Category Archives: USA 2010

Firefighting, Geocaching, USA 2010

The OC to Ventura County …

April 7, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

My last day in the US this time round was spent visiting Fire Departments at opposite ends of Los Angeles.

The morning was spent with Battalion Chief Mike Ferdig of Orange County Fire Authority at their Headquarters in Irvine. This is my second visit here as I visited last July.

We spoke about the Earthquake Preparedness of the OCFA, given the 7.2 Earthquake of a couple of days ago on the Mexico / Californian border. Their preparedness looked similar to what we were trying to achieve with our Strike Team pre planning. I can see this doubling as earthquake pre-planning as well for us.

We headed out for a bite to eat. The fare of choice was an All American Dog from Jerrys Wood Fired Dogs. Wasn’t too bad at all. Back to HQ to have a look a their Communications / Logistics Trailer and it was time to hit the Freeway.

I had a 150km drive on the I-5 and I-101 to get up to the Ventura County Fire Department at Camarillo. The thing with LA Freeways is that you can be going at 115kph with hundreds of other cars hoping that someone doesn’t get it wrong or you are doing 10kph wishing you were doing 115kph. I was doing both today and ended up being 10 minutes late.

I met with Assistant Chief Vaughan Miller. I had attended a presentation of his at the conference and wanted the enquire more on his work with PPE and hydration. He has given me a lot of usefu information.

It was time to start heading down the coast towards LAX as there was a plane to catch back to Australia. It was a scenic drive with an opportunity to grab a few geocaches as well. It was going well until I hit Santa Monica when the traffic crawled to a stop.

Luckily I could turn off to grab a more direct route to LAX. Arrived in time to drop off the car, grab a bite to eat, check out the duty free then board the 747 back to Australia. I used points to upgrade to Premium Economy which was well worth the extra room.

Farewell to the United States for now ……

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Firefighting, Geocaching, USA 2010

High Desert California ….

April 6, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

Today I had a chance to drive through some of the country that we would normally see alight with wildfires. Taking the I-15 through the Sierra’s to Baker and Death Valley, it was easy to see why the wildfires get so large.

The landscape is so high and steep with access to most areas limited at best, although the areas were very green today due to recent rains, so it will be a while before this burns,

The further you moved towards Las Vegas, the lower the mountains became but they were still steep. It is similar to the Flinders Ranges.

I eventually made it to Baker, home of the World’s Tallest Thermometer and Gateway to Death Valley. The weather today wasn’t that bad with the worst that you would suffer would be a bad sunburn – temperature was 66F.

From here it was time to tackle one of the 3 Geocaching Power Trails. Due to the time of day I tackled the smallest one, the Presidents Trail with 32 caches, each located at the bases of High Voltage power pylons.

While in the area, I met up with Flaglady and BoydChicks, a couple of Californian Geocachers who ended picking up 412 finds in 17.5 hours. I cached with them for a while but had to head back to Los Angeles while they continued on.

$I-15 through the Sierra\'s$

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USA 2010

La Brea Tar Pits

April 5, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

The La Brea Tar Pits is somewhere I have always wanted to visit but all my times in LA, I have never had the opportunity until today.

It was a sunny afternoon on Wiltshire Boulevard and the park was full of a lot of families. It was interesting to hear about the history of the area and how it came to be, even though there was a lot of chances that it would have been lost to progress.

Nearby, even more fossils have been found while workers were excavating for a new car park. The most famous find in that area is “Zed” the mammoth.

After spending a couple of hours there and a couple of caches as well it was a 60km trip down to my hotel at Placentia. This took 2 hours as the I-5 was a car park for most of the way. Gave plenty of opportunity to check emails and twitter as well. 🙂

Camping for the next 2 days at the Residence Inn.

Caches found today:

GCPFPG – The La Brea Tar Pits

GC23J41 – That Black Gooey Smelly Stuff

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USA 2010

Farewell Reno

April 5, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

Reno put on a show when I woke up this morning and looked out the window. There was a coating of snow from the mountains to the carpark.

Last minute packing and down to the airport. Arrived in plenty of time or so I thought until a few Mexican families with about 4 kids each and around 35 suitcases happened in front of me in the queue. Of course they had about 20 of the cases that were overweight and they had to transfer stuff into other cases to get under the 50lb limit.

This was probably a good thing in the end as the check-in girl looked at my 54lb and said don’t worry about putting stuff in the other case. 🙂

We were late getting off the ground – probably due to loading luggage. Took off to the north then a steep curve around and over the mountains all white and into LA not too late at all.

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Geocaching, Skiing, USA 2010

Mt Rose skiing revisited …

April 4, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

After being “slightly” sunburnt and windburnt from yesterday on the slopes, I did the right thing and added some suncreen. I needed not worry as the closer I got to Mt Rose the cloudier it got.

By the time I got to the slopes the wind had picked up and the snow was starting to fall. Despite the conditions, I persisted until 1:00 pm then called it a day when it really started to dump.

It wasn’t the snow so much but the wind which went straight through you. I still enjoyed the skiing I got in but my thighs are telling me different.

One thing I can say about Mt Rose is the staff. They were friendly to regardless of the conditions – this is something the Australian ski field staff could learn.

I headed back down the mountain being chased by large amounts of white stuff falling from the sky. Once down on the plains, the sun appeared but the wind persisted. It gave me a chance to go caching and I picked up another 32 finds.

Back to the hotel to pack the bags, then to find that there had been a number of earthquakes in California. LAX had been closed down to inspect the runways for damage. It will be interesting to see if we get in tomorrow if there are more quakes overnight. There is also up to 18″ of snow forecast for Reno overnight.

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Geocaching, Skiing, USA 2010

Skiing Mt Rose …

April 3, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

I had all intentions to be up on Mt Rose at 9:00 am with the lifts opening after 12″ of fresh powder snow but by the time I had got a rental car and rental skis, it wasn’t until 10:30 am before I got there.

There was plenty of evidence of the fresh snow. The snow here is different to that back in Oz. It is a dry powder rather than the wet and icy snow we have at home and the spring skiing here is a lot different to home – no elephant snot.

Mike Brown had organised a lift ticket for me but he was busy doing avalanche control and about every 20 minutes an large explosion was detonated on the Chutes until about 12:00 noon.

Had a great day skiing but the thighs and knees were telling me that it had been 7 months since I had last been skiing. Should be a lot better tomorrow.

Tried to find some of the caches on the mountain but had no luck due to the fresh powder. It wasn’t until I got to the base of the mountain that I could find a cache. 🙂

I managed to capture myself on the webcam at the end of the day. Caught up with Mike eventually and by the time I left the Ski Patrol, my car was the only one left in the parking lot. 😮

Grabbed a few caches on the way home but too many to list.

$Don\'t have a fire ...$

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Geocaching, USA 2010

Good Friday Caching …

April 2, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

A big day out caching today with Jeditrekr, JimmyReno, ForeverChaos and HRKneese getting out to Pyramid Lake and around North Reno. 61 finds, 3 DNF’s and 1 hide which will have dual citizenship on GC.com (DUAL CITIZENSHIP) and GCA.com (Dual Citizenship – what the heck is that …..) 🙂

The day started out with LPC’s (Lamp Post Caches), even having the opportunity to try a Spicy Bite at a LPC. The further we got away from Reno and started getting into the “Outback”, the containers got larger with most being ammo cans and a chance to drop in some TB’s (Travel Bugs) I had brought from Oz.

The countryside is similar to the Flinders Ranges but not as high with rock formations and open spaces.

Our final location was Pyramid Lake which is an alkaline fresh water lake inside the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation. There are a number of geological formations here as well as a large pelican population.

The wind started to increase and another storm headed in with a large dust storm covering the western end of the lake. This storm ended up dropping another 12″ of snow at Mt Rose. 😀

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USA 2010, Work

Incline Village, North Lake Tahoe …

April 1, 2010 Scott 1 Comment

Today was the final day for the Wildland Urban Interface Conference and the morning had some interesting sessions:

Fatigue Management on Wildland Fires by Pete Lawrence from Oceanside FD
Urban / Wildland Firefighters and Heat Injury by Vaughan Miller from Ventura County FD;
The Station Fire by John Tripp from LA County FD

In the afternoon we headed on a field trip to Incline Village on North Lake Tahoe. Incline Village is home to the Ponderosa Ranch of Bonanza fame.

It had been snowing for the last 3 days with an additional 45cm of snow on the ground – all the best for the skiing on the weekend. 🙂

We visited North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District as they staff three 20-person fire crews. When not on assignment, crews implement fuels treatments within the District. Government agencies contract with the District to implement fuels treatments on their property. On private land the District assists property owners with laying out projects and securing funding.

Hand-thinning and pile-burning is implemented to reduce heavy fuel loading that contributes to the risk of a catastrophic wildfire, and to reduce stand density to a level that promotes a healthy and resilient ecosystem. The district has treated 656 acres with under story fire since the program’s inception.

Chief Mike Brown and Captain Steve Alcorn took me on a visit of their Station which ran an Engine, Truck, 2 Brush Trucks, Heavy Rescue, 2 EMS Rescues, 4 Crew Buggies, snow vehicles and water craft. During the tour, they received a call for smoke in a Realtor’s Office so I got to go on the run which didnt end up being anything.

Chief Brown gave us a ride back to town via the Mt Rose Ski Resort. He just happens to be working at the resort on Saturday as Ski Patrol so will catch up again then.

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Geocaching, USA 2010

Downtown Reno …

March 29, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

Another day down on the Strike Team Leaders course and I decided to go for walk into downtown. There was a storm on the way but it looked clear so should be OK.

I didn’t take a jumper and it was warm, but by the time I got to downtown it started to get cool – around 10 degrees and light rain.

I walked along the southern bank of the Truckee River, taking in some geocaches on the way. At one of the caches I came across a couple of cachers, Foreverchaos and HRKneese, found the old Reno arch and into the Main Street to check out the new Reno Arch (the one my Reno pathtag is based on). Downtown was deserted, probably due to the cold, wind and impending storm.

Also checked out the Bowling Centre and Reno Fire Department Station #1 which is similar design to Station @#21.

The round trip today was 12.2km, grabbing 10 caches and getting back to the hotel just as the rain / sleet started with 8.8 degrees and falling.

Caches found:

GCZRKG – “Imagine”

GC1TYDB – Be Patient

GC1R70B – Ye Old Pipeline

GCHREY – Souvenir Penny Cache

GCT7T8 – SHM #210 Depot

GC1RZP8 – Bakers DZ.9 – Bavarian Creme

GCRZPF – Bakers DZ.0 Pan Dulce

GCT7TA – SHM #220 Fight

GCPKKF – SHM #240 Coney Island

GC19ZYG – What a Rush

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USA 2010, Work Life

Lets start the Strike Team class work …

March 28, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

I think my head hit the pillow and the alarm went off straight away – well it seemed like it. Up at 7:00am, showered then headed downstairs to grab a coffee and muffin then to the Registration Desk and off to Day 1 of the S-330 Strike Team Leaders course.

The course is being run by Chief Michael Brown, Captain Steve Alcorn and Isaac Powning all from North Lake Tahoe Fire District. The mix of the class is a lot of Nevada and Californian personnel with some from other States and myself and another from Australia.

The course is a lot different from the S-215 I did a couple of years ago. This is more on the administrative role of a Strike Team Leader rather than operational firefighting role. It certainly shows the different approach to wildfires between the US and Australia.

Once the day had finished it was time to explore the local area, to find a store for supplies and of course some caches.

At the southern end of the hotel carpark is Reno Fire Department Station #21 which has a interesting engine room design to allow for the snow to fall off.

Headed south finding one store which ended up being an Indian store (of the sub continent variety) so they didn’t have the usual staples, so kept walking and found a Sak n’ Save which is similar to a supermarket back home.

A couple of bags of stuff later and it was the long walk back, when a woman stopped and asked directions to the Grand Sierra, which was lucky as it was about the only place I knew so I got a ride back to the hotel.

Managed to grab 7 caches today including a couple of the LPC’s (Lamp Post Caches) and find number 2400. Total distance for the walk was 6 km today.

Caches found:

GC1X93A – light it up

GC12DN4 – Movie Title Series #5

GC1Y40R – Cache Challenge

GC12Y5E – Let’s all Learn to Geocache

GC17DDDX – Airport Square

GC1QM09 – WWJEat6

GC18TDK – Another Fast Find