Letter #1
Hello I was made aware of the efforts your organization is making to support us firefighters through financial aid and I would greatly appreciate being included in this. I was on 5 different fires just this last year for over 60 days in total. We worked 16 hour days at some points and while we were putting in the same, if not more, effort than the contracted fire crews we were constantly looked down upon and given a fraction of compensation that was afforded the unincarcerated fire crews. Not only were we given the more difficult and dangerous assignments but on one occasion while on location at the Sweet Creek fire a contract crew did something disrespectful to one of the catering staff and we were instantly blamed and kicked out of the staging area. No longer being able to get our meals at the staging area, we had to be seperated off grounds for meals not only denying us certain benefits afforded everyone else but it was a very public chastising when we didn’t even deserve it causing embarrassment and a tarnish on our reputation.
I want to thank you for your kindness. To be recognized for the good deeds in my life is a welcome thing.
Letter #2
Thank you for responding to my letter. I have no problem sharing our stories with you and your organization, what we do here is amazing and more people should be aware of it. We are a juge part of Wildland firefighting as well as reforestation when fire season is over with. We prepare and plant a lot of the clear cut logged units around the Tillamook, Astoria, and Forest Grove areas. Some crews build and maintain the campgrounds, hiking and riding trails that are in these same areas. Chances are, if you or anyone you know has went camping or hiking in these areas, you were enjoying amenities that are looked over by us here at South Fork Forest Camp. So, when we aren’t fighting the chaos and carnage that is wildfire season, we are helping keep Oregon the beautiful place it is.
I have had a few fire seasons here at South Fork. This last one was quite different from the rest. Aside from Covid, it came on so sudden and severe that it felt like the preparedness wasn’t there. It seemed like there was more scrambling than ever before. It was a very frantic fire season. Other than that, the fires we were on were more adjacent to homes than ever before, more interaction with the public than ever before as well. Which can go both ways as you could imagine.
We were on the “Pike Road” fire here in Tillamook, which wasn’t necessarily big, acreage wise, but there were a lot of homes and structures being threatened this was during that huge east wind event in September. My crew and I were dispatched to the fire at 3 a.m., the first night of ignition. We showed up, not knowing what to expect: it was dark, we were in unfamiliar terrain and the wind was gusting up to 75 mph at some points. These are all what we call “watch out situations” in layman’s terms, extremely dangerous circumstances. While we are digging a line around the fire, at night, surrounded by smoke and flames, anything could happen. A burned out tree could fall and hit us, the fire could jump the line and surround us. It’s very risky, serious business. My crew boss who has been with the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) for many years said that this specific fire was the most dangerous one he’d ever seen.
There were 6 crews from South Fork that worked that fire from beginning to end. Not one home was lost. I had a chance to talk with a couple of the homeowners around the area we were working and they were all so grateful and thankful that we were there. The sheriff of Tillamook County himself came out and thanked us personally. I believe there is something posted on the Tillamook County Sheriff’s Facebook page about us on that fire. If you wanted to look it up. So, not all interactions are negative for us. I’ll admit that there are a whole lot more cons than pros, but it’s situations like the story that I just told you that actually make it all worthwhile. I’m not out there fighting fires for these correctional officers, the judge or the district attorney, nor am I doing it for the 6 dollars a day that they pay us. I do it for the woman who walks up and shakes my hand with tears in her eyes and thanks me for saving her home, I do it for the man that invites me into his garage that we just saved to show me his car collection that he has been restoring for 50 years. I feel like I’ve caused enough destruction and discord in my life; it feels really good to be on the other side.
There are countless other stories here at camp and I’ve asked a few people to write down some for me and we can get them to you. We are all comfortable with you posting anything that we write. Anonymity is not important to me; you can use my name if you wish.
A lot of us here feel overused, underappreciated, and disregarded, but we’ve never had an outlet or a voice. To say that 2020 has been a difficult year would be a huge understatement. Do I think that the Covid-19 situation is being handled correctly in prisons? Absolutely not. What is one of the first things we’ve been told to do to prevent the spread of the virus? Distancing ourselves from others. That is in no way possible. Almost every single one of us in prison has a bunkmate, less than 3 feet above us. We all share the same bathroom facilities; we eat at tables together that are 2 feet across. Sure, we have been given masks and instructed to wear them, but in order for that to be effective, we would have to wear them 24 hours a day. That’s not a reality. What can be done about this? I doubt mass release is going to happen, but I am interested in what you know about all of this; we hear rumors upon rumors, but being shut off from the internet and other means of information keeps us from getting first hand information.
I really appreciate your group and all of the things that you are doing for us and stand for. I would really like to stay in contact with you and keep sharing the stories that we have from in here, also any information that you can provide me on the Covid-19 in prison situation or about the fundraising for us is going. Is there a website I can have people go to? How do people donate? Anything you can tell me would be appreciated. In addition, somewhere in here started a petition for incarcerated firefighters to get 6 months off their sentences. Do you know how serious that is being taken? We don’t really get updates on things of that matter.
Thank you again for your support. It feels good to be recognized for something more than our rap sheets and mug shots. Have a wonderful day.
Letter #3
Thank you so much for reaching out to me! I really sincerely appreciate all of the help that you do out there for our Oregon communities across the state. Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication too! You all are wonderful people and I consider a blessing and a light shed on people like me and many others currently incarcerated.
I also appreciate all of the fundraising that you guys are putting together for us! Please don’t forget to THANK EVERY person that are involved in this blessed organization!
As a matter of fact, there is something important that you can possibly do, or try to do for us if it ain’t alot to ask for. For us to be able to get released early from prison. Some type of prison reform for those that are in minimum or downhill on their sentence. Some type of prison reduction so we can get release sooner to our families, children, and wives.
It can be a little tough for us in here during these hard times in prison. But we are strong and motivated and ready for our future ahead. Being away from our loved ones and knowing there is a global pandemic happening can be tough too!
Money is an essential in here, and we are deeply appreciative! But being united with our family and freedom is priceless.
Please stay in contact with me and let me know how everything is going! I am doing good considering these current circumstances. Thank you for asking.
I am happy to be alive and breathing! My heart goes out to ALL the families and people that loss during these fires!
And the experience was worth fighting for, and came out of my heart! And if I had to do it all over again, I would!
Letter #4
Thank you for reaching back to me. I received your letter and I was humbled to recognize the positive movement you all are supporting us while incarcerated.
I’m curious to know about this prescribed fire crew this Spring to help with ecological restoration? Does this consist of growing trees and burning to our benefit?
Thank you for looking into what I asked you for prison reform in those that are in minimum custody level prisons and that don’t have much time left on their sentence.
I also don’t mind if you post my letter on your social media to share with the folks outside and build support for men like me who are incarcerated an making a difference to change and make a difference in the world such as fighting fires off and fighting for my country.
I don’t mind if I stay anonymous or not, I just want to let you know that I am paying my debt to society and I acknowledge that I made poor choices in my past that lead me coming to prison. But because me coming to prison, I changed that to something positive and productive. For this my life changed forever for the betterment of the future ahead and if I wouldn’t had got incarcerated I wouldn’t had never got to experience fighting fires!
I really enjoyed fighting fires, and even though this was my first time, I plan on making this a career! I love helping the state where I grew up at. I love the land of the NW and trees, and I care about people, and our towns and cities.
One specific story, not too long of one, was when I seen the flames higher than 20 foot first story building. And my eyes were just amazed! We had to build a line opposite from the fire so the fire wouldn’t spread too deep into the town of Paisley. Working as a team with my fellas prisoners to help stop these fire, made me feel good inside to know I was doing my part as an american citizen of my country.
Thank you for all of your support and care! And I will be sending Lane County Mutual Aid a letter about our living quarters here at WCCF. Thank you again! May god bless you and all who are supporting us.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Letter #5
I’ve enclosed a little of my experiences on Echo Mt. Complex Fire. Then went on in a little more detail with a rescue mission we did (Jones Crew) last June.
Since I’ve been here I’ve also been on one recovery mission up at University Falls where a man was thrown from his side by side killing him on impact. That’s nothing I was really prepared for, but I enjoyed doing it. Now I’m pretty much prepared for anything. If you’d like to hear more stories from others’ perspectives, or their experiences let me know and I will get them back to you guys.
I’m interested in hearing more about the possibility of early release. Please get back to me. I really appreciate what you guys are doing for us.
Until next time
In solidarity
Also I enclosed my 3 Echo Mt Complex Fire photos. And if the stories need to be changed at all that’s fine. I also don’t mind you guys using my name.
King Mountain Rescue Mission
So it was dinner on June 20, 2020, at about 5:30 p.m. Over the P.A. system I hear, “Jones crew to control.” Now in my head I’m automatically thinking FIRE! We’d been training and preparing for it for the previous 2 months, so that’s why I thought that was the call. I was actually in the middle of a workout. So I took off my weight belt and yelled at a couple of my guys to come on. They all thought the same thing… FIRE! But we get down to the administrative building and we’re told that they have something special for us to do…
One of the officers here says, “Alright gentleman, there’s a woman up on Kings Mountain and she’s broke her leg.
We need you guys to help pack her to the summit so we can get her put on a helicopter. Go ahead and go change into your work clothes, bring your hardhats and lots of water. Be back here in 5 minutes.”
So we all go back to our cabins and put our boots on. We filled our water canteens and discussed if we should bring our sweatshirts or not because we didn’t know how long it would take to get to the top. We were all real excited though, because it hadn’t been very long since we’d been off the covid lockdown and that had lasted three months.
We got down to control minutes later and we all wondered where our crew boss, Jones, was. We knew he was on vacation, but where was he? Then an officer comes out of control and says that he will be taking us. Officer Hall. In my head I thought what better of a guy, simply for the task we were about to face.
For those of you who don’t know, Kings Mt. it’s steep, 3,188 feet to the top, it’s about 3 miles long and towards the top is pretty much nothing but boulders, straight up and down. So having Hall with us wasn’t going to be terrible, he’s in good enough shape.
When we arrived there we all hopped out of the van and a guy debriefed us on the whole situation. A couple of us got the gurney ready. No one knew what we were up against, as far as, we didn’t know how big the patient was or anything. We were told that they didn’t really know how far from the summit she was, only people coming down the mountain had seen her, and that no medical staff had reached her yet. Then we’re told that the EMT’s had left over an hour ago to find her. So it was sounding like it would take a real long time to reach our “patient.”
The first mile of the trail is fairly easy. After that it progressively gets more and more steep. Basically you’d go 100 yards or so, then hit a switch-back and push another 100 yards. It was relentless. There were spots with loose gravel, where you’d walk 10 steps forward just to be sliding 5 steps back. Occasionally there would be places on the trail where water during the rainy season would make a small stream in the middle of the trail so in some places there were 3-foot ruts.
The closer we got to the top the more the fog started to roll in. I remember yelling to my guys after every other switch-back, “We’re almost there!” (That’s kind of an inside joke with the guys on the crew now, whenever we don’t know the end of our destination I tell them “We’re almost there!” We all get a kick out of it…)
More than halfway up the Mt. we came to pass a couple groups of hikers. We finally saw the EMT’s and thought we were there… we weren’t. The EMT’s had been hiking for almost 2 hours and hadn’t got there. My crew got to them in about 50 minutes.
Finally 3 of us quicker guys took off ahead to get a better look. At that point the terrain got real bad. We literally had to use our hands and knees in some places in order to get up, or around, some obstacles. Small drop-offs were all over the trail. I started to see how a person could hurt themselves up here. One bad move was all it would take.
I came around a narrow corner, leading the 2 other guys, and that’s when I saw her, the “patient,” laying there about 500-feet from the actual summit… she was crying. Two other girls were crouched down with her, kind of holding on to her, trying to make the pain better. Her shin was obviously broken. We stood there a moment evaluating the situation when the rest of the crew showed up.
I started looking into the trees trying to find a place where the basket from the helicopter could get in. The timber was too thick. I told Hall the three of us are going to the top to find a good spot to get her on the helicopter. We hiked up. The fog got thicker and the wind blew harder. We could hear the helicopter getting closer, but knew there was no chance to get her on it.
We got back down to the patient and we were told that the helicopter was called off, considering it would be too dangerous. That’s when we decided to start the pack down. By that time the EMT’s had administered her with a dose of pain medication through IV. As we started loading her on the gurney, she screamed. I couldn’t stand it. Come to find out what had happened was that she went on a hike with her dog, a big German shepherd, made it to the top and on her way down she got pulled off a rock ledge. I guess her dog saw a squirrel?
At first, the way down was fast. Out of the 11 of us, there would be 7 guys on the gurney at once. One of the firefighters walked the patient’s dog down by leash. It pulled him all over the place and he was a big man. Whenever someone got tired the next guy would jump in and take their turn on the gurney. To me that’s what it’s about, taking your neighbor’s burden and them doing the same for you. Where those drop-offs were, a couple guys would drop down and we’d slowly pass the patient down and then the rest of us would drop down to continue on. Several times the trail narrowed and the gurney wouldn’t fit between the trees. There we’d have to pass around the trees and tilt the gurney at an angle in order to get her through.
About 1-1/2 miles down the trail it started getting dark, which didn’t make it any easier. The weight continually seemed to get heavier. At the beginning of the descent we held the gurney almost chest high, by the end of the trail we were carrying her about waist high. Took us roughly 1 hour 20 minutes to get to the patient and 3 hours to get her to the bottom.
In the parking lot there was an ambulance, some sheriffs, and several volunteers all congratulating us on our job.
It was a great experience and when I get out, I will absolutely be on call as a volunteer to do more of these kinds of things. I enjoy helping others.
Echo Mt. Complex Fire
Could you imagine being stuck in sepia tone, with dry heat and 1-7% humidity for five days? Well that’s how it was for several of us on the wildland fire fighting crews here at South Fork Forest Camp, but that’s not just for us here, that’s for anyone who was affected by the destructive forest fires that took off in late August, early September, of 2020.
At 2:00 a.m. we got the call, “Jones crew, be ready at 4:30 with your fire gear for fire!” Now it had been windy the previous night, but we had no idea of what was brewing out there.
We left camp at ten to five, heading southwest to the Lincoln City area. The wind was warm and blowing relentlessly from the east. Trees were falling, branches all over the road, downed power lines across Hwy. 6, causing us to take a 25 minute detour.
It started getting light just south of Tillamook, in a town called Beaver. Now when I say light, I don’t just mean early morning dawn we’re all used to. I mean it was still dark out but orange enough to see. It’s about then I started to wonder what we were really up against…
At about 6:25 a.m. we went through Otis, the smoke so thick we hadn’t even realized we’d gone through it. Ten minutes later, we pulled into Rose Lodge fire station where Jones and our lead went inside for briefing. While waiting, car after car drove by leaving Otis and Rose Lodge area on a level 1 evacuation. Many people honked their horns or yelled our their window, giving thanks for all the work we were about to do.
One of the days we were staging, we had to stop while evacuees pulled onto the highway. A gentleman came up to our crummy window and asked some questions, like where we’re from and I asked him, “How come you’re not packing to evacuate?” He said, “Just like you gents, I’m going to make a stand and fight this fire!” I reached out the window, shook his hand and told him good luck, and we were on our way. I never saw him again, but we drove past his home for the next 2 weeks and the fire burned everywhere around him, but never got to his home.
The community really helped us, too, by giving us places to stage with extra supplies, like water and snacks.
One of our main areas we worked was off Highland Drive. Our crew and a crew from Mill Creek dug about 3 miles of line to save what homes we could.
There was a gentleman up on Highland, Mark Scott, owner of dreamland skateparks, who we saw daily. He owned a lot of property and so around his house was one of our main focuses. He would bring his excavator out to help with the hot spots. We saved his home and kept his favorite tree from getting burned. He said you boys come and see me when you get out.
While we were staged in Otis, across from the gas station, the owners came out even though it was all closed and said we were welcome to anything in the store. That goes to show how much they appreciate our work.
We ended up camping in Grande Ronde, on the tribal grounds. The place was packed with people from all over Oregon, Wyoming, and other places. At one point, the National Guard even showed up. The tribe took care of us out there. Within the native culture, they gift one another. Close to the last day on the fire the Grande Ronde tribe blessed us with t-shirts and told us they appreciate everything we’ve done for the community and its surrounding areas.
I will absolutely be continuing this kind of work upon my release.
