Perhaps it’s due to being old, but I cannot fathom having today’s generation with a brush hook and a double bit is downright terrifying to think about.
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Can I throw a term under the bus, please? The term "all-risk. It took me a while to stop using it, but it is no longer a current term or considered part of the current response lexicon. The current doctrine within the subsets of prepare, detect, respond, recover, etc., used by the response agencies (FEMA, DHS, USFA, and NIMS ICS, and now NWCG) is All-Hazards. Don’t shoot the messenger. I have personally observed audience reactions at national conferences when that term was used, and based on their reactions, it obliterated the person’s credibility with the audience. Again, don’t shoot the messenger - up into the 2000’s it was the FIRESCOPE term commonly used. Just understand that it is what it is.
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And Sugarman, then do you remember the driving instructions? Our manual stated we could not back more that 300 feet without pulling forward for 10 feet. If we didn’t the tension on the axles would break them. Those military 6 packs were crazy. Not gonna say anything about seeing the ground through the floorboard either! That was a LAUGH!!
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“Uh Chief, I hit something with the engine”. “You did what? What did you hit?” “A fish”.
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I don’t remember ever seeing a manual. But I do remember being pretty careful about engaging other axles on hard surfaces.
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The manual never said it was when you had it in “all wheel” so I think our version was any backing. Our crew truck was referred to as the cattle truck. Not much difference either. Wood benches and no springs.
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There was more than one incident of a canal winning the fight. Der unterwasserboat was stenciled on a few. Kinda like looking on the roof of an engine and finding the “This End Up” sign.
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Okay, I remember them all but have to confess they traded out our “Tin Pots” for the hard plastic ones my first season. Our Engine carried two of the Barron tools on it along with the Double Bit Axes. I remember one of the Nozzlemanns duties was to keep the Burlap sack wet that covered the canteens. I have one of the old Headlamps with the "Cat-O-Nine Lives " batteries in it with the cardboard between the terminals. I also remember a lot of my Supervisors being WWII and Korean War Vets and almost all of them smoked either, Lucky Strike or Camel non- filter cigarettes and they smoked where they damn well wanted to! Thanks for the trip down memory lane Chief!
PS: At our local College Fire Academy we still include the California Barron tool in the Hand tool section.
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I remember George. He was one of my ff’rs his first year. My counterpart didn’t like the fact that George was always calm. I remember when the first No. 5 arrived in the San Mateo/Santa Cruz Unit and they did a show and tell up at Belmont. Everyone was allowed to take it up onto the old airstrip and drive it a little. When it was my turn, I took it up to the water tower and on the way going cross country I guess I hit some leach field because it sunk to the running boards. It took the dozer to pull it out and me and a guy named Tim were sweating whether we were going to get fired. It might have been the first time it had gone cross country because everyone else had kept it on the dirt road or airstrip and didn’t go into the “grass”.
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That’s great. Hey ya gotta try them out before they hit the fire line. I remember hearing George started as a FF in CZU. Think he was actually a 3C before that?
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I’m old but I remember George starting out as a ff’r at Stevens Creek FFS. Close to San Mateo/Santa Cruz but part of Santa Clara Unit. Never know which memories are accurate anymore. Ugh!
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