8 June 6, 1996
Warm Springs, Oregon
Spilyay Tymoo
Local Hot Shot crew becomes national resource for fire fighting
Local Hot Shot crew after returning
The Forest Crew Organization was
started in 1984 after it was realized
there was enough interest in local
community to have an organized 20
person crew to do forestry work, says
Mike Gomez, a fire management
employee. This crew would also be
trained as an organized fire fighting
crew. The crew was placed under the
Fire Management section of the BIA
Forestry Department for program
administration purposes.
During the first year of operation,
the crew spent part of the year
completing forestry work such as
tree planting, tree inspecting,
herbicide spraying, and prescribed
burning. The remainder of the year
was spent fighting wild fires, says
Gomez.
In 1986 the crew began obtaining
work contracts from other BIA
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Elvis Presley is alive and well and was recently seen performing at Indian Head Gaming Center, during
the Memorial Day weekend. Well, maybe not the real Elvis, but Elvis inpersonator David Moore from
Molalla, Oregon. Moore sure got peoples' attention singing all of Elvis's songs for visitors, tourists and
local people. On May 27, at 7p.m. Elvis also gave away a 1996 Harley Davison motorcycle to happy
winner Margie Johnson of Redmond.
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Warm Springs resident and tribal member Leo Washington Jr.
recently completed heavy equipment and basic surveying training.
Leo, received a certificate of completion with a 3.5 G.PA after
concluding his training on May 24 from West Coast Training Inc. out
of Woodland, Washington.
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from the Southwest.
departments and private contractors.
The work consisted of squirrel guard
installations, mistletoe eradication,
rehab burning, fuel break
construction, and trail maintenance.
The crew also provided prescribed
fire work for the Forest Service
involving mop-up and handline
construction around clcarcut units
says Gomez. We were also improving
in fire fighting skills. The crew
became self sufficient in 1986, but
was still part of the tribal
organization. However, we obtained
all our funding through work
contracts to be able to operate, says
Gomez. "At the same time, we, as a
crew, decided to offer our services as
a type-one hotshot fire crew."
In 1988 the Warm Springs crew
became nationally recognized as the
first all Indian contract Interagency
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hotshot crew, says Gomez. We were
not funded Federally to operate,
except for 80 hours of annual training
and logistical support. The crew was
administered by the BIA, and listed
as a BIA hotshot crew to assure user
organizations that we meet all
national standards as a type-I crew.
Also in 1988 the crew began
obtaining work contracts from Warm
Springs Forest Products Industries
(WSFPI). The crew also obtained
handline construction projects and
prescribed burn blocks that would
have been burned by using aerial
ignition. We completed 80 percent
of the burning on the reservation and
continued to contract work from the
BIA, WSFPI and the Forest Service. ,
As of 1990, the Warm Springs
Interagency Hot Shot Crew
Organization employs 21 permanent
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Annual HeHe
Spiritfest set
for July 5, 6,
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The annual HeHe Spiritfest will
be held July 5, 6 and 7. The three-day
event will focus on alcohol and drug
awareness and encourages AA, NA,
Al-Anon, Ala-Teen and ACOA
participation.
Friday's activities include a
potluck dinner, an AA meeting and a
modern dance.
Saturday will begin with breakfast
(on your own), 12-step recovery
meetings, games and other activities,
dinner at 5 p.m. followed by an Indian
Night Out powwow.
Sunday will feature a spiritual
breakfast.
For those not familiar with the
Warm Springs Reservation, HeHe is
located 18 miles north of Warm
Springs just off US Highway 26.
Camping is available. RVs are
welcome but there are no hookups
available. Participants must bring
cook stoves that meet fire regulations.
Kah-Nee-Ta Resort also offers
accommodations. For reservation at
the Resort, call 553-1112 or 1-800-554-4786.
For registration and more
information, call 553-1127, 553
1289, 553-1729 or 478-2576.
Registration can also be mailed to
PO Box 728, Warm Springs, OR
97761.
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Hot Shot in action, fighting fire in
and furlough individuals with over
half of them being tribal members,
says Gomez. Since our operation
began, we tried to teach ouremployees
different types of forestry work. The
experience is not major, but it's a
start, advises Gomez. One of our
intentions for this crew is to provide a
resource of American Indians
interested in the Forestry area says
Mike, when vacancies occur in the
BIA, BLM or the Forest Service, we' 11
EMS Week observed in Warm Springs
, On Thursday May 23, at
the Warm Springs
Community Center,
members of the
emergency medical group
of Jefferson County and
' Warm Springs Fire and
Safety participated in the
1 National Emergency
' Medical Service week.
! Emergency medical
J technicians were at hand
' with fire trucks and other
; emergency vehicles to
1 answer questions from the
public.
The event started at 1 2
noon with activities such
as wheel chair and gurney
races where members of
the tribal organization and
Indian Health Service
participated. Hot dogs and
hamburgers were also
served to the public
cooked by volunteers and
members of Warm Springs
Fire and Safety
department.
A life-like three vehicle
mock traffic accident was
included. Emergency
technicians brought out the
jaws of life to rescue the
"injured". The mock
accident was treated like
the real thing using real
people which included
adults, children, and a fake
infant doll.
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Jaws of life were demonstrated
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the Southwest.
have interested people that we can
refer to the proper people, says
Gomez. In 1991 Warm Springs
resident and Tribal Member Luther
Clements became the superintendent
for the crew and has taken them as far
down as Mexico and Texas, and as
far north as Canada and Alaska. So
far this year on April 25, the crew
was dispatched to White Springs,
Arizona on the Fort Apache
Reservation. The crew spent four
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from the mock accident at the Community Center.
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days constructing hand line to contain
the fire which burned about 40,000
acres. The crew was then tranfered to
the Clark Peak fire in Safford,
Arizona in the Coronado National
Forest. The fire was 60,000 acres in
size, Clements and the crew spent
twelve days there and were back
home in Warm Springs on May 14,
says acting Fire Management officer,
Mike Gomez. "Hard telling where
they will end up next"
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