S moke S ignals
JULY 15, 2016
13
Tribal firefighters experience boot camp
By Brent Merrill
Smoke Signals staff writer
Each year, just before fire season
starts, the Natural Resources De-
partment holds a boot camp for its
firefighters.
Silviculture and Fire Protection
Manager Colby Drake said boot
camp started when Police Chief
Jake McKnight was supervising the
fire crews for the Natural Resources
Department.
“It’s a chance to see where guys
are at when it comes to being in
shape and being ready for fire sea-
son,” said Drake. “And we are also
trying to get everybody a chance to
know each other.”
McKnight said he looked at
boot camp as a way
to gauge everyone’s
skills.
“My main thing was
to bring everyone to-
gether,” said McK-
night. “Before that
we wouldn’t know the
limitations of people
until we were out on
fires. With the boot
camp, I wanted to
see their limitations.
I think the biggest
thing was people got to know each
other.”
Drake said the boot camp gives
supervisors an idea who should be
on hand crews and who should be
on the trucks.
“We are just wanting to see where
our guys are at (physically),” said
Drake. “We’re also trying to get
them in the right frame of mind.
We’re trying to get people to know
each other and build some camara-
derie together.”
Drake said the first day of boot
camp is filled with paperwork and
getting the rundown on the job
from staff members at Human Re-
sources and that the second day is
all hiking.
“Tuesday, Wednesday and Thurs-
day we start doing field exercises,
which, depending on conditions,
can be a mock fire drill or digging
a fire line,” said Drake. “We have
to follow national standards. Those
national standards are what keep
our fire program to the level of
accreditation that we’re at. It’s a
hard job.”
Fire Protection Technician Jay
Ojua leads the boot campers on
training hikes to see what kind of
Photos by Michelle Alaimo
Caden Leno digs a fire line, along
with other hand crew members, as
the Grand Ronde Tribe’s Wildland
Firefighters train on the Tribe’s
Reservation land during a boot
camp held on Wednesday, June 15.
At left, Grand Ronde Tribal
Wildland Firefighters take notes
as they get information before
digging a fire line on the Tribe’s
Reservation land during the boot
camp.
shape crew members are in.
“After we get all the paperwork
done and all the gear assigned and
the lockers assignments figured
out, I take them hiking on the roads
behind the Natural Resources De-
partment,” said Ojua. “I hiked them
really hard the second day.”
Drake said boot camp is about
gauging everybody’s fitness level
and how crew members interact
with each other. After everyone is
assessed, hand crews are selected.
“It’s a big deal for everybody.
Everybody wants to be on the first
hand crew,” said Drake. “It’s the
best of the best.”
Drake said the department plans
for boot camp all year.
“Boot camp is a big week for us,”
said Drake. “We are always plan-
ning for it. I feel like we are always
looking for ways to improve it.”
Drake said that by the time Fri-
day of boot week camp arrives, fire
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crew members are ready to go out
and fight fires.
“By Friday, we have all of our
gear organized and ready to get
loaded up in the trucks and we usu-
ally have our crew available by that
Friday for a national response any-
where in the country,” said Drake.
“As soon as we get boot camp week
done and accomplished, the sooner
we can become available and we
kind of get a head start on a lot of
the federal agencies.”
It was a good thing that the fire
crew got ready early this year
because the Natural Resources
Department already has a fire crew
out on a job.
“We made the crew available
Thursday and we got picked up by
Sunday morning,” said Drake. “We
have a crew heading to southern
California. They got assigned to the
Fish fire in the Angeles National
Forest outside of Los Angeles.”
Hundreds of firefighters from the
Los Angeles County Fire Depart-
ment and Forest Service spent the
early days of the 5,400-acre forest
fire battling a pair of brush fires
in the foothills and mountains of
the San Gabriel Valley amid tri-
ple-digit temperatures. The hand
crew from Grand Ronde joined
forces with the firefighters already
battling the blaze.
A fatal car crash on California
Highway 39 near Morris Dam
sparked the fire.
“We have never had any crew or
any engines ever go to southern
California,” said Drake. “We sent a
20-person hand crew that included
seven Tribal members. They left
Grand Ronde Sunday at 1 p.m.”
Drake said it is a 14-day assign-
ment that started on Monday, June
21.
Drake said boot camp this year
was a success and that Natural Re-
sources ended up with a 35-person
crew. He said four of the crew mem-
bers were new to the team this year.
“Overall I think it went pretty
well,” said Drake. “Our new people
look really good.”
McKnight said he was happy
that the Tribe’s Natural Resources
Department kept the boot camp
program going.
“I’m glad that it has continued
and that Colby has done a great
job of just carrying on all those
traditions,” said McKnight. “I think
without boot camp it would be
tougher. I think it’s good.”