After the greenhouse job was finished, the forest service asked me to try out for fire suppression. I thought it was something that sounded pretty awesome. I had met a few forestry guys while I was working on the spacing project. They felt I was a good match for firefighting.I could still remember seeing the fire crews working when I went to port alice as a youth.
I went to Port Alberni for a series of physical tryouts. There were around 30 of us there, and 6 of us passed the early version of the ramp test, as they were pretty tough. I wish I could say that I breezed through these tests, but I must truthfully admit that I barely squeaked through them. After this, the 6 of us took a fire suppression course in Port that ran for 6 weeks, and 4 of us made it to the end.
This was in 1982. I moved back to Campbell River and signed up with the local forestry as a grunt for the upcoming fire season. I worked many fires through the spring and summer, and then a major fire began burning in Strathcona Park. I got on as a crew boss. This was a big fire; it had a 5-mile front and over 300 men fighting it. It was in big timber on steep ground with plenty of rock bluffs, it was in Strathcona Park. I learned a lot from this fire.
My crew was used as a water delivery team, and our job was to set up systems to get water to the various areas of the fire. We set up all kinds of systems, where we could, we set up gravity flows. On one side of the fire that lacked a water source, we set up pumps at Buttle Lake and pumped water uphill through a series of large relay tanks until we got water to where it was needed. If a creek were available, we would set up a pump and put a man there with a radio. We laid out many km of hose.
One of the gravity systems we set up involved over 3 km of hose running down a valley to get water to a particularly hot burning area of the fire. Just as we had it set up, the wind shifted, and the fire came rolling right up the canyon toward us. It was pushing thick smoke ahead of the flames, making it hard to breathe.
The fire was crowning through the treetops right over our heads. We had no choice but to run up as fast as we could while the fire raced up the hill behind us, and the old-growth trees in front of us were burning so badly that the smoke made it hard to just see where you were going. I started to think that maybe we were not going to get out of this, but we managed to just get over a ridge and out of the way before the fire consumed us. A few times we needed to go through open flames, I instructed my team to hold their shovels in front of their faces, as this effectively would cut a hole in the flames, allowing a path to run through the flames. We lost a lot of the hoses, various other tools and equipment to the flames, but my crew was safe.
This fire was in a national park, and there were huge trees and cliffs everywhere, making it tough to battle this blaze. I have heard it said that trees in front of a fire will explode from their sap boiling from the heat. It might appear to be so, but I have never observed this, even in a firestorm. The trees catch on fire, but they never explode.
My crew and another 300 personnel fought this fire for 3 weeks to get it under control and contained. Then my team stayed on for another 3 weeks of fire patrol and mop-up. A total of 6 of us spent this time living in 3 separate wall tents, 2 to a tent, spaced along the fire front up on the mountain. We would do patrols along each section of the firefront, cold trailing as we went along. Putting out hotspots as we went along. We would also banana roll hose lengths and long line them off the mountain using cargo nets and Choppers. This was a daunting job as there were miles of hose.
Several of the foresters who looked after us on that summer of wildfires offered me more work in silviculture with the forest service. I took it up, and over the next couple of years, I worked for the silviculture, recreation and protection departments. I was employed almost exclusively in Zeballos—a wonderful little town with such a rich history. I would spend Monday travelling in, then work 3 days and spend Friday driving out. Weekends were mine. Working for the BC Forest Service was great.
Zeballos was a small west coast fishing village until 1924, when gold was discovered. The village soon sported 3 hotels, a brothel, a general store and a hospital. Today, it is once again a small village with most of the mines closed and logging almost done; tourism is the new source of income now.
When gold was discovered, the village soon sprang up into a small city with 3 hotels, a brothel, a general store and a hospital. Over 1500 people called the town home. The town even had a newspaper. Zeballos was a buzz with people from all around the world arriving to be part of the excitement. The harbour was full of ore ships, freighters and float planes.
In 1939, World War II broke out, and many of the men were left to fight overseas. When they returned at the end of the war, gold prices had fallen to $35.00 an ounce, and this was not high enough to keep the mines going. Within a few years, the town had far fewer folk, with only about 200 remaining, mostly sustained by logging and fishing. Logging remained the main industry and still is today. Although tourism is gaining a
In 1962, with high iron ore values around the world, an ore mine was opened and ran for about 7 years, boosting the population and adding a new cash source to the community, but iron prices fell again, and the mine closed in 1969.
Today, the village is a small West Coast community with a resource-based economy, but tourism is starting to be a driving force as more and more visitors are looking to Zeballos as a destination, a gateway to the West Coast. The village is becoming a favourite place for kayakers, sports fishers and nature lovers who want to leave the crowds behind and experience the wilderness of Vancouver Island. Comfortable accommodation and several cafes welcome visitors.
The road to Zeballos turns west off Highway 19 just north of Woss. The 40 km gravel road is usually in good condition and is looked after. Watch for bears, deer and elk crossing the road and eagles soaring overhead as you drive in. The village is very beautiful, it is located at the head of Zeballos Inlet.
During the early 70s, I logged out of Zeballos for both Crown Zellerbach and Oinion lake logging. The village at that time had a fairly large population of around 300, plus another 350 men across the river in the two logging camps. There was even a small theatre that showed movies a couple of times a week. The problem for us who lived in the camps across the river was that there was only one bridge to the other side of the river, and it was 5 miles up the road, making it a ten-mile trip to get across to a town you could hit with a rock.
I can still remember how we would get all gusied up and head to town on a Saturday night. We would remove our shoes and pants at the river’s edge and wade over to the other side, fairly easy to do. Then, after a night of drinking, we would head back to camp; sometimes, there were quite a few of us. Now getting back across was not as easy since most of us would have quite a stagger. So many would lose their balance and float down the river to the harbour. Two young native brothers had a house beside the camp and would head out in a rowboat to pick up the floaters; $20.00 for a lift to camp was the deal, and they would make a fair bit on a Saturday night.
The natural settings around the town are just breathtaking. There is a wildlife viewing platform located in the centre of town, and the estuary is easily accessible and is a great place to view birds and sea life.
Fall, winter and spring are best viewing times for waterfowl, which include many kinds of seabirds and ducks. In the fall, back bears come to feed on the spawning salmon, and many other birds and animals use the area throughout the year. Some great trails run through the estuary, full of picnic tables, boardwalks and a great campsite for your stay.
The only time I got to work out of Zeballos was when the forest service would do prescribed burns. Slash burns were pretty awesome, and they allowed me to hone my firefighting skills. The first thing I would do in preparation for a burn is fell all snags close to the block edges, they would be like candles in the forest that would catch fire just from the heat. I loved falling these old snags as they were difficult to drop. The old fir snags could be up to six feet at the butt, but only have a few feet of solid wood inside. The bark would sometimes come loose in huge chunks and crash down on you. I would not use ear protection so IOnion could hear the tree as I cut into it. Then leap back when this took place. It was all very exciting.