Once a Firefighter, Always a Family

"Those are the fun ones," I thought to myself as I looked at the photo of the Florence Fire sent to the Pathfinder by pilot Scott Newpower the morning of July 19. Those small fires that were less than a couple acres were fun. I put in some long, hard hours of work with incredible folks for a day or two and then we went home and onto the next fire.

I miss it...spending four summers as a firefighter on the Seeley Lake Ranger District and six additional seasons between Minnesota, Alaska and Tennessee. Firefighting got into my blood. I met a lot of amazing people and spent many nights in the dirt...