Catching up...

It's been a while since I've written an entry, I know. Today, back in the states, is Thanksgiving. It's been a semi-depressing time but good friends here and at home have gotten me through this. It's getting progressively warmer here in town. I've been wearing my down jacket less and less and doing a lot of work outside in nothing but a T-Shirt (well, pants to). The temperature has yet to go above 25 degrees but it still feels pretty warm. In a couple of days, most federal departments will start hiring firefighters for the 2009 fire season which I can't wait for. I'm actually really looking forward to getting back to Cedar City (primarily so I can climb Moonlight Buttress) but I've been applying to other places as well. I really have my heart set on doing at the very least one season of fire in Alaska. So far, I've applied for Smokejumper and Helitack/Helirappel crews in California, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Montanna, Idaho, Utah and as of today for Engine Operator positions in Alaska, Wyoming, and Colorado. Needless to say, just the thought of the hiring process for future positions to open up have really got me excited.

This time of year, I'm missing my family terribly. I'm constantly thinking of my dad and my uncle as well as the family I have that are still alive back home. I have new friends that I'm growing real close to and at the same time I still have friends back home that I remain close to. The holidays don't seem as bad as they did last year for me but I'm still feeling a little down.

Life down here, on the other hand, gets better and better as time goes on. The mountains surrounding the base never look the same no matter how many times you look at them. I fall in love with this place more and more with each passing day. It's going to be hard to take a couple years off from here...

Anxiety, the Future, and the Now

I listen to a lot of Coldplay when I'm down or in in one of my regular funks. I really didn't notice it until recently. Sometimes (like now) I don't realize I'm in a funk until I listen to We Never Change or spies over and over again. Today is no different. The week, on the other hand, was pretty good. SAR tryouts are behind me. I still have no idea as to whether or not I made the team. I've spent a lot of my time on my computer planning around my education goals for next semester as well as the next couple of years. Nursing School is a definite...one way or the other. I'm still trying to ascertain from the National Registry of EMTs(NREMT) if I can use my Registered Nurse (RN) certification and "challenge" to test out for a NREMT-Paramedic certifications in lieu of having to take a RN to NREMT-P bridge or, heaven forbid, a complete Paramedic course. I've also toyed with the idea of doing something crazy like working towards my A.A.S. in Fire Science at the same time. Granted, loading my semester like that is going to be a bitch and a half but I think it will be worth it spending as little time "sitting still" as possible. I've been dreading the thought of sitting in a classroom having to interact with a bunch of other students for the past month or so that I have been thinking about school. I really don't know why. I think it's just the way I think and the way I live my life and not wanting to be around scores of people who revolve around the notion that life is all about getting a job you'll spend the next quarter-century at, creating a family, and settling down. I think that, then I get mad at myself for judging a whole group of people I don't know...yet I still have the anxiety of possibly having to "settle down" even if it's only for a couple years. What's worse is thinking about settling down for another couple of years after that to work on my residency or gain experience. I've been slowly teaching myself to relax and not jump to conclusions about my life in the future back home for school. So far (so far being a week or so) it has been working. I'm pretty excited to go back to school.

The weather has been pretty warm here (relatively speaking of course). It has yet to crest 20 but it has been in the high teens. I've been doing a lot of work outside in nothing more than my uniform pants, normal boxers, and a short-sleeve t-shirt. The skuas and seals are out in full force. Thursday night while waiting for a shuttle to head over to the New Zealand base, we watched a Skua attack from start to finish. We saw the 'victim' walk out of Building 155 with food in his hand. We saw the two skuas on the roof eying his food and their future meal. Realizing the ensuing hilarity none of the 7 of us said a word. Within several seconds, the skua had dive bombed the victims food, a piece of cheesecake, grab the cake in one fell swoop, and flew several yards away where it and it's amigo chowed down on their score. The entire thing was quite possibly the funniest damn thing I've seen all season. Of course now, I'm paranoid whenever I walk outside. Yes, life here is good. Despite my funks or bouts of depression, I'm having a great time and enjoying myself

Fire, The Weekend, School, Work

Today is day 3 of 5 spent away from the trials and tribulations experienced during the peak hours of the Antarctic Fire Department. On top of my normal Saturday Kelly Day I have tryouts again for the Joint Antarctic Search and Rescue Team tomorrow. Considering I didn't make it last year, I'm hoping this year will be different. The weekend has been fun for me. Friday night we had a fire and major hazardous materials incident in one of our science research facilities. I can't go into any more detail than that because the official report has yet to be released but all I can say is it was a major incident for us. Yesterday I spent my afternoon in Snow Craft and Sea Ice refresher classes. Asides from the fire on Friday the weekend has been pretty slow. I've spent a lot of it thinking about school, work, and home for after the 2009 fire season. With everything I've done in the past couple years, I'm hoping my resume proves exotic enough for the employers I'm looking at. Oh well...

The Good Life in McMurdo

Life here in McMurdo is great. The few calls we get and the circus games of vehicular issues we play keep life at the fire department exciting and fresh. Election day (which was Wednesday our time) was really exciting to follow. Because of the close quarters of our base (in comparison to any other town in the Washington Metropolitan Area) the energy in the air here was amazing. I gave up on any of the American news outlets in favor for the BBC considering that they had a constant live feed of the action back in the states rather than a website that updated every few minutes or so. I had said to a few people down here that I thought it was pretty cool to get to say that, "I was in Antarctica" when I found out that Barack Obama became our nation's first black president. At first I didn't believe it (partly because of my natural skepticism for anything sans irrefutable proof). I mean, I found out from a girl standing on a chair in our galley shouting it out. Yeah, I'm sure that seems a legitimate reason to believe but had still remained skeptical. Either way, it was pretty amazing to hear the amount of people cheering at Dinner.

The days are passing by quite pleasantly...a step up from the beginning of last season. I've been thinking about climbing a lot and what my travels when I redeploy before coming back home. I've been able to relax my mind (when I'm not at work) a lot more down here. My thoughts have ranged from skiing hills and slopes I see as I drive around Ross Island to school next fall to performing yoga while stuck on a portaledge 800 feet off the ground. I've been working out, I've been eating healthy...I've been happy....and I have McMurdo to thank for that.

Antarctic Fire Department Vehicles

There are days when I love my job, then there are days I resent the silly shit that manages to happen on a daily basis. Today, my bitches, gripes, and complaints belong with the vehicles of the Antarctic Fire Department. Somehow, when ever we get something back from the Vehicle Maintenance Facility (VMF), two vehicles go out of service in return. Today I've been dealing with, primarily, one of our tracked Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) vehicles, Red 2:

From Antarctica - Austral Summer 2007-2008

We brought it in for brake, oil pressure, and other issues regarding the foam delivery system (primarily the turret) from Williams Field. To give you a brief rundown of the vehicle, it's over 20 years old. It weighs in excess of 80,000 lbs and it tops out at about 8 mph. It's over an hour ride out to Williams Skiway in Red 2 and damn near an hour and a half to two hours out to Pegasus. Today, I almost caught it on fire when I was driving it back from the VMF to the firehouse and the parking brake engaged on its own (unbeknown to me). I didn't find out till I smelled the brakes burning and I saw the plume of smoke bellowing from underneath the vehicle. Within 30 minutes of it leaving the VMF, it got picked up and brought straight back. So now, being the only person in station qualified to drive it and the only person that's familiar with the parking break problem (this is the 3rd time in the past couple weeks this has happened, I am privileged to drive this 40 ton piece of shit back out to Pegasus...at 2300 hrs. I can't even begin to imagine what else can happen to the vehicles tonight. On top of that we have 2 engines without a working pump, 1 engine with a tank that has more holes than a spaghetti strainer, a nodwell that's leaking foam, a van that just likes to die whenever it feels like, an Renegade with a broken radio, and 2 ambulances that are running on their last legs (or wheels I guess). The best part is the season has only begun...

Election Day

It's near mid afternoon Wednesday here in McMurdo which means it's Tuesday evening back home. That means election day! Even this far away (9,186 miles to be exact courtesy of Google Earth) people are ecstatic over the results to come. As I talk to a good friend of mine, I can't help but think how relieved I am to not be anyone close to the Washington DC Metropolitan area at the moment, yet at the same time, I feel I'm missing out on a possible momentous occasion to celebrate not only as a town or region but as a country in general within the borders of the US...if that makes any sense. It does feel good to be down here though. For one, it feels good to say that I put forth the effort to cast an absentee ballot so that my vote can count whilst I reside on the 7th continent. It also feels good to be able to say I was in Antarctica during the most historical election in our history. Today, being my day off, will be spent keeping a close eye on the polls, celebrating the end of 8 years of embarrassment, celebrating a historic election however the outcome, and celebrating democracy in general. I'll try not to get too drunk though...I have to work tomorrow.

Station 2 - Tour 2

Today is the 2nd out of 3 possible consecutive shifts for myself out here at Station 2. Considering we're doing a full 24 hour shift out here versus opening the station at 1600 in the afternoon, I spent most of the day getting my crew and one of our new Lieutenants oriented to operations here at the ski field. Fire and Rescue and Crash/Rescue operations out here can prove to be pretty complex between the military's requirements of us, our staffing, our equipment (or lack there off), and what we're responsible for. To elaborate, the United States Air Force and the Air National Guard with the aircraft they have residing here at the airfield require 6 people minimum and a certain amount of foam available for use within 2 minutes which means there are 6 people at station 2 24/7 throughout the duration of the military's presence. With the tracked vehicles we have, the agent (Compressed Air Foam and thousands of pounds of Purple K dry powder), we can take care of most aircraft emergencies. As far as structural fires are concerned here out at the airfield, we have to use equipment designed for cold-weather aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) to the best of our (and the equipment's) ability. We're also responsible for emergency medical services (EMS) out here on the airfield and most of the snow and ice roads that lead out to here, Williams Ski Field, from McMurdo Station. Both responsibilities drop our staffing if not completely take it away from our primary reason for being out here which is ARFF. Luckily, our call volume out here rarely crests 20 for the entire Austral Summer season. Anyways, today was spent familiarizing the crew with our various vehicles, the runway and ramp layout, emergency hard stand locations, airfield operations and procedures, and the "ice town" layout. Now, being 2000 hrs, we sit back watch movies and enjoy each other. Stay safe out there...

From Antarctica - Austral Summer 2007-2008

SPOT Satellite Messenger

I've said in the past that like any good blogger who's spends their fair share of time outdoors I would throw up a post on pieces of gear I own that impress me so I figured I'd start with the SPOT Satellite Messenger.





I dropped the $170 for this device because 1) it was a lot cheaper than most other Personal Locating Beacons (PLB) 2) It offered check-in, tracking, and help features on top of standard 911/rescue features (unlike any other PLB on the market) and 3) I spend so much time out in the wilds by myself that I figured it was good insurance for myself and that of the minds of my friends and parents. It proved fairly accurate (which I had hoped for the price I paid) but the most impressive thing I found about it was when I tried the Check In/I'm Ok feature of the device it actually captured a satellite down here which I believe to be out of it's coverage area.:



View Larger Map

So for $170 (plus $99 for the annual subscription and $7 for worldwide rescue insurance) I thought it was well worth the money for a little piece of mind that will cover your ass most of the world over...

Life Now and Post-Winter

Last year, the Antarctic Fire Department reached some amount of normalcy when we opened Station Two out at Williams Field. Honored to do so (I can't even tell if that's sarcasm or not) I led the first shift through the inaugural opening of Station 2 for the season. Last night saw the arrival of the first 4 LC-130 Hercules for the season with more to come in the following month. As typical of station 2, it was a quiet night. Today I spend most of it preparing my resume and sending emails.

To elaborate on my process of applying for wildland jobs, there are several things I'm looking to do for next year. For the most part, I loved working for Zion Helitack. Despite a few minor differences in the beginning, in the end, I felt a lot closer to my crewmmates and leaders to the point where I miss them now. I would be more than honored to go back next summer. I figured, however, it wouldn't hurt to apply to a few places that I figure I'd enjoy. A fellow McMurdo resident who also works as a wildland firefighter during the summer gave me the advice to apply to place I would want to work in the future and not necessarily next year so that if my name kept showing up on the "cert" of people that apply, I'd be more recognizable. Like I said in my post before, I was aiming pretty high as far as positions, crews, and my qualifications are concerned. So far, I've applied to:

Boise BLM Smokejumpers

Alaska BLM Smokejumpers

Arroyo Grande Helishots

Bridgeport Interagency Helitack

McCall Smokejumperes

Missoula Smokejumpers

Region 5 Smokejumpers

Redmond Smokejumpers

West Yellowstone Smokejumpers

North Cascade Smokejumpers

Grangeville Smokejumpers

Wenatchee Valley Rapellers

Gallatin Rappel Crew


As well as Rappel/Helitack Crews in...


Mountain View, WY

Challis, ID

Hailey, ID


I haven't really thought about or planned what I'd do if I actually get a job offer with these crews but I'll play that by ear if that ever happens. For now, I'm still planning on returning to Zion. I guess for now my tentative plan for the fall is to return to DC for Nursing and/or Paramedic school for a couple years. Will see if that happens too...

Skiing!

I've been here for almost a month and I finally got out to ski today! It felt great to get out of town for a few hours. I was hoping to get some downhill in after skinning for a couple miles but by the time I had made it to the bottom of the hill we were skiing to my feet were done (keep in mind I had just bought the boots I was wearing in August). I took off with a friend and co-worker Kelly Goodick and for the entire day we enjoyed a rare windless day. The temperature was definitely cold (sub-zero out on the ice shelf) but with no wind it and constant movement, it was easily bearable. Anyways, skiing today allowed me to release a lot of stress that had been built up since almost the first day since I had been back in a controlled way. Now if I can only find a hill...