pagami creek fire

While everyone sat and watched the fires in Texas this fall, I was a little more concerned with the one going on in the boundary waters of Minnesota. The reason was.....my better half was there fighting a wild fire.

We got a call the last weekend in August. A fire was developing up near Ely, Minnesota after lightning struck. Mike, of course, got so excited. See, foresters kind of live for their fire trips.  Not that want to put anyone in danger or lose their homes; it's just exciting. We talked really fast right after he got the call and about 10 minutes later, he was on the list to go. At 10a.m. the next morning, Mike was gone.

I was able to talk to him the next night, but he had some bad news....no more phone calls. There were going where there was most likely no phone service and the crew chief just didn't want phones; the rule was to keep it in your truck. They were going to be roughing it....camping for 14 days and canoeing everywhere between islands in the boundary waters. I knew Mike was excited for the adventure, I was a bit nervous about not talking to him for 2 weeks. We have never not talked for 2 weeks since we met 7 years ago.

I did, however, find a federal website that updated on the fire once a day. That was my life-line while he was gone. It never said anything specific about people, it just noted how big the fire was, what they were doing for the day, etc. It was a nice relief to get some kind of information daily.

Mike made it back all in one piece with lots of pictures and stories. I'm very proud of my wild-land fire fighter.