ENCOURAGER

Wildland Musings
Rick Barton barton@gunnison.com
“I Love My Job”
“Why do you guys like to fight fire so much?” my Forest
Service co-worker asked. “Why do you jump at the
chance to work 16 hour days, breath tons of smoke,
sleep on the ground and eat out of a box for two or
three weeks?” Good question. Why do first responders
run toward what everyone else is running away from?
!
I started mumbling something about the “H’s and
O’s” (hazard pay and overtime), but my supervisor
corrected me in mid-sentence. “It’s not about the
money”, he said, “It’s more than that. You become part
of a very special family. Every fire assignment is like a
family reunion.”
!
He was right. After you’ve gone on
a few wildland fires you
begin to see the same
faces showing up. You
recognize the Division
Supervisor or line medic.
You even look for specific
food catering units. (These
days we only eat out of a
box for a few shifts; then we
get a “hot can” or even semitrucks
which turn into
kitchens...truly a life of luxury!)
The early mornings around the 10
gallon coffee urn or warming
heater become times of renewing
friendships and trading stories of the last big
incident. “Do you remember when….”
!
On an incident we lay aside differences of race, agency
or background and join together as a team to
accomplish the task we were called for. We have each
other’s back. We have one task; to do our job the best
we can and bring everyone home safe! As a result of
being united in one purpose and sharing the same
hardships, we become family. When one suffers, we all
do. When one succeeds, we all rejoice!
I love my job!
!
What if our “Christ Incident” becomes the same type of
assignment? What if when we come together we see
each other as family? As co-workers reaching out to a
lost world with the good news of Jesus? What if we lay
aside race, denomination or background and work
together to fulfill our task of extinguishing the fires of hell
that
are destroying souls around us?
Wouldn’t we become a “family”
that loves to come together?
The Bible says that without a
common vision or mission,
people waste their efforts.
(Proverbs 29:18) But a team
of committed workers can
destroy Satan’s
strongholds! (Matthew
16:18, 1 John 4:4) As I
assume my role as a
follower of Jesus,
working with my
“family” to accomplish
God’s will, I’m willing to share
hardships until we meet our Lord’s
objectives. I truly love this job!
!
What about the co-worker who asked the question
about why we loved fighting fire? She decided to sign
up for the next fire dispatch. Unfortunately, it was 28
days in the most difficult terrain and smokiest conditions
our crew had ever experienced. Half way through the
assignment she told me that when she got home she
was getting married, having babies and raising a family.
And she did! That sounds a lot harder to me.
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