In our fire of 2011 one crew ran out of water on their brush truck while trying to save a home. They resorted to shovels and dirt but they saved the home. Everything around it was burned up including the fence, garden hoses, pink flamingoes in the yard, even the chairs on the patio. They came back into base with the paint on their truck scorched and the lenses of the headlights melted but they saved the home. Filthy, even burned themselves they grinned from ear to ear so happy to have won and even survived.
Our fire brought out some of the most remarkable actions by people working for complete strangers I ever expect to see.
On Labor Day it will have been seven years ago.
Saving and leaving a neatly folded flag with a note of thanks is no surprise from this brand of band of brothers.
About 18 years ago there was a wildland in our area moving so fast that the ground crews couldn’t keep up with it. A air tanker pilot noticed that a home about 50 feet from the power line was in the fires path. I watched him stand that tanker on it’s right wing and dump the load between the house and the power line, the wing tip was 30 feet off the ground. The home owner found the crew and we bought them the best steak dinners in town. Titanium balls on those guys.