A little history

Some History about the folks who inspired me, mentored me, and slapped me upside my head when I needed it.

I had already watched my life go up in smoke, moving to Montana to escape the Rat Race I was running from. I had left my old life behind, seeking peace and solitude in 'The Yaak'. We had purchased a homestead on the North Fork, in Coveyville.

On July 13th, 2000, all hell broke loose, and we had a major lightning event and over 100 lightning strikes, setting glowing fires on the mountain tops all around us.

I bought a Type 6 engine and attempted to fight the forest fires surrounding us, and got arrested for it. True story, trust me.

Well, that really riled me up, so I went to visit a close friend, who happened to be the Forrest Supervisor of the Kootenai National Forrest, Jim Rathbun, a former Smoke Jumper. He was my mentor and got me started. I secured an EERA, got trained, and invested a bunch of money.

My first fire was in my backyard during Montana Firestorm 2000. I worked with an International Incident Command Team from Australia and New Zealand. Geoff Evans from Australia was the IC. He gave me his hard hat on the last briefing before the camp was demobilized. Quite an honor Down Under. I still have it, and I'm pretty proud of it, a hard hat, who wouda thunk?

He taught me a lot about Wildland Fire. He said, "Down Under, we fight fire with dirt. In the USA, Uncle Sam throws money at it, and it goes out when it rains enough. In our case, it snowed!"

I learned that fighting wildfires with a Type 6 engine was not for me, needed waaaay more fire-power, er, water power?

My neighbor was Larry Covey, a logger. He had a machine sitting in my yard called a FMC Soft Track Skidder. That was just the ticket, a battle tank for wildfire. I built a couple, Larry built a dozen, and the Yaak became the Soft Track Capital of the world. My two daughters married a couple of his sons, so we're all family now.

I met Marc Mullenix at the Arizona Wildfire Academy. He was the IC at the Colorado Wildfire Academy and invited me to help out there, too. Marc was a Type 1 Incident Commander trainee on Kim Martin’s Incident Management Team in the Rocky Mountain Geographic Area.

I had purchased a Terra Torch and was getting qualified to operate it properly with the right quals. (RXI2 / IGN2): Ignition Specialist Type 2. Marc, the instructor, signed off on my task book.

His future wife, a Hot Shot nicknamed "Leggs," and I worked together on my first fire in the Yaak. She was in charge of a 20-man hand crew, from the National Guard back East somewhere, who had probably never been in the woods before.

It was hilarious watching Leggs turn them into firefighters. A white girl in the woods with 20 black guys who were afraid a Grizzly Bear would eat them. They guarded her as their lives depended on it, and it probably did.

Leggs is Shawna Legarza, a former Hotshot who is now the Director of Fire and Aviation for the U.S. Forest Service.

Marc was a close friend, and I took it hard when he took his life. Battling the 'Black Dog' is no fun, trust me. Too many of my friends that I have grown close to on the fireline are now dead, way too many, by their own hand. Been there too, but by the Grace of God, it's the only reason I'm still here now.

I'm very grateful for groups like the Wildland Firefighter Foundation and the awareness that they have helped establish. This is becoming an epidemic that is not discussed: mental health for First Responders. Forgetting is not an option; facing it is.

Leggs took it seriously and set out in her husband's memory to make a difference. In my opinion, she deserves applause from all of us in the wildfire community.

The first engine was a 1967 Jeep 1¼ 4×4 pickup that had been converted by the Civil Defense to fight wildfires, but the following year, we upgraded to a 1995 Dodge 1-ton with a slip-in tank, which was much more user-friendly. The design is simple, yet effective, and that engine was eventually used on the Moose Fire in Columbia Falls, Montana.

I quickly learned that this was a whole new arena, dealing with Uncle Sam. I had built a really slick solar-powered mobile command and communications unit for my eldest daughter, Nicki. You don't just build stuff and say, "Hey, try this!" They have to want it first, that's the trick.

20 years later, there's a local multimillion-dollar company in Kalispell, building just that, Command Centers.

Meanwhile, back in the Yaak, I got involved with our local volunteer FD and got on the board of directors. I love Vol FDs, hometown heroes. Taught me a lot. Like when our department burned to the ground on Valentine's Day. True story, trust me.

"If it burns, we deal with it".

On the Homestead, we were busy Homeschoolin our kids and building an international Hearth dynasty together as a family. The early days of the World Wide Web in 2000 when Y2K would end the world as we knew it.

Who wuda thunk, that folks would buy wood stoves online? Thank God my children are smarter than their ole man.

Today, we are one of the oldest and largest online Hearth Dealers. Obadiah's Woodstoves and Alternative Energy.

This is what funded most of what I built for wildfires. In this business, it's very tough; the future is a guessing game. The equipment I built has a single purpose: fighting wildfires and dealing with disasters. It's something you hope you'll never have to use, but still have to pay for, somehow. Sometimes we have droughts, sometimes we have rain. If it's not dispatched, it's not making money. I've had equipment not get dispatched for years. It's feast or famine. Many folks go broke.

Many times, I was ahead of the class, thinking outside the box and being innovative, which cost me a small fortune. Uncle Sam tends to be slow and set in his ways.

PLUMB CRAZY!

That comes from my ex-wife. When I was building the fire business, she thought I was nuts. So I put it on my equipment, just to remind myself,

Was I or wasn't I?

I guess the only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys applies here.

Why do I do this?

Some of the finest folks I've ever met, have been on a fire dispatch. Overhead teams, firefighters, first responders, and locals. I've been on the other side, I know what it feels like to have your world go up in smoke.

I can relate, I can help, I can be there with a can of Whoopass and dance with the Wolves and howl at the moon, whilst putting out the fire, with fire. Which, in reality, is how you fight Wildfires.

This isn't a job, it's a calling.