Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2007 • City on wheels

Publisher’s note: This story originally appeared in the Tuesday, Aug. 7 edition of the Lassen County Times

Fire season brings images of brave firefighters doing battle with the forces of nature to save homes and forests from certain destruction.

But, what is seldom seen is the stalwart cadre of support people who work every whit as hard to keep those firefighters on the job.

“You can have firefighters on the fire line. But, unless they have water, unless they have clothes, unless they have fuel, the tools they need to do the job, a place to lie down and catch some sleep, a place to get a shower and some food, they’re unable to do their job,” said Bill Patten, the “mayor” of the mobile city that recently provided support for the Fletcher Fire, near Goose Lake and California’s northern border with Oregon.

“That’s what people don’t look at: the backside of it,” said Patten.

While the 650 firefighters rushed to battle the flames, another 75 to 100 support staff quietly and efficiently moved in to establish a small city in the wilderness. It’s their dedicated efforts that allow the firefighters to do what they do.

“You definitely depend upon them,” said Jay Fassett, a longtime firefighter.

“The camp people are part of the family also,” said Leo Garner, a 22-year firefighting veteran. “We depend on them as much as they depend on us.”

“This fire, we’ve been feeding between 300 and 450 firefighters per day,” said Kevin Browning, the unit leader in charge of feeding the firefighters, who gets satisfaction from seeing what a good meal can do for an exhausted firefighter. “You see them walk into the chow line. They’re just tired. They’ve had a long day. I like to see them walk out of here happy.”

“They work very hard,” said Paul Hartnell, the kitchen unit manager in charge of meal preparation. “The things they really look forward to are a nice shower, a good meal and a good place to sleep. That’s our job. It’s our job to support them.”

“They eat very well,” said Browning of the firefighters, who have extraordinary nutritional needs to meet the extreme physical demands of their work. “They need up to 6,000 calories per day.”

After they wash up, the firefighters sit down to a meal fit for a king. “They get a good meal. They’re in here with their crew, and they’re suddenly laughing and joking around and telling stories. They’re having a nice meal,” said Browning. “It really changes their attitude.”

Numerous fire engines, manned by small fire crews of about six to 10 men, show up to fight fire. Those trucks are stocked with a reserve supply of food and other necessities to help the firefighters manage until the support team arrives — usually within a day or so later.

When the support or management team arrives with a considerable convoy of trailers packed to the roof with equipment and supplies, they set up camp at a safe but proximate location to the fire.

After getting the lay of the land, Patten begins mapping out the camp. “Then we start placing trailers and moving things around,” he said, “Getting everything in.”

It’s not long before the camp begins to take shape on the forest floor.

“The first 24 to 48 hours, we’re running, just trying to get things put together,” said Patten, “just trying to get … meals up, showers up and a few bathrooms, … getting the trailers here … so we can get it all put together,” said Patten.

In a matter of hours, a city on wheels is set up, usually in the wilderness and far from any city, ready to see to the needs of those actually fighting the fire.

“Sometimes you’re near a larger city, where it’s easy to get the resources. And sometimes you’re way out in the mountains, where it’s tough for these units to get up where we need them to be,” said Browning, who works from five in the morning to 10 or 11 o’clock at night while on duty to see to the nutritional needs of firefighters.

Bill Kaage, a Forest Service incident commander for one of two such management teams based in Northern California, said that their job is “making sure that people are safe and that they’re getting their rest and the care that they need to do the job. That’s probably my number one concern is making sure everyone’s cared for and they’re safe while they do their job.”

A veteran firefighter who started his career out on the firefighting line 25 years ago, Kaage’s operation resembles a well-oiled machine.

“It’s not without its kinks and it problems,” he said, “but the system is there to allow you to address those kinks and concerns.”

Making the support operations run smoothly requires a skilled group.

 “I’ve got a team of about 50 people,” Kaage said, which divide into four departments, each with its own area of responsibility. Operations is the actual firefighting, on the ground and in the air. Plans sets the overall strategy and coordinates the day-to-day functions; Logisitics provides feeding, medical and all the other services the firefighter needs. And finance tracks costs and oversees payroll functions.

Speaking of the service staff, Kaage said, “They really have to know the fire situation and be able to predict and be out in front of where operations are going. That way, they know what type of resources to have on hand—whether they need to bring in a caterer, bring in shower units, bring in a laundry … all that kind of stuff. They have to anticipate where things are going operationally.”

Feeding the firefighters may be the most obvious role of the support group, and they have to be ready to roll on a fire in short notice.

“We have four hours from the initial call to get rolling on the road,” said Hartnell. “It’s my job to get this unit down the road. When these guys call us up and say they want to feed 500 or 600 people, we start feeding.”

The mobile kitchen can be set up in two and a half hours and will feed up to 1800 people a day, according to Hartnell.

Noting how routine this organized chaos can become as the fire season progresses, Patten said that when each fire is put out, they “tear it all down, and then go somewhere else and build another one.”