Working as wildfire support staff was hard work

Where would anyone be without the support staff?

My wife and I spent two summers as part of the support staff for firefighters.

We worked for Okay Cascade, a firm out of Bothell, that supplied food, laundry and shower services for firefighters.

We worked mainly in Washington, but had a 20-day stint on a fire in eastern Oregon. We spent most of our work time in food services and prepared food for sometimes hundreds of firefighters and their support staffs. Probably the largest number was in the Oregon fire where we fed some 1,500 fire fighters and their staffs.

We put in up to 20-hour shifts, and by the time the fire was contained we moved like zombies, and any accusation of the same was probably warranted.

We served two hot meals a day: breakfast and dinner. And boy were we appreciated. Firefighters were happy to have “all they could eat” hot meals.

When through with the evening meal we spent and hour or two getting prepped for breakfast and then it was a couple of hours or so of sleep, which didn’t always come easy.

One of the tasks was to crack a hundred dozen eggs for breakfast. Some of our group was better than others at this task. The better ones would crack two eggs at a time and not drop any of the shells into the tub.

For breakfast there would be eggs, bacon, juices, coffee, and usually pancakes. They slurped it up.

During the day there was usually a few “spike” crews of highly trained men and women at the fire hot spots. These people never came into camp, but we prepared steaks and all the trimmings and placed them in insulated containers, which were flown into them by helicopter.

When the camp was winding down, the “spike” camp crews would come by to thank us for the food, which they said was usually hot.

Lines would start forming by the portable kitchens a few minutes early and we would have several hundred to feed.

Okay Cascade had huge cooler trucks and a huge tent where food items were stored. There was never a question about putting a lot of food before the workers.

The company also had portable trucks where anyone who wanted to could take a shower.

They also had laundry trucks where people could wash their clothes.

Once we signed on, we kept our bags packed and by the door, and when we got the call to go, we were on our way within a few minutes.

The long, hard hours were rewarded by a lot of overtime, and the welcome thanks of the people we were serving.

I remember one of the workers had put 26 hours on his timesheet for one of the days, which of course raised the eyebrows of the payroll clerk.

We also went out a couple of times on Spokane gun shoots. Those were shorter days and we got to stay in motels. That was a welcome treat from throwaway sleeping bags and a tent.

We also were on an oil spill near Anacortes, one of the coldest experiences of my life.

Closer to howe, in Kenmore, we cooked for a crew that was rehabilitating waterfowl that were covered in oil. We were just two miles from home, so we got to stay at home in our own beds.

Twice we were called to the road at the end of Lake Chelan, where there had been an explosive fireball electrical storm. We slept the first night on the open ground and were warned that there were rattlesnakes in the area. Try sleeping with one eye open.

The crews were always different, so you didn’t know whom you would not know, whom you would be working with.

Under such long-hour conditions you got to know people rather well. You dared not slack off.

We always knew where the cheesecake was in the food tent, and helped ourselves to some when we got hungry.

So when you hear that a range fire has 300 firefighters assigned to it, remember that the support staff is there with all the trimmings to make sure that things go well.