Burn out with Raven 1 member Andre as he fights wildfires



Andre checks out the view in Suffolk, VA while on the Phoenix 3 team



Everyone’s done it whether it’s been around a campfire or into a lighter, everyone has stared into a flame and been mesmerized by its overwhelming glow and thought of its unbelievable potential power. It can light your way in the dark, warm your body on a cold winter night, or destroy a life in less time than it takes to blink.

AmeriCorps NCCC offers its members experiences that many of them couldn’t think possible. One of those experiences is to be a wild land firefighter. In the Atlantic Region these selected members are known as the Phoenix unit. Each Phoenix is chosen and trained at the beginning of the term and placed back into their respective teams until they are called into service. Each round eight members are plucked from their permanent teams and placed into the honorable position of a Phoenix. It’s a chance for people from different units of the corps to meet and work together and get a chance to have a break from your permanent teams. (Which I don’t really need since mine is so awesome).

The Phoenix 3 team, which included Raven 1’s Maddi and me, had the privilege to be the first team in five years to go out west to Idaho to fight the wildfires that were raging across the state. In a chartered flight of over 800 firefighters from the east, Phoenix 3 flew to Idaho and started their adventure at the Trinity Ridge fire. When we arrived we joined a world we couldn’t have prepared for. The camp site, surrounded by the beautiful Idaho Mountains, was a sea of tents and commotion, trucks and people moving around, going in and out of tents.

P3 goes west - left to rigt Maddi, Emily, Andre, Rebecca, Liz, Erik, Ben and Bobby

Myself and the Phoenix members were placed in a crew of 80 other firefighters and we were known as the Virginia Crew. An hour into our arrival after being briefed on the plan of action to contain the 90,000 acre fire, we were sent to assist other crews to protect the town of Featherville. After two days of hiking up mountains, digging line, and prepping the town for the worst, we were able to proceed with the burn-out operation. (A burn out is a term of firefighting where a section of land is burned and turned to black to stop the main fire from spreading.)

When the day came to start the burn-out operation, we were so excited but then disappointed because it had been canceled due to weather. Just when we had lost hope the weather changed and the burn was back on. Helicopters flew overhead, drip torches set the ground to flame. Trees torched 50ft into the air and we stood facing the flames and around the town of Featherville, making sure no embers flew overhead to start spot fires and endanger the town. As the night grew on so did the fire. Hours after the fire blazed it grew stronger, and faster, and brighter. It was a sight to behold. Just before the sun rose, we were relieved of watch duty. As we rode in a lime green school bus back to camp, before our heavy eyes gave way to exhaustion, we looked back and saw the amazing power of that which is fire.



A few members of Phoenix 3 fire team pause for a photo- left to right Maddi, Andre, Erik, Robert, Liz and Rebecca

-Andre

“Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.”

-Bruce Lee-

Two Ways to Stay Sane with Bird Brains

Team Leader Keiper reflects how her team Raven 1 keeps their sanity in what can be a very stressful environment.

We live together. We ride in the same vehicle everywhere we go. We eat together. We serve together. We joke, we laugh, we bicker. We are Raven One, and “together we R1” is our motto.

Now, for those of you not in AmeriCorps NCCC, this may not seem like a big deal.  But please, oh friend, please take a step back and put yourself in our shoes (or steel-toed boots for that matter). Now, think, you are with the same nine people 24/7. In fact, you might all be sharing the same large room, or have one bathroom between 10 people. That free-time, that moment of solitude that used to be so easily attained before AmeriCorps is mere memories now.

How do we do it? How do we stay sane in this Ameir-world? Well, to be honest, it can be really difficult sometimes. On top of having little free space, you also need to factor in how demanding serving can be, the amount of hours you work, and the fact that sometimes the work is dirty and not so glorious (pulling weeds all day); not to mention being away from family and friends, etc. There are many, many ways I could share with you about how my team remains motivated and does not lose their mind, but I am only going to focus on two.

The first is simple: we want to be here - each and every one of us is passionate about serving and wants to reach out to our country and lend a hand in any humble way we can. This is the backbone of our team - our passion. We know that nothing worth having is easy.

In NCCC team will do a variety of things to stay sane, including growing tails

Moving onto a, well, I guess you could call it a characteristic my team has taken on. We are an eccentric, creative bunch. Maybe I am biased because I love my team, but really let me give you some examples of what I am trying to explain. We use whimsy, humor, and downright ridiculousness as a stress outlet. We have a team gnome named Bach Lava who travels with us wherever we go and sits outside our door steps, protecting us from intruders and chipmunks. Henry has a magical wizard staff that we typically need to make room for in our 15-passenger van. For our weekly physical training we often do yoga, and one of our favorite stress relieves is the laughing baby. It’s a pose you simply cannot do without laughing. Sometimes, Ashley and I pretend we are archeologists when pulling weeds or small trees. We all have taken on different funny “voices” that we talk to each other with. And we have made up elaborate stories about one another and the people we meet, such as the security guard I am convinced is a fox during the day and security guard at night.



Raven 1 laughs during their PT when doing the yoga pose called the Laughing Baby

 Our shenanigans extend beyond our team and we often involve the sponsors and volunteers we work with. One day, Maddi and Cassie found a hidden treasure when we were demolishing a house: a broken baby arm from a small doll. We refer to this as “The Baby Hand,” and it typically makes appearances at the most pivotal moments. Cassie will shake someone’s hand with it or caress their face. It is a real crowd pleaser. But don’t worry; we know how to keep it professional when necessary. Another tradition is “Pig-Tail Friday,” when many members of the team wear their hair in pig-tails and encourage other volunteers to wear them as well. This too, is a crowd pleaser, as well as our famous “caw-caw” and “two-cheers” chant, which we have taught to many of our site supervisors, volunteers, and staff.

Michael receives a gentle caress from 'The Baby Hand' by Cassie

We have a childish excitement about little things, like using a nice clean public restroom rather than our usual Portable Toilet. Or getting to “dress-up” and wear real clothes and make-up out to dinner for a night. Our birthday parties are more extravagant than when we were kids - sometimes with water balloon fights, pin the tail on the aerators member, and a kiddy pool. It is common for me to walk into the house and hear my team singing. Or to be smacked in the face with a banana peel. Or after shopping to find them dancing in the parking lot to an outlandish country song.

We are outgoing, unique, fun, and whimsical. We constantly find ways to make an ordinary experience an adventure, like when we pretend we are in a traveling gypsy band. But most of all, we have become a family. One of our site supervisors, the lovely Margaret from Round 1 in Delaware at the Winterthur Museum, summed it up very nicely, “they are very unusual, but very, very good!”

~Keiper

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.” 
― Dr. Seuss