Baker River Hot Shots 1998 Goldendale, WA.

Baker River just worked a couple 16 hour shifts. It’s probably 2200 hours and the Night Shift Operations woke us up, since the fire is becoming more active and probably because of an east wind event. We are tasked with building some line in preparation of burning out.

I was a Squad Leader and remember being tired myself and wondering if this was really necessary since there were not values at risk such as developed areas (risk vs. gain). My greatest concern was my crews physical and mental condition! We still performed like a well-oiled machine and constructed some bomber fireline that evening…

I love making overtime and making the big pay checks, but in hindsight is it really worth going against the 2 to 1 rest ratio if there aren’t really any values at risk?

I have been on several wildfires throughout my career that required all hands-on deck and working 32 hours or more because there were values at risk (homes, towns, infrastructure).

Any thoughts from the fire community?