Forest fire a crisis reality for camp: During the summer of 2000, two camps located in the western United States faced the challenging crisis of forest fire. Don Brown and Rhonda Mickelson share their experiences

Camping Magazine, March, 2002 by Don Brown, Rhonda Mickelson

Please describe the event.

Don Brown -- On July 31, a forest fire had spread from twenty-six acres the night before to 2,800 acres by mid morning just beyond the ridge to the east of the American Wilderness Leadership School (AWLS) site. The U.S. Forest Service sent out members of their fire team to check our facilities. They warned us that the sheriff may close the road into the canyon and evacuate all campers from the Forest Service campground that is just one mile to the north of the school, our school, and all occupants in the summer homes just to the south of the school. The firefighters' biggest concern was that the fire would cross Granite Creek, which runs to the east of the school and, with the prevailing winds, the summer homes and the AWLS site would be in the direct path of the expanding fire. We were informed that if the evacuation became a reality, we would be housed at the new high school facilities in Jackson, Wyoming, and fall under the Red Cross emergency shelter program.

Rhonda Mickelson -- We experienced two fires -- although neither was actually encroaching on camp property, we were evacuated as a precaution because of the unpredictable nature of the fires, extreme fire conditions, and our location. I'm going to talk mainly about the first. Flying 'G' Ranch is located in a relatively remote area -- six miles up a dirt road that is about one and a half lanes wide the majority of the way. There is no development between the main highway and camp -- the closest gas station is about a forty-five-minute drive. As we do not transport campers for any of our programs, the vehicles on property were the personal cars of staff members, one leased SUV used for office trips and doctor runs, and the vehicles used by the site manager (truck and horse trailer). We had less than twenty vehicles on property. This also factored into our evacuations.

Our first evacuation was the first full day of camp for the season (Monday, June 12, 2000). It was a seven-day session. Everyone on staff was new to the site (including me), so we had already been figuring out many logistical aspects of camp throughout training. We had just completed our fire drill for the session and sent campers back to their units and program areas and were making the notes on what was good and what needed to be changed. As I walked into the office, the first words I heard were "fire, let me have you talk to the director." This was about 2 p.m. The person on the phone was a parent, asking me what we were doing about the fire, were we okay, what our plans were. I told her that we had not yet heard of the fire and had neither seen nor smelled smoke. I promised to get back to her very soon to inform her of our status and plans.

From that point on, I was on the phone almost continually -- either with parents, the sheriff's department, or our office in Denver. My first phone call was to the sheriff's department. I immediately stated who I was, where I was calling from, that I had 144 campers, and that I had to know the status of the fire -- where it was, what our danger was, etc. The dispatcher told me that mandatory evacuations were being ordered for a certain area and we were not included. I was told to stay tuned to the TV (not possible, as we do not have TV) and to leave if we saw flames. We hung up.

What were your next actions?

Don Brown -- During this one-day notice to prepare for a potential evacuation, I directed all staff to load their personal belongings into their vehicles. I instructed those who did not have a vehicle to place their belongings in the school's blue bus. Staff also gathered sleeping bags, extra pillows, blankets, water containers, food, etc. We also packed program equipment and had it organized to take with us if we had to evacuate. We also made sure to have copies of all camper information on file ready to go with us along with office supplies, paper, one computer, and printer.

On August 1, while assigned staff made their scheduled trips (forty-two miles one way) into the Jackson Hole Airport to meet teachers/educators who were coming in from all over the United States, I met with fire fighting personnel who were assigned property protection responsibilities. We went over the AWLS utilities map -- locating gas, water, and electrical lines, breaker boxes, the storage shed for camping fuel, vehicle gas tank and pump, LP gas tanks, and storage shed for ammunition and black powder used in our shooting sports program. We were advised where to park equipment and machinery that we could not remove if evacuated. The fire fighting crew was impressed with the detail of our site map and the two 1,000-gallon water-holding tanks fed by stream flow, with fire pump and hose to reach all facilities. We were also given directions to close all windows and doors to prevent embers from getting into a building.

By 4:30 p.m., we had forty-three of the forty-nine participants on the AWLS site. When they registered upon arrival, they were instructed to live out of their luggage and not to unpack, as we may have to evacuate if told to do so. Also during registration, I asked volunteers who had commercial driver's licenses or had experience driving fifteen-passenger vans, since most of the staff would be driving their own vehicles or one of the other school vehicles. The volunteers' names and driver's license information were called into the Tucson office and forwarded on to our vehicle insurance company.