I was on a forest firefighting crew for a couple of seasons in the ‘70s out of Crested Butte. On a fire near Grand Junction our little squad of 7 nearly got crisped. Fires get named. This one was the Rockpile Fire. At the base of a large mesa is where we were ‘mopping up’ a fire that was mostly out. Me and another guy Rick Borkevic, who was an excellent ski jumper, each ran a chainsaw. The other 5 cleared brush and carried ‘piss bags’ backpacks to put out teeny persistent fires. Rick and my chainsaws both ran out of gas at the same time so our little group thought hey let’s take a break.
The Forest Service handed out the space blankets described in chapter 1 and told us the purpose of them. Nobody ever said it that I heard but I told myself um no if an out of control fire is coming then I’m hauling a**! There’s no way, no how a fire is catching me.
Back to Rockpile. Looking up we could see the rim of the mesa. Right at its base is a millennia of boulders calving off. The forest and the fire is just steps away from the boulders encircling the mesa. Suddenly a wind is kicking up. Moments later a tree bursts aflame about 50 yards upwind of us as we are casually sitting around. And then, presto change o a wall of flame appears right in front of us. It’s moving. Wordlessly we 7 are up moving as well. No one is yelling “over here guys follow me!” There is no time. It’s become obvious in a heartbeat that downwind is forest that will presently be consumed. Laterally though are the rocks of the aptly named Rockpile. Talk about 7 guys clambering up rocks in hurry, yeah we’re running for our lives. While climbing up the vivid colors of the fire are reflecting off the rocks. I had a sense of oxygen being sucked past in order to feed the fire. And then, we were positioned to watch the fire go by.
At the time it just another day in Colorado. But it was rather significant for me. I became aware of not being quite as virile or bulletproof as I’d thought. Still, those were the days. Growing up in flatlands of Texas I’d heard of something called ‘ski bumming’. My parents weren’t impressed. They suggested working a job for forty years then go skiing. Anyway, skiing as a full time hobby takes some dollars. As a ‘casual’ fire crew we were called when there was a fire. Pay was hourly. We liked fires. It was an effective way to rack up hours. This one almost got us.
I'm enjoying T.H. Platt's novel posted here, 'The Dark Side of Hunger Mountain'. That opening chapter was a vivid hellscape of fire-fighting. Your brief story here is even more vivid. I get the sense forest fire-fighters feel a connection to such conflagrations as much as ranchers to herds of livestock. Chapter 4 is even better, when Grace hosts a forest ecology talk, & a timber guy who knows & respects the forest first-hand, was even better. It's one hell of a novel so far. Thanks for your 🔥 story!
No doubt the Comment by Letsrock below is RIGHT ON TARGET. Couldn't press the Like Heart, so am Commenting here.
The Monarchs of Europe are all involved in this Demon Worshiping Rot of Uniparty Nazi Pedophilia and Trans surrounding the current EXTINCTION LEVEL EVENT of The Black Nobility. Wish it was possible to count the times their ATTACK was clearly referenced in their entertainments designed for the public. Before evil is allowed to perpetrate itself...IT MUST INFORM GOD'S CHILDREN OF ITS PLANS. When there is no response; that is cooperation and God has no choice except to allow it.
Not so frightening if people had the courage of conviction in Jesus Christ to stand and fight back...WE FAR OUTNUMBER THEM AND AFTER BEING IN WARS FOR 20 YEARS IN THE ARAB WORLD...There are many knowing the modern ways of Warfare.
I've read the first three chapters and it's astonishing how these climate change freakoids lavish their hubris and braindead notions like they are KINGS and QUEENS. It's puke worthy, but necessary reading to understand their verbal diarrhea and evil narratives.
Great thanks to T H Platt and Elizabeth for making this available. I can't put it down. It defines so much of the tyranny we now live under in all aspects of our lives. . Another wake-up kick in the pants Now one can easily see the metaphor of zombie-like hivemind cyborg orcs applied to the DS, crony captalusts ( that's not a misspelling) and NGO complexes. As a child I used to have fun pronouncing a person's name backwards. There's one in the news every hour now. Her name is All- Amok.
We also pass around the following sayings since this is a heavily bilingual, but Democrat, community on the border( sorry, my keyboard won't let me punctuate the Spanish correctly ) : " ? Kamala ? ! Que MALA ! " ( How BAD ! ) ; " La Czara no es Zorro; es un CERO ! "( The Czar is no Zorro; she's a ZERO ! ); " El amigo del Rinche Solo se llama 'Tonto ', pero la amiga de Barry es , for seguro, TONTO ! "( The Lone Ranger's friend is called Tonto, but Barry's friend is, for certain, STUPID ! ) There are more, with some street profanity, but can't say those here. Could quit my day job and go to rewriting lyrics to popular corridos, ranchera and norteno songs, but have to keep up with Inflationomics .
I lived in Montana in 2013 which was around the time of a major wildfire where many firefighters' lives were lost. An incompetent manager that lacked communication skills was running things so the firefighters did not get information in a timely manner killing them and the manager, too, making it one of many human sacrifice rituals in my opinion. The fire was burning faster and hotter than anyone had experienced. I wonder if the accumulation of round up combined with some beetle infestation added to the catastrophe? Know that the pesticide Round up is sprayed on crops not only to repel bugs yet also because it is a DESSICANT; it dries things making the product easier to harvest. Glyphosate is terraforming forests contributing to the out of control fires when not caused by the CIAs arson team and DEW operatives...
" Round-Up ready " seeds are GMO to allow application of Round-Up( Agent Orange relative ) for weed killing without killing the plant, at least in its growth etage.Yellow corn is irrigated in growth, and now I wonder if the field-drying of corn is hastened by not only stopping irrigation, but by application of enough R-U to speed dessication of the plant stalk, which after harvest of the ears goes into livestock sileage feed.. Worth more researc. Thanks!
Thanks for posting this book. DARK SIDE is like Painless Sunday School. It is simultaneously a fast-paced novel AND a great education on the global elites -- what they do, how they do it, and why.
Great book! High recommend. Was hooked after first chapter. This would make a great series!
Like I didn't have enough to read already! This one sucked me in with the first paragraph & I've been reading pretty much to the exclusion of everything else ever since. Thanks a whole hell of a lot -- which I mean both ironically and even more sincerely.
“Fed land” Chapter One….Says it all, absolutely. There has never been a more hopeless lot, than those that claim to know something about forests and forest management than the bureaucrats running the alphabet soup federal agencies that criss cross the nation’s forests with enough paper and now cloud space storage in regulations to fly to the sun and back like the old Eastern Airlines shuttle between DC and NYC. Everything they touch turns to instant and then long term disaster. Never held to account, their dream and goal, the 600-800 year cycle of fire, pestilence, blow down, pestilence, fire and then in theory (since no one was around to see it) massive new “old growth” forests such as were here on the east coast and some which still remain in the Pacific Northwest. Too late. What may have been is gone, we deal with the reality of today and manage our forests and wood lots to the best possible outcomes, that means harvesting, planting, nurturing, education (real forestry education) and stewardship. It can and is being done to astounding effect, elsewhere. Don’t think so? Head to Finland and if you can’t make the trip do some surfing on the internet to see how they look at a wood lot and or large forest tract, and assume 150-200 year growth cycles. But wait, I won’t live to see my work done! Boo hoo little self entitled campers, you want a robust forest that withstands the tests of nature and time? Then smarten up and start practicing real forest management. Mother Nature sadly for many just doesn’t give a damn about your pronouns, SHE IS Diversity, Inclusion and Equity, and if you fool with her, her iron skillet comes out of nowhere slaps your pasty assed face so hard you fall to the ground writhing in pain.
Once in eastern Finland at a lunch sitting on chairs at a table all cut by top notch loggers, whilst watching the most modern tree harvesting equipment on earth effectively and efficiently clear a large wood lot, a naive American in his late 70’s asked the local land owner equally in his 70’s why he was cutting and replanting. The trees that would replace the harvested forest would take 80-100 years to come to full maturity. The old Finnish farmer looking at his son and then 15 year old grandson said, “well this is not for me, nor for my son, but for him, for my grandson.” There they practice brain surgery, here when we practice forest management it is either amputations or hospice care. Shameful really.
But important to remember, “Hi! I’m from the US Government and here to help!”
Speaking of the Rockefeller’s, ole Nelson when Governor of NY State helped to create the “forever wild” 6 million acre tyranny of the Adirondack Park. It is advisable that you never leave a marked trail, the woods are choked with undergrowth, the trees rotted, everything so thick that it puts the Amazon Basin to shame. But, as we know we have had the flood, next time the fire, and in this case based on its proximity to the State Capital, Albany, when the Adirondacks light up, one can only imagine the chaos as the city evacuates and the fires from Rocky’s dream consume the hideous steel and glass spires lining the banks of the Hudson River. Imagine the blame casting then! You can’t make this stuff up.
Fires in Utah have affected my area/canyon… many started or worsened by the forest service! It feels like they hate us and want to destroy the mountains we love.
Something strange is happening in San Bernardino County — after decades of nothing, the forest service is now implementing controlled burns in the mountains. Its inexplicable to me, these rogue operations and I’d love to get to the bottom of it! Who authorized this!!
A timeless book highlighting both past and ever increasing modern day issues. This book will no doubt become more poignant as the years go by with ever increasing attempts by centralized powers to control us at the the most personal and local levels.
Nerd here. What is so good about the Canadair water bomber (now being built by a very good team at Viking), is its speed and turnaround. Any lake in range can be scooped and the plane cycled onto a changing fire scape. Of course, idiots that block forest management and refuse to buy these aircraft will thwart all.
I was on a forest firefighting crew for a couple of seasons in the ‘70s out of Crested Butte. On a fire near Grand Junction our little squad of 7 nearly got crisped. Fires get named. This one was the Rockpile Fire. At the base of a large mesa is where we were ‘mopping up’ a fire that was mostly out. Me and another guy Rick Borkevic, who was an excellent ski jumper, each ran a chainsaw. The other 5 cleared brush and carried ‘piss bags’ backpacks to put out teeny persistent fires. Rick and my chainsaws both ran out of gas at the same time so our little group thought hey let’s take a break.
The Forest Service handed out the space blankets described in chapter 1 and told us the purpose of them. Nobody ever said it that I heard but I told myself um no if an out of control fire is coming then I’m hauling a**! There’s no way, no how a fire is catching me.
Back to Rockpile. Looking up we could see the rim of the mesa. Right at its base is a millennia of boulders calving off. The forest and the fire is just steps away from the boulders encircling the mesa. Suddenly a wind is kicking up. Moments later a tree bursts aflame about 50 yards upwind of us as we are casually sitting around. And then, presto change o a wall of flame appears right in front of us. It’s moving. Wordlessly we 7 are up moving as well. No one is yelling “over here guys follow me!” There is no time. It’s become obvious in a heartbeat that downwind is forest that will presently be consumed. Laterally though are the rocks of the aptly named Rockpile. Talk about 7 guys clambering up rocks in hurry, yeah we’re running for our lives. While climbing up the vivid colors of the fire are reflecting off the rocks. I had a sense of oxygen being sucked past in order to feed the fire. And then, we were positioned to watch the fire go by.
At the time it just another day in Colorado. But it was rather significant for me. I became aware of not being quite as virile or bulletproof as I’d thought. Still, those were the days. Growing up in flatlands of Texas I’d heard of something called ‘ski bumming’. My parents weren’t impressed. They suggested working a job for forty years then go skiing. Anyway, skiing as a full time hobby takes some dollars. As a ‘casual’ fire crew we were called when there was a fire. Pay was hourly. We liked fires. It was an effective way to rack up hours. This one almost got us.
You are a good story teller Steve. Glad you survived to tell it!
Well thx very much!
I'm enjoying T.H. Platt's novel posted here, 'The Dark Side of Hunger Mountain'. That opening chapter was a vivid hellscape of fire-fighting. Your brief story here is even more vivid. I get the sense forest fire-fighters feel a connection to such conflagrations as much as ranchers to herds of livestock. Chapter 4 is even better, when Grace hosts a forest ecology talk, & a timber guy who knows & respects the forest first-hand, was even better. It's one hell of a novel so far. Thanks for your 🔥 story!
How do you create fifteen minute cities? In Slavelandia you blame the peasants. Rockthefeller and Maurice Strong-their evil marches on.
I like Slavelandia! Need to add that to my lexicon too.
If U really want a shocker look at the opening act of the 2012 Okympics-The Covid scam is put right in your face!
Also 2022 Commonwealth Games in UK w King Charles presiding in case anyone thinks he's just some weak old bumbling man. It's frightening.
No doubt the Comment by Letsrock below is RIGHT ON TARGET. Couldn't press the Like Heart, so am Commenting here.
The Monarchs of Europe are all involved in this Demon Worshiping Rot of Uniparty Nazi Pedophilia and Trans surrounding the current EXTINCTION LEVEL EVENT of The Black Nobility. Wish it was possible to count the times their ATTACK was clearly referenced in their entertainments designed for the public. Before evil is allowed to perpetrate itself...IT MUST INFORM GOD'S CHILDREN OF ITS PLANS. When there is no response; that is cooperation and God has no choice except to allow it.
Not so frightening if people had the courage of conviction in Jesus Christ to stand and fight back...WE FAR OUTNUMBER THEM AND AFTER BEING IN WARS FOR 20 YEARS IN THE ARAB WORLD...There are many knowing the modern ways of Warfare.
Absolutely.
Well said, sir.
I've read the first three chapters and it's astonishing how these climate change freakoids lavish their hubris and braindead notions like they are KINGS and QUEENS. It's puke worthy, but necessary reading to understand their verbal diarrhea and evil narratives.
I am definitely going to read the rest...
Great thanks to T H Platt and Elizabeth for making this available. I can't put it down. It defines so much of the tyranny we now live under in all aspects of our lives. . Another wake-up kick in the pants Now one can easily see the metaphor of zombie-like hivemind cyborg orcs applied to the DS, crony captalusts ( that's not a misspelling) and NGO complexes. As a child I used to have fun pronouncing a person's name backwards. There's one in the news every hour now. Her name is All- Amok.
We also pass around the following sayings since this is a heavily bilingual, but Democrat, community on the border( sorry, my keyboard won't let me punctuate the Spanish correctly ) : " ? Kamala ? ! Que MALA ! " ( How BAD ! ) ; " La Czara no es Zorro; es un CERO ! "( The Czar is no Zorro; she's a ZERO ! ); " El amigo del Rinche Solo se llama 'Tonto ', pero la amiga de Barry es , for seguro, TONTO ! "( The Lone Ranger's friend is called Tonto, but Barry's friend is, for certain, STUPID ! ) There are more, with some street profanity, but can't say those here. Could quit my day job and go to rewriting lyrics to popular corridos, ranchera and norteno songs, but have to keep up with Inflationomics .
I lived in Montana in 2013 which was around the time of a major wildfire where many firefighters' lives were lost. An incompetent manager that lacked communication skills was running things so the firefighters did not get information in a timely manner killing them and the manager, too, making it one of many human sacrifice rituals in my opinion. The fire was burning faster and hotter than anyone had experienced. I wonder if the accumulation of round up combined with some beetle infestation added to the catastrophe? Know that the pesticide Round up is sprayed on crops not only to repel bugs yet also because it is a DESSICANT; it dries things making the product easier to harvest. Glyphosate is terraforming forests contributing to the out of control fires when not caused by the CIAs arson team and DEW operatives...
" Round-Up ready " seeds are GMO to allow application of Round-Up( Agent Orange relative ) for weed killing without killing the plant, at least in its growth etage.Yellow corn is irrigated in growth, and now I wonder if the field-drying of corn is hastened by not only stopping irrigation, but by application of enough R-U to speed dessication of the plant stalk, which after harvest of the ears goes into livestock sileage feed.. Worth more researc. Thanks!
Thanks for posting this book. DARK SIDE is like Painless Sunday School. It is simultaneously a fast-paced novel AND a great education on the global elites -- what they do, how they do it, and why.
Great book! High recommend. Was hooked after first chapter. This would make a great series!
Like I didn't have enough to read already! This one sucked me in with the first paragraph & I've been reading pretty much to the exclusion of everything else ever since. Thanks a whole hell of a lot -- which I mean both ironically and even more sincerely.
“Fed land” Chapter One….Says it all, absolutely. There has never been a more hopeless lot, than those that claim to know something about forests and forest management than the bureaucrats running the alphabet soup federal agencies that criss cross the nation’s forests with enough paper and now cloud space storage in regulations to fly to the sun and back like the old Eastern Airlines shuttle between DC and NYC. Everything they touch turns to instant and then long term disaster. Never held to account, their dream and goal, the 600-800 year cycle of fire, pestilence, blow down, pestilence, fire and then in theory (since no one was around to see it) massive new “old growth” forests such as were here on the east coast and some which still remain in the Pacific Northwest. Too late. What may have been is gone, we deal with the reality of today and manage our forests and wood lots to the best possible outcomes, that means harvesting, planting, nurturing, education (real forestry education) and stewardship. It can and is being done to astounding effect, elsewhere. Don’t think so? Head to Finland and if you can’t make the trip do some surfing on the internet to see how they look at a wood lot and or large forest tract, and assume 150-200 year growth cycles. But wait, I won’t live to see my work done! Boo hoo little self entitled campers, you want a robust forest that withstands the tests of nature and time? Then smarten up and start practicing real forest management. Mother Nature sadly for many just doesn’t give a damn about your pronouns, SHE IS Diversity, Inclusion and Equity, and if you fool with her, her iron skillet comes out of nowhere slaps your pasty assed face so hard you fall to the ground writhing in pain.
Once in eastern Finland at a lunch sitting on chairs at a table all cut by top notch loggers, whilst watching the most modern tree harvesting equipment on earth effectively and efficiently clear a large wood lot, a naive American in his late 70’s asked the local land owner equally in his 70’s why he was cutting and replanting. The trees that would replace the harvested forest would take 80-100 years to come to full maturity. The old Finnish farmer looking at his son and then 15 year old grandson said, “well this is not for me, nor for my son, but for him, for my grandson.” There they practice brain surgery, here when we practice forest management it is either amputations or hospice care. Shameful really.
But important to remember, “Hi! I’m from the US Government and here to help!”
Speaking of the Rockefeller’s, ole Nelson when Governor of NY State helped to create the “forever wild” 6 million acre tyranny of the Adirondack Park. It is advisable that you never leave a marked trail, the woods are choked with undergrowth, the trees rotted, everything so thick that it puts the Amazon Basin to shame. But, as we know we have had the flood, next time the fire, and in this case based on its proximity to the State Capital, Albany, when the Adirondacks light up, one can only imagine the chaos as the city evacuates and the fires from Rocky’s dream consume the hideous steel and glass spires lining the banks of the Hudson River. Imagine the blame casting then! You can’t make this stuff up.
Fires in Utah have affected my area/canyon… many started or worsened by the forest service! It feels like they hate us and want to destroy the mountains we love.
It's mostly all arson. They want to herd us into Smart Cities.
It is hard for people of good will to accept that evil of this magnitude exists on this beautiful blue sphere... but it most assuredly does.
Hard to read, it’s so intense and brutal. These firefighters are heroes fighting fires brought on by incompetence and many set by arsonists.
OMG….i love the term “sociopathic overlords” when Ben Harnwell says it. I’m trying to use it often.
Something strange is happening in San Bernardino County — after decades of nothing, the forest service is now implementing controlled burns in the mountains. Its inexplicable to me, these rogue operations and I’d love to get to the bottom of it! Who authorized this!!
Interesting first chapter. Thanks.
A timeless book highlighting both past and ever increasing modern day issues. This book will no doubt become more poignant as the years go by with ever increasing attempts by centralized powers to control us at the the most personal and local levels.
Great reading, and an excellent way to present both sides of the logging argument. I'm on Chapter 8...
Nerd here. What is so good about the Canadair water bomber (now being built by a very good team at Viking), is its speed and turnaround. Any lake in range can be scooped and the plane cycled onto a changing fire scape. Of course, idiots that block forest management and refuse to buy these aircraft will thwart all.