Hey folks, just wanted to touch base. For this wildfire season I will be living off the grid. The agency that I am working for has supplied crew housing for our 20 man Type 2 Initial Attack unit. The guard station, along with our kitchen and housing is located within a state forest 20 miles from cell reception. On top of that we also don't have wifi or internet, not even cable television. To me, I think this is a great opportunity to disconnect with the socials and the "internet world" and reconnect with the world immediately around me. While it will have its advantages and disadvantages, ultimately I think it will be good. I recently read Sebastian Junger's book, Tribe. It hits on a few different topics but what stood out to me the most is the loss of tribe mentality and community. It's so easy for us nowadays to disconnect from people, to betray one another, and to generally just not care for each other as much as we really should. Values such as trust, loyalty, integrity, selflessness, and even communication can be hard to come by. I think we need to get back to that. We need to take care of our tribe, our people, all of them. Living off the grid and depending on and serving my crew mates whenever possible will be a great opportunity to get back to my tribe mentality and I look forward to the bonds I know will be created through the adversity we're sure to face.
On another note, I plan on updating as frequently as I can on here (which will likely be sporadic, whenever I do have service). I'm going to switch gears slightly and try to keep you all up to date on what's happening with the crew, what we're up to, where we're going, and the types of assignments we will be working. This season is shaping up to be a rowdy one. It's already much drier than it typically is at this time of year and if this season is following the trend of seasons past, we know that it will continue to get worse.
Stay tuned folks,
Zach
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