Veterans Fire Corps - Kaibab 2012

The Veteran’s Fire Corps, Flagstaff, AZ met with U.S. Forestry Recreation Technician and qualified C-Sawyer, Justin Loxley, and began the week in assisting with the clean up of recreational campgrounds owned and operated by the U.S. Forest Service. The beautiful drive forty-five minutes south of Flagstaff past Upper and Lower Lake Mary brought the VFC Team to both the Lakeview and Dairy Springs campgrounds.

The clean-up of Dairy Springs allowed the VFC Team to witness Loxley’s daily recreational work in campground cleanup. Lakeview and Dairy Springs required the falling of hazardous, rotted Ponderosa Pine trees snags in order to prevent possible dangerous interactions with falling trees and recreational campers. The project work also included the bucking up of fallen Ponderosas into three to four foot sections in order to be properly cleared by heavy equipment operators. Although the Lakeview Campground’s dead and down trees typically harbor hidden Timber Rattle Snakes, the VFC team was lucky enough to avoid any interaction.

Week 12 also allowed members of the VFC Team to work in other forestry departments such as Range and Wildlife. Brian and James spent two days with Wildlife Supervisor, Lauren Lasuleur, and conducted bird collaring, begging calls, and general annotations of Arizona’s Northern Goshawks, as well as the Narrow-Headed Garter Snakes. During the week, Davon was able to work with Range Supervisors, Mandi and Gary, and surveyed federal land pastures for feed allotments of privately owned cattle within the Coconino.

The Veteran’s Fire Corps Team, Flagstaff Arizona, not only tackled their second full week with Crew 4 in the Coconino National Forest, but had the opportunity to tackle their first real-life fire as well. Well into the dusk of Monday evening the yearly monsoons reeked havoc within the Coconino National Forest and a single lightning strike set ablaze nearly three quarters of an acre before emergency fire crews could begin fighting it. The wildfire took place within the Crawley wilderness area and was aptly named: The Crawley Fire.

Under the direction of Aaron Greyser, the VFC Team assisted in the containment and final mop-up of the area fire. Although the wildfire was small and nearly contained, a few hundred and thousand hour fuels remained ablaze and hot, smoldering ash still littered the are. Mop-up consisted of digging hand line, water placement with hose-lay and bladder bags, and finally fire-line grid patterns that checked for any remaining heat. The fire was called all-clear and contained after less than 40 hours after the initial lightning strike, and James, Eric, Brian, and Davon of VFC Flagstaff had seen their first real-world forest fire; albeit a very small real-world fire.

The Veteran’s Fire Corps Team, Flagstaff, AZ currently finished their final week working within the Kaibab National Forest. The week began with a site visit by SCA’s Program Manager, Brian Doughty, which focused on individual interviews for team progression.

In mid-week the Forest Service held an active shooter drill inside the Williams Ranger Station as well as a federal safety briefing that included an educational lecture on Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and general safety tips while working in the field.

The week’s forestry conservation projects included livestock fence repair to assist local farmers with cattle grazing; the previous fence had been destroyed by a 2007 forest fire. Former SCA/VFC Member, Marshall Kulp (currently now a USFS Forestry Technician), lead the team in the fence repairs. Additionally, the team continued their previous hazardous fuels work on the Holden Lake Thinning Project and improved their efficiency as chainsaw sawyers.

Captain of Engine 7-11, Ryan, held a great training that improved the team’s knowledge of Type-6 and Type-3 Engines and Water Tenders. Additionally, Ryan and his engine crew created a simulated fire and taught the team progressive hose lay procedures for combating fire. Forestry member Jeff Sanocki held a great training lecture that provided Corps Members with helpful tips for online federal jobs search/application procedures with an emphasis on multiple U.S. Forest Service career paths.

Week 6 was dedicated to a 1,700 ac. prescribed burn unit south of the town of Williams. The Team was responsible for preparing the northern line of this unit and was tasked with digging a hand line, felling trees, and removing any "heavies" (large fuels) close to the line.

VFC Corps Member Training:

Members of the Kaibab National Forest VFC Team (and both Black Hills VFC Team 1 & Team 2), enjoyed three weeks of SCA Orientation, Red Card (wildland firefighting), Wilderness First Aid training, and S-212 Wildland Fire Chain Saw training. We all met at Medicine Mountain Boy Scout Camp near Custer, SD on May 21st to begin our three weeks of rigorous trainings. The first week of training included SCA Orientation, policies, procedures, and all last minute administrative tasks. The schedule also allowed for a couple of short recreational trips to explore nearby: Mount Rushmore National Park & Wind Cave National Monument. The end of week one was concluded with adult/child CPR along and Wilderness First Aid administered by two personnel from Aerie Backcountry Wilderness from Montana. After learning the book answers, we immediately practiced them. Our instructors provided us with hands-on real world scenarios that tested our ability to learn, react, work with others, and make prudent snap decisions when faced with emergency situations in a backcountry setting.

Black Hills National Forest hosted a Guard School for our second week of training. Many members of the surrounding Forest Service District Offices (Custer, Rapid City, Hill City, and Spearfish) came to the camp in order to teach us all we would need to know in order to fight forest fires and to assist with prescribed burns. This training was ran as a “mock incident”, during which we all camped out in a fire camp like one would during a large wildfire incident. We took S-190 (Introduction to Wildland Fire Behavior), S-130 (Firefighter Training), IS-700 (An Introduction to the National Incident Management System, NIMS), and L-180 (Human Factors on the Fireline). Some of the classes were on weather and how it affects the way fire behaves. We also had a class on fire behavior, potential hazards, and map & compass use to name a few. During Guard School we also participated in the Arduous Work Capacity test which consists of carrying 45 pounds for three miles in under 45 minutes. We concluded the week with a live prescribed burn field training exercise, constructing fire lines, mopping up, and even deploying our fire shelters. It was good to practice the techniques and knowledge we gained in the classroom.

Watch Video Here:
Black Hills Fox: Crews test skills in live fire exercise

During our third week the Black Hills National Forest hosted S-212 Training (Wildland Fire Chain Saws) and after a week of training and field work the VFC team are now certified “A fallers”, which is the apprentice level of the three certifications: “A, B, and C fallers”. The “A faller” is proficient in limbing and bucking. Limbing is the practice of sawing branches off trees and bucking is the practice of sawing fallen timber in to smaller pieces.

Bobby received his start in conservation by volunteering for four months on an ecological reserve in the Mayan Biosphere Reserve of Guatemala with the non-profit organization, Volunteer Petén. While receiving his degree in Anthropology from Metropolitan State College of Denver he interned with Fifth Sun Development Fund as an Environmental Anthropologist in the rural villages of Northern Mexico.

This is currently Bobby’s sixth season with the SCA. Bobby started with the SCA in 2009, Fire Effects Monitoring, in partnership with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Great Plains of North and South Dakota. He then went on to lead a Fire Effects Monitoring Team with Wayne National Forest, Ohio; then Trail Assessment and Condition Survey Teams in Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri, Finger Lakes National Forest, New York, and Green Mountain National Forest, Vermont. Most recently Bobby led the Veterans Fire Corps in Prescott National Forest, Arizona.

Bobby is a passionate outdoor enthusiast, conservationist, and is a certified Wildland Firefighter, Wilderness First Responder, and a Leave No Trace Master Educator. When he’s not leading fuels reduction projects throughout the forests of Northern Arizona you might find him riding his enduro across the desert and canyoneering with his better half (and fellow SCA Alum), Anna, throughout the amazing landscape of The Southwest.

Feel free to email or call Bobby with any questions or interest about the Veteran’s Fire Corps.

SCA -- Veterans Fire Corps
Coconino, Kaibab, & Prescott National Forests
2846 Fairview DR.,
Flagstaff, AZ 86004
(208) 954-4341

RWoelz@thesca.org

“In life, there are many prisons. But even in the darkest ones, there are always possibilities”. – Nelson Mandela
My name is Davon Lamar Goodwin and I’m from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Now I currently live in Pembroke, North Carolina where I attend the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. I am currently a senior where I major in Biology and Botany. I will graduate in May 2013, and hopefully attend graduate school in the fall. I currently serve in the United States Army Reserve and I am also a combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan from 2009 – 2010. This experience in the VFC has been great so far, I couldn’t ask for a better team and leader. I hope this program continues to grow every year. My future plans are to become an agronomist and research different ways to help sustain agriculture for the world.

My name is James Love and I am from Kansas City, Missouri. I served 8 years in the United States Marine Corps as a heavy equipment operator attached to Engineer units and received an honorable discharge in December 2009. I have been a full time student since January 2010 at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri with an emphasis on a BS in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. I am looking forward to the experience and networking opportunities offered by the VFC this summer in pursuing a career with a federal agency upon graduation from college in April 2013.