That was one of the hardest things I did. Wearing heavy clothing and climbing to the top of a ridge (fires are always uphill) with tons of gear, including water tanks, wore us out before we even started building a fire break.

The smell, sweat, thoughts of loved ones and heavy breathing must have been with those 19 young men when they died in Arizona this week.

Whenever I see or read the news about this I tear up!

These were some of the same guys that came down here to help us with the “Monument Fire” two years ago.