If you are a Car Fire vendor, you should monitor the rotation list published on the departments website. (I cannot speak for feds) Every year vendors come and go. If you are not at the top you don’t need to be that close to home as you say. Having a go bag and keeping current to what is going on around you will help you through out the summer. If you have other concerns or questions you should contact your hired equipment coordinator.
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Watching the list like a 
I wait. I’m semi-retired. I have other interests. I help when asked. I’m never disappointed.
On me if you are looking to cover shifts I have dozers and water tenders ground sup etc
After 12+ years as an A.D. Commo guy going out on fires and selling equipment to a lot of private contractors as well as govt. I can tell you the only contractors who are still around have never left all their eggs in the fire basket. Fire contracting is boom-bust and even in the best of years fickle.
The only fire contractors I know that are still around from that time are ones who found either year around fire work, which meant going south in the winter to do contract burning or finding other work for the equipment. Some went to work for the insurance agencies, some branched into construction, and a lot went broke when they couldn’t pay their equipment loans, either because of a dry year or they lost favor with the contracting officers and teams. I finally quit putting my equipment out on contract after the rules changed making it very,very hard to claim damages to my rigs on fire.
Its one thing to go out because you love the lifestyle and the work, but its another when the house payment depends on going out and staying out for a whole season.
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Watching the rotation list like a hawk…only to see yourself move backwards a place or two on it? How does that happen, does anyone know? Our phone is constantly being forwarded to whoever in the group is close to the equipment… but we never stop working our ‘regular’ jobs
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Just so you know, got the call out for “any type, all you got” at 4am today…still showing 197 on the state list… USFS is also hunting down “anything you have” for a fire in Nevada. Keep your phones handy!
To where what incident?
Turned down an all expenses paid vacation to the Perry fire in Nevada for a trip to the CARR. Hope theres still a hotel room somewhere left up there in a day or two so they can get a few hours in a real bed!
We got a call for the Carr they only took 1 of our 3 dozers?
Interesting, request was for type 1 or 2’s preferred…are you signed up with USFS too?
Yes we are all type 2 D5,D6 & JD750 they took the 750 but not the other two
Have you looked at this mornings IAP? Huge number of TBD dozers inroute. One is better than none…and it’s still early in the call out, no doubt they will cycle through a couple times
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Yes it just frustrating this Fire is close to home (red bluff) and aaahhhrrrgggghh.
We shall see
This is my first ever post on this forum (I’ve been a regular tho, to get fire info about places in Cali that matter to me and my family). What frustrates me, knowing “insider” details like what you good folks share and discuss, is that I’ve had friends and a family member lose everything to NorCal wildfires in the last few years. In Middletown (Valley Fire), Lower Lake (Clayton - started on what used to be my gf’s ranch, and Rocky Fires), Redwood Valley (Mendo-Lake Complex), Santa Rosa (Tubbs Fire).
Good people like you are waiting to get called up and go to work with your equipment and crew/s. People are losing their lives, homes, and more. Lake County was my home for 26 yrs, and I’m glad I moved to IA in 2008, now that wildfire season is year-round and insane, and the entire county’s gonna be one big ash heap soon, lol.
And here is what was published in the Sacramento Bee today, regarding the Mendocino Complex:
With so many fires burning, including the massive Carr Fire in Redding, Cal Fire said it was having trouble getting enough fire engines, bulldozers and personnel to the area.
“Resources throughout the state are stretched so thin,” said Cal Fire spokesman Brandon Vaccaro. A total of 820 personnel were working on the fires, according to Cal Fire.
Why aren’t they calling you guys up to go out to fight the fire/s if that statement’s actually true?
Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/fires/article215730120.html#storylink=cpy
Valid question…but…
Because someone owns a firearm, does the military throw you into battle?
Because you own a chainsaw, can you cut any tree.
Because you have a driver’s license, can you navigate the tri- oval at Las Vegas?
There are processes, systems and often times, specific needs for resources, not just a water tender. Where the Carr is headed BIG iron and 4x4 short wheelbase tender is probably going to be specific needs.
Trust folks…there IS a method to the madness. Just stay up on what’s going on, keep reloading the ice in the chest, be ready when the call does drop and lastly…
Please remember that there are many many peoople looking to this website ( civilian and professional) and the like for fire updates, evacuations, etc. The color and tone of a discussion like this may not be understood by those outside the circles.
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Well put. And don’t forget the old adage “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”. Right now there is another fire breaking… there is a need to keep a smattering of immediate need equipment scattered about the state.
I am a trained fireman and have worked contract wildland Fire for years. Please don’t lump me in with the weekend warriors.
No, the quote is confusing. This is regarding getting resources into the River Fire area, west of Lakeport. The CalFire guy was saying it’s difficult because Carr needs so much resources, that they can’t get them for Lake County. Yes, the terrain up at Carr is big, steep, and rough, much moreso than where the Mendo complex fires are.
I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful to anyone or any agency with my question, but I’m seeing 2 different things going on that were/are direct opposites, and kinda illogical. I appreciate and admire all of the hard work, skills, and expertise of everyone involved, from top rung to bottom rung, just to be clear.
And yes, I’m aware many people want info, with varying awareness of the difficulties/technicalities/mechanics of firefighting and resources used for that. I’m more aware than most of the “general public”.
But thanks, for your answer, I’ll just stop now and move on to following the fire as it closes in on Lakeport. I hope you all get called out to work the fires and make some income, help people, and all of you stay safe.
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That’s a very innacurate statement. The terrain our brother and sister are facing here is quite inhospitable. Steep drainages, terrible footing and heavy brush. There is a reason this area experiences so many fires, quite frankly it was built to burn.
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