
Great help! Besides around camp, The C’s were great litter carry crews, when I worked as a fire line medic (way back when).
They have been doing this for several decades. A very good program.
These precip maps can be misleading, especially in the 8-14 days out fantasy range but the 0-7 days out has been trending more widespread precip over NorCal thanks to Hilary. At the least maybe some cleaner air for Happy Camp and air resources by then?
We always enjoyed doing camp support, get a couple crews from different centers together and watch them start trying to one up each other.
I wonder how come we continue to do the same thing, year after year, and hope for a different outcome. Forest Service contracting group should be replaced. Follow the CALFIRE model to appropriately feed firefighters.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CwnmEgDJUBQ/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D
Could not agree more. Create a standard and hold the vendors to the standard. Prove to the people you are asking to do the hard work that you care enough to feed them properly so they can be successful.
its all about profit with MOST of the national caterers. There are some who care about providing quality meal but for most its spend the least we can so we profit the most. Oh our lunch is short a few calories, well here is an extra mayo packet! CalFire definitely does it right when it comes to meals. What the hell was the FDUL and LOGS doing to correct the problem?
Contracting certainly has to take a lot of credit for what has happened to feeding the firefighters on federal incidents. Cal Fire has it way more together than the Feds do. Contracting has allowed for the national caterers to serve lower quality meals and has made it almost punitive for good caterers to serve a better meal that may cost them more to produce. For example, we have seen some caterers put out a nice salad bar over the years, or have extra goodies out there. Contracting has pretty much told them to back off from these “nicer” touches. I have been on an IMT for over two decades and have seen contracting slowly go downhill, especially in the last 6 or 8 years. It’s not just caterers, it pretty much is across the board for contract equipment. What they do in the off season is beyond me. It starts to get close to the beginning of fire season, contracts aren’t done so we get direction to do EERAs which slow the whole process down at the beginning of an incident. IMTs are there to run the fire in the safest, financially responsible and productive way possible, they are also and most importantly there to TAKE CARE of the firefighters. Contracting has made it VERY difficult to do the latter. After so many years of dedication to the team in logistics, I’m about done , mostly because of the environment of frustration that has been created by CONTRACTING. Ok, I’m off the soap box. Be safe out there.
I was on the moonlight fire a while back. The LOGS and FDUL worked with the kitchen to improve with no luck. So they discretely ordered a replacement. If it was bad to begin with, you can imagine what happened when the kitchen found out they were fired. My crew woke up to a single hard boiled egg and bare hotdog (no bun) for breakfast.
Just saying when it’s over it takes time to get a replacement there especially with multiple camps and caterers deployed.
On the contracting “battlefield” - inside a national or regional office - you & i are “Line item / Unit - 1, each”! Just like a box of toilet paper or a hardhat or a roll of flagging. Have you ever met a contracting officer that was a hotshot or firefighter for more than 1 summer? In my almost 30yr career i came across exactly ZERO CO’s in the RO, NIFC or Headquarters that owned a pair of whites. In fact i’ve had a regional CO argue with me about the health benefits of sugar - as in i wanted to limit sugary items in favor of more whole foods & healthy carbohydrates. Apparently that was too much to ask for bcuz that person melted down and of course the contract line item(s) never changed. This is a subject worth attention to say the least. How America feeds her Wildlanders / Troops is important! \m/
I’ve seen a couple caterers demob’ed. One was told to pack up as the new caterer was arriving. It’s just nonsense to keep doing the same thing.
Courtesy Happy Camp Complex
Hey @milehighbar , are you serious? That picture of the bread, cheese, and rice being served up there. If so, absolutely unacceptable for the crews.
WOW and Wow! That caterer should be removed from contracts, and not for 1 year.
Unacceptable fuel/food for the fire crews. Hopefully the crews can get better some better food sooner than later.
3 Green Beans and a couple Red Beans a tea spoon of rice. You are correct never a food contract again.
Hard working men and women busting their butt’s on the fire don’t deserve to eat this garbage period.
It’s the vegetarian lunch special, which many opt for after those multi-colored roast beef sandwiches. It’s not about one meal. It’s about throwing away millions year after year with terrible contracts and vendors not taking pride in what they do. It’s about the stories provided to us by old_salt, halley, bootstrap and wfapdude.
It’s not easy feeding 2,000 people in the dirt, what I am saying is the current model doesn’t work and that we have seen a model that works with the CALFIRE MKUs. It’s not that difficult, it just takes having some pride in what you do when writing the contract, and when getting paid millions to implement it.
MHB
The Calfire MKU is not cheep by any means.
Day 1 Breakfast costs about $60/meal when you factor in all the associated costs. It takes approx 750 meals/serving to bring those costs down to about $20/meal. Once you get to that 2000 meal/serving, your meal cost get into the sub $10/meal range for breakfast & dinner. The sack lunches are not part of the MKU and cost an avg of $35/lunches when you avg in Line, Admin, Vegetarian lunch costs.
Finally, station subsistence meal costs for Calfire range from $4.35/meal to over $6/meal and that’s when a station can buy in bulk. I know the federal meal reimbursement rate for assignments is about 1/3 more than what Calfire pays. With Calfire expected to stay below $25/meal for dinner.
I say all of this to show the costs, the lowest bidder is who builds fire engines, fire stations, and federal catering. The key too all.of those low bidder contracts, IS THE CONTRACT ITSELF and the person(s) managing the contracts
