Day 5

Today is a new day and a new campground that has beautiful views of Deschutes National Forest, but also angry bears. Yes, we had a bear going around our campground, but thankfully we have our bear specialist, Pedro Chavarria, who gave us safety instructions just in case the bear gets hungry. Many of my colleagues, including myself, woke up many times at night because we heard footsteps and noises of an animal outside our tents. I am so thankful we have not taken showers and I strongly believe that was the reason we woke up alive. Enough of the bear talk. Today we visited Pacific Northwest Training Center where we had the opportunity to learn of all of the operations that included Hot Shot jumpers, aircraft fire resource, Catche Administration, and the Dispatch Control Center where many emergencies regarding fires at various forests at communicated to be planned.  The Hot Shot jumpers are crews where they received extensive training on jumping from 1500 feet to fight firest and they’re the ones who get first to the action. This position is very important and dangerous because these individuals are the ones who save many state funds in eliminating fires before they become more dangerous on a large scale. Also, I had the chance to go see the aircraft that would take these men and woman to various locations where there is fire and also provide the necessary equipment. I learned that every fire at various locations needs different equipment to eliminate fires. On the other hand, there are air tankers and helicopters who use water and chemical retardant to slow down or cool the fires. These procedures are not possible without the help of the Catche Administration and Control Center who are constantly in motion in providing the right equipment for the firefighters and control where al procedures and air crafts should be going. I didn’t know this much procedure was taken place for any fires and the importance of having various resources, funds, agencies, and other companies to save many lives and forests. I am very thankful Washington and Oregon State are constantly fighting to eliminate these fires during the summer. More than 30 millions of dollars are being invested every year to make this possible, but there are still challenges to engineer new equipment that will facilitate firefighters jobs.