Writing exercise

It had been a long, boring last couple of days of fireline mop-up and I was so glad that we were almost done! My first summer on a wildland firefighting crew had been fun, but I was ready to get home and see my family and friends.

“Murray!” I heard our crew boss, Dave, call. “Pay attention to that hot spot, rookie!”

“Yes, sir!” I called back. There I went, letting my thoughts wander again. You can’t do that on the fire line, Nora! Focus! I told myself. I wiped the sweat off my face and pushed my long brown ponytail back under my helmet, and then went back to mopping up.

“Ready to get out of here?” Spike, another rookie, asked from his place beside me.

“Yeah! It was fun while it lasted, but I’m ready to get back home to Boston. Can’t wait to do it all again next summer, though.” I thought of seeing all my family and friends again and the welcome home party they’d probably throw me, whether I wanted it or not.

That evening our mop-up duties were finished and our tour would be over tomorrow. My crew and I would be on our way back home to Massachusetts. As we sat listening to our debriefing, I allowed my thoughts to wander back to a few weeks before. My first thoughts when I got off the plane was that the scenery of white-capped mountains was majestic and quite a stark contrast to my home in Boston. I couldn’t help but notice however, the slight smoky haze that hung over the air from the fires burning in the distance that we were supposed to fight. 

   My uncles were on the Boston Fire Department and I had initially been going to follow in their footsteps but then thought, “Hell, why not try wildland?” My family was quite surprised as I had been a big city girl my whole life. But I took the basic classes, passed the pack test, got my red card, and had shipped out to Colorado this summer to a wildfire. The days had been long and hard and we were all dirty and sweaty and ready to go home, but at the same time I was feeling a sense of accomplishment. A wildland firefighter wasn’t a job that just anyone could have, that’s what everyone always told me. However, I felt a slight unease taking in the slightly smoky atmosphere. Were the fires that big? Would we be safe? I brushed off the feelings however-I signed up for this and this is what I was going to do!

“You, Nora Maeve Murray, are a wildland firefighter. You can do this,” I told myself.

I had never been the most confident person before I shipped out to the fireline. Now however, looking around at the men and women who had become my brothers and sisters over the last several weeks, I felt a feeling of pride that I had never felt before in my life. I had just helped to save countless acres and homes from devastation. I was a new person. I was a hero. I was a wildland firefighter.