Story Published: Aug 27, 2008 at 7:49 AM PST
Story Updated: Nov 21, 2008 at 12:15 AM PST
He wasn't on the front lines with a hose, but his job was just as important. Bill Lomen drove busloads of National Guard members from fire camps to the fire lines in Northern California's Lime Complex fire.
"They did their thing on the fire," said Lomen. "We'd pick them up, bring them back out, kind of take care of them, make sure they had plenty of water and stuff, keep the bus full of stuff."
This was Lomen's third fire camp and he said it's the camaraderie that keeps him coming back for more.
"These guys were all from downtown LA, San Francisco and Long Beach," said Lomen. "They are a great bunch of people but they thought the hills were a little bit steep there and I told them we hunt on ground like this all the time. They didn't understand, they just thought it was awful steep. And then they put them in there with new boots too and that was no good for them."
27 fires were burning in the area of his fire camp.
"It was just smoky and dirty," said Lomen. "Sun was always red from the smoke."
He said the fire camp was like a small city.
"They'd bring in semi's with showers on them and it's like almost your own bathroom, at least like a gym bathroom," said Lomen. "We walked about three quarters of a mile each way to breakfast and dinner and back and they even had a PX, which is a military store where you can go in and buy stuff. They’d even bring in what they call a C.O.W., which is a cell tower on wheels and set it up. I had never heard of one of those. I had phone service finally at one of the fires."
Lomen also spent time a little closer to home at the Cottonwood fire camp. He said this definitely won't be his last summer being a wildfire warrior.
"Sometimes it's like 110 degrees all day long and at night it will cool off to 95 degrees," said Lomen. "You aren't air conditioned or anything, tough sleeping once in a while but all in all it's fun."
