My Interesting Career

My career with Cal-Fire started in 1969 when I got a job as a Seasonal Firefighter at the Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base reloading the fire fighting aircraft. During that time, a fire engine visited the base from one of the local stations and during their visit, they got called to a fire that was not far away. I saw the firefighters load up on the back of the engine and with red lights blazing and the siren crying, off they went. I immediately thought, "that's for me." The following year, I worked at the Anza Station and got to , as they say, "live the dream."

This is a work in process and I will be adding photos as the time allows.

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This fire occurred west of Perris CA in 1974. It was called the "Rosa Fire." This engine was assigned to keep anything from this burnout from slopping over the road.
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I took this photo in 1969 at the Ryan Hemet Airport where I worked.
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I worked for two years at the Orange County Airport as a "Fireman CDF" and also a Fire Apparatus Engineer.
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This LPG truck fire happened just a block away from our station. That's me backing up the nozzle man.
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This was my Ione FAE class, class # 34.
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I was assigned to this station, Temecula (now Rancho California) for 3 years. These engines are dirty after a fire.
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A wintertime hay fire in a barn.
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© I wasn't on this fire near Beaumont, CA but the action is consistent with the early 70's.
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When I first moved to the Chico area, I had severe allergy problems as attested by my swollen face. Wow, I even had hair back then.
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I was doing the air attack job during this fire in the hills east of Oroville.
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Same fire, just a close-up that shows the height of the flames as the fire crested the ridge.
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The watchful eye in the sky. I did air attack for 13 years and enjoyed the mission and the associated people very much.
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This fire was just at the welcome to Paradise sign. No wind on this fire which went to 12 acres but on the previous day, a fire had burned from the Skyway to Butte College.
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© I don't know who took this photo but it is a good one. In my book, the air tanker pilots are, and will always be heroes.
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Early fire in June 2007 up at Lake Tahoe, it burned many homes and signaled that we were in for a bad fire year.
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A bit of a "doctored photo" I took while on a fire in San Diego near Lake Barrett.