A Wet Situation in the Present and Busy Situation in the Future

Dreams of firefighting glory and paychecks fat with overtime and hazard are slowly crushed into reality with the continued assault of rain on the land here in Southern Utah. Every morning at work we read the National Situation Report praying for an increase in activity or an elevation of the National Preparedness Level. Slowly, the amount of fire we're seeing in the states is increasing. I guess now it's just a matter of time before we start working fires on a regular basis.

My time here away from work is spent relaxing. As much as I love (and sometimes hate) it out here, I'm counting down the days till I can get back home and enjoy several months at home. While I'm here, I'm hoping for fires for more experience and to attend certain trainings to further advance my career with qualifications.

I'm looking, this coming fall/winter/spring, to pile on things to keep me busy. I have a job (hopefully) lined up with an interfacility ambulance transport service which will be my main source of income over the months. I'm already planning on returning to duty with Ashburn during the last week in August. I'm looking to volunteer for Shenandoah Mountain Rescue Group when I get back as well. Hopefully in November, Virginia's wildfire season will be busy enough to warrant a deployment out of me. With Zion Helitack's hopeful plans of putting up an aerial ignition module for the winter with the sole purpose to provide prescribed fire solutions to various government organization I'm hoping to possibly come back out west to do one or two two-week details with the crew and possibly work on some aerial ignition qualifications myself. And maybe, if I'm not busy enough as it is, I'm hoping to work part-time with Patagonia in DC to help with financing my addiction to climbing and (now) skiing. With work, obviously, comes play. I've been telling myself since I won't be going to Antarctica this season I'm looking to do a couple weekend Europe, Africa, and/or Central and South American trips this winter. For a while (before I even knew that I wasn't going back down to Antarctica during the 2009-2010 season) I had been planning on a trip to Iran to do some backcountry skiing and climbing. A lot of people (due to their ignorance) expressed their displeasure in the idea which fueled the urge to go through with the trip even more. With the current political upheaval and social unrest in the country I may put that trip off for a little bit longer. All of that on top of school means for a fun, albeit busy, winter...