And my wildland firefighter is in Colorado.
{find original image here}
{find original image here}
He is on a 20-man hand-crew that was put together by the Minnesota Interagency Command Center (MIFC - prounounced miff-see). He is a firefighter and also the medic for the crew.
For the first seven days of their stint, the guys were stationed in Colorado Springs. They worked long and hard on the Black Forest Fire and were a crucial factor in helping to contain that fire. One day, they saved three houses (just like in this video) and cut a mile of line (similar to this video - but out in the woods, often in thick smoke, and with guys who are certified to run chainsaws). They were smokin'!
The line is always headed up by a crew boss and then anchored in the middle and at the end by assistant crew bosses or other very competant firefighters. Ben was most often the guy who got chosen to anchor the rear. And the guys gave him a nickname . . . the rear-man or (watch out! - not typical Elizabeth-langauge - but it's part of the story here) the ass-man.
What?!?!? you ask.
Well, on the long drive out to Colorado 10 days ago, the guys spotted a sign that said Assman Repair. They all thought letters were missing or something; then continued to notice this last name on mailboxes and such. Finally, at a filling station they asked about it. It's really a last name. And it's pronounced az-men. Who knew.
Well, of course, it became a joke. And Ben took the brunt of the joke as the guy bringing up the rear. And ran with it, of course.
The guys often make strange, loud noises when they are in heavy woods and brush, to keep each other informed of their whereabouts. Well, Ben realized that if he was the ass-man, he was really the donkey-man - so he started braying like a donkey for his obnoxious here-I-am call. The rest of the crew joined in. So, they became a crew of donkey-men.
And their reputation for hard work began to take on a life of it's own. (Fitting that there should be tall tales about the donkey-men - these guys share a home state with Paul Bunyan, hero of tall tales.) One night at supper, a guy from another crew came up to Ben, and in all seriousness said, "I heard you guys cut three miles of line in one day!" And Ben just said, "Yep." (1 mile of line cut, plus 3 homes saved had somehow grown into 3 miles of line cut in one day!)
Well, now we have the Three Mile Donkeys. And their reputation continued to grow. They were commended by Command for working diligently all through their shifts, for working safely, for accomplishing more line cut than any other crew on the fire. The Donkeys were chosen to stay on and aid in the safety of the investigators at the point of origin of the fire. They also put out the last major hot spot of the fire. And they were the final crew from out of the area to be demobilized.
It is common for fire crews to have a crew T-shirt. Well, this crew was put together the day before they headed out to Colorado. But their comraderie grew along with their reputation, and they decided that the 3-Mile Donkeys need a crew T.
So, I called our friend Simon and told him the story, and he absolutely jumped on the chance to draw a T-shirt screen pattern for the Donkeys.
Three Mile Donkeys - Black Forest Fire - Colorado Springs, CO - 2013
This particular donkey is standing atop a burning pile of horse manure . . . our Donkeys of 3-Mile fame had the assignment of completely spreading a HUGE pile of burning manure one day on the fire. A hot pile of manure is an incredibly volatile fuel source . . . so, the Donkeys worked it until the pile was reduced to a layer that was no longer a threat. Worthy of sketch documentation - don't you think?
(as soon as there are T-shirts, there will be pictures of people in T-shirts, of course!)