Sea to Sky Forest Fire

I've been wanting to write this story for ages. It's about the road construction workers response to an early morning forest fire that was accidentally? set by a fellow that lived in the bush beside the jobsite. Before I get into that, I'd like to thank my photographer/writer friend Deyna . He recovered the lost video footage from an old disc and made it usable for this blog entry.
Here is a photo of Deyna when I asked for his help..

But then ...things got better when I told him how much I was willing to pay

Then I added the fact that the people involved in the fire response...would really appreciate his efforts....well...that changed everything..

 Deyna was so thrilled with the deal that he told his buddy Jack, the great news...Jack was over the moon with delight at his friends good fortune..

The story...for real this time.
 When we started the work on the new section of highway, there were several people living in the forest..."off the grid."  Some were ordinary homeless types, who found peace and safety in the forest, not too far away from civilization. There was likely a few that lived in the bush to stay close to their cash crop. We didn't interfere with their existence, and they didn't bug us. The fire in this story, started at the camp of one of these people.

This aerial photo was taken long after the fire...the construction has progressed quite a bit by the time this was taken

 This happened on a summer morning. We were on early shift, because of the heat and the increased risk of a construction activity caused fire. At the beginning of the shift, we all rallied at the Eagleridge parking lot in the dark/twilight of summertime 4 a.m. Our drilling/blasting crew were going to be working in the upper Cut 4 area, and the earthworks guys were ahead of us, doing the "clear and grub" ( stripping off trees,stumps and dirt ) at the general area of Cut 5.  I really, really wish I had a recording of the next bit of the morning. The work radio crackled with one of the machine operators calling another, and asking..
"Do you smell smoke?" 
" I don't smell anything" came the answer back
" I thought I caught a whiff of something"
" Like a machine on fire or what?"
" No man , like wood....it was wood smoke." 
Then it was quiet for a bit...then someone else got a whiff.
"Yeah, I'm smelling smoke over here, just a bit...but it's for sure wood smoke"
I called over on my radio..
"He can you guys see anything going on?"
"No..we are still in the bush here...it's too dark"
Another machine operator called out.
"Hey guys, I've got a strong smoke smell over here, the wind must have changed"
One of the other forward working guys called back.
"OK, I'm coming over to have a look, I think there's something smoldering out here somewhere"
After getting directions the location, the worker drove to the site. By the time he got there, the sun had come up enough to provide a bit more light into the dense forest.
The radio speaker nearly exploded in my hand..
"Hey!...we've got smoke everywhere!....somethings on fire! "
"Where are you guys?"
"There's thick smoke pouring through the trees....holy shit man...the bush is on fire here somewhere!"
"Where are you guys at?"
"Black Mountain Trail.....half way up"
"Where's the smoke coming from?"
" Don't know, can't see yet"
All the workers on site bail out of their jobs and head towards Black Mountain Trail. One of the machine operators, Kent heads into the bush to track down the source of the smoke. It's a difficult uphill slog through dense underbrush to make headway.
Out of breath, he calls on the radio....
"It's on fire!...the bush is on fire!...I see flames ahead...it looks like it's growing...I can see flames!...maybe 50 feet across....up on the hill...."
Kent's brother, Dean went to get our on-site water truck...which was parked nearby. Others went to get more fire hose and piss-cans ( water canisters on backpacks with pump nozzles) The water truck was set up and hoses reeled out through the bush...and pulled uphill towards the fire.
Click link below for the video 

http://youtu.be/5msnDXRWQYI   

Click link above for the video

Looking up the hill towards where the fire is burning

Pulling fire hoses uphill...in the dark...towards the fire

I can't tell if that's Dean or Kent....at the water truck on Black Mountain Trail

One of the first responders in the bush...before the sun came up.

Taking pictures in the dark....pulling hoses through the forest...uphill to the fire.

Several men were on the fire hose to knock down the biggest section of the fire...and others were draining piss-cans as fast as they could pump them. I made calls out to the guys in the office to get the fire department out to help us and take over. If I remember correctly, there was a bit of fuss over whether or not the local firemen would attend, or if the official forest fire people needed to be called in.
 The construction workers absolutely threw themselves at the task of bringing the fire under control. The water truck was drained of water, at just about the point where the main body of flames were extinguished, lucky for us. ( it would have taken about 45 minutes or more to re-load the truck with water) All the water filled piss cans on site were brought in and emptied against the remaining flames. As you can see in the video, a huge amount of work went into chasing the fire that was under the moss and deep into the ground. It was the first time that I had seen with my own two eyes, just how hot and stubborn a fire can be...while remaining relatively invisible.
 Just about the time that all the drama and hard work was over, the official fire fighters arrived to take over the mop up duties. They brought more tanker trucks and fresh bodies to make sure that this thing was really out for good. We let them hook up to the hoses that we had strung out through the bush...and I think even left one of our gas-powered water pumps for them.
 In the end...all the guys who participated in the fire fighting, felt great, felt like they really contributed to something....felt alive.
The company responded with ....nothing.
 No recognition...no "thank-you's", no letter of praise....not even a voucher for a cup of Tim Hortons coffee. They make such a big deal out of finding fault and deficiencies in things, that they are not geared for recognizing great personal effort, of going "above and beyond"....not clued into how far a pat on the back can go. ( this is where I lose thousands of dollars of future construction work, for criticizing the "big dog" )

Well maybe in the future, the "big dog" will learn to treat it's people better....and in turn get better people....who then do better work. Radical concept I know....Although being arrogant and abusive is probably cheaper and looks better on the books....obviously, burning through employees like they were firewood...works very well for them.
....and that my friends is how to keep from getting hired back to a mega-corporation....

The final pieces of the story...the North Shore News reported that the local fire department had successfully fought a blaze in the forest ...no mention of the efforts of the construction crew.

We never did see or hear from the resident of the camp again....I don't know whatever became of him

Rooting out the last stubborn bits of the fire

These are the aforementioned "piss-cans"....filled with water and hand pumped

Investigating the squatters camp

One of the official fire fighters on the scene later in the morning....this is the area where the fire originated...and then took off....up the fir tree and through the underbrush

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