Fires bring back memories of 1961

Many people are reminiscing about the terrible summer of 2003 when we had several mega-fires raging through our forests in the Kamloops region.

I remember that summer well, but the efficiency and professionalism with which forestry crews and other agencies are fighting the fires during this summer of 2009 have me also thinking about the summer of 1961.

That was the summer I fought fire. It was probably one of the worst experiences of my life, as I got trapped alone behind the fire line for about a half hour and made it out only with some good luck and a sudden change in wind.

I remember, as well, just how dirty and utterly exhausting the work was. Watching these fires on TV or reading about them in the paper provides no insight whatsoever into just how hard it is to work on a fire crew.

Things are much different now, though, in how fires are fought. We read nowadays about professional firefighters coming in from other cities and provinces to help out. These men don’t just walk into a fire zone — they’re trained and ready.

In the summer of 1961, nobody was trained, nor ready. In those days, fire crews were signed up mostly in local beer parlous. A forestry guy would walk into a bar and recruit every able-bodied man he could find.

You didn’t have a choice. By law, you had to go fight fires if you were ordered. If you were wearing running shoes or a dress suit at the time, too bad — that’s what you wore to fight the fire.

I was too young in 1961 to be sitting in a beer parlour — I was still of the age when we hung around near a side door and tried to talk someone into bootlegging us a case. No, I joined the fire line that year because I and a couple of friends didn’t have anything better to do.

We drove as far as we could and walked the rest of the way until we ran into somebody who looked like he was in charge. We were hired on the spot and put to work. I hated every minute of it and deserted in the middle of the night, walking all the way home, several miles. I can still remember having one of the longest showers of my life trying to get the soot and smoke off me.

They probably could have charged me with something, but the crew boss was understanding, and saw to it I was paid for the hours I’d put in before I decided this was no way to spend a summer.