Life on the Fire Line : ‘It’s Just You and It, and Nothing Else’

John Hatton has been a firefighter for only two days, but already he has realized the most fundamental desire of these warriors returned from battle: sleep and food, as much and as quickly as possible.

Hatton, a U.S. Forest Service firefighter based in the Angeles National Forest, came down from the mountains above Orange County’s Silverado Canyon after nearly 24 hours of nonstop effort to contain the fast-moving blaze that had consumed more than 2,000 acres. The day before he had fought his first fire at Angeles Crest.

“It’s exhausting, but it’s also highly exciting,” Hatton said. “It’s just you and it, and nothing else. To be standing looking at 10- to 15-foot flames above you is quite an experience. But I work with a great crew, and they really watch out for me.”

Hatton and his crew mates were anticipating an overnight respite at Irvine Park in Orange, which has been set up as a base camp for firefighters, before returning to battle the fire.

Crews from Orange, Los Angeles and Riverside counties, the state Department of Forestry, the California Conservation Corps, county inmates as well as the U.S. Forest Service were in and out of the park Thursday, eating hamburgers and potato salad, consuming more sodas than most people probably drink in a week, and trying to seize the best sleep to be had on blankets, sleeping bags and cots.

Mike Alt, another Forest Service firefighter, said weather conditions have caused the Silverado Canyon fire to be especially active, leaving firefighters little chance for rest. In addition, the rugged terrain has meant some vertical climbs.

‘It Can Be Real Spooky’

“We were having to use our hands to get up and over hills and ravines, and that’s carrying heavy hoses,” he said. “Even after it got dark, the fire was still quite active. Imagine hearing falling trees and hearing rolling rocks that you know are heavy falling through the brush coming at you. It can be real spooky.”

During the night, Alt and his crew had laid 10,000 feet of line west from Bedford Truck Trail in the Cleveland National Forest in an effort to contain a 50-acre offshoot of the fire that had jumped the road. Their attempt succeeded.

When the fire crews reached the Irvine Park base camp, before food or sleep, they prepared to go back up to the fire lines.

“No matter what we might want to do when we finally get off a mountain, the first priority is to be prepared to go back up,” said crew member Thomas Neville. “We have to sharpen any tools that we might have used, roll more hose packs, try to get new gloves or trousers if there are any available. We have to be ready to move.”

As tired crews came in, Randy Burtt, an Orange County firefighter based at the Trabuco Canyon Fire Station, waited to go out on the lines. Burtt, who has fought fires in the area for seven years, said he had been in the fire area only days earlier for a rescue operation, and had admired the scenery.

“There hasn’t been a fire in that area for several years, so there is an awful lot of fuel to burn,” he said. “Conditions like that can make a fire almost unstoppable.”

With that in mind, Burtt said he expected to spend at least another night on the mountain fighting the blaze and possibly longer.