I was briefly back in town between paddling the Bear River and my next work trip to Divide Lake. Around 2am, my phone rang. I answered it, and all I could hear from the other end was the wailing of a siren. I realized that I could also faintly hear the same noise in the distance (we can’t hear really hear the town siren from our house). “Well, I guess I have to go do something about this,” I thought as I sleepily looked for clothing. When I got to the firehall, everyone had already cleared out. I briefly wondered what I should do next, when I saw plumes of smoke rising up in the distance. I biked over and found a large portion of the town gathered around an honest-to-goodness house fire. I wasn’t in my turnout gear because I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to bike while wearing it, so I spent most of the evening away from the action, manning the pumps and holding up the side of the water pool. It was still very exhilarating to be involved with some actual firefighting. Well, for the first few hours anyways. We wrapped up the fire around 5am and then had to fill up the truck and change out the hoses – you never know when the next fire is going to be. I made it home exhausted around 6:30am.
