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

Rhonda Mickelson -- As mentioned above, we were in touch with the sheriff's department so they "knew we were there." I found it was crucial to talk with the same person in the sheriff's department to avoid repeating myself and receiving conflicting information. When we opened for the 2001 season, we realized how important a good relationship with the authorities is. There was fire danger again, but this time my contact at the department called me for the number of campers and number of vehicles should an evacuation be necessary. Luckily -- it was not.

By having the sheriff's department mandate our evacuation, they also provided the transportation that enabled our evacuation to go much more smoothly and quickly. As I mentioned, we have basically a one-lane dirt road leading to our camp, so we carefully orchestrate opening and closing day. If parents came to evacuate the campers, it would have been a nightmare! All parents that called were asked NOT to come to camp to retrieve their camper.

How did you work with your campers -- during the crisis and after the crisis was resolved?

Don Brown -- Because our campers are adults, we kept them informed at all times about what was happening and what we were doing. They attended all the briefings, and we tried to bring in ways that this first-hand experience could be used in their classroom curriculum. We followed up with letters at the end of the summer along with an evaluation form that resulted in super comments on how they felt the AWLS staff did everything in our power to make the experience an enjoyable one. We also received digital photos of the fire area, fire crews, and updated maps that were made available to those who wanted them.

Rhonda Mickelson -- We did our best to keep things "as normal as possible" during the evacuation process. We did let campers know what was going on... we let them know earlier in the process the second time than we did the first time. We actually tried to have them look at the experience as a true adventure and one they would remember always. We continually stressed that we were leaving so we would be safe and that we were not in danger.

After the first evacuation, we felt it important to have some sort of closure to the very short session. We did our best to accomplish this when campers and parents came to pick up luggage. They also received their camp T-shirt at this time. This group of campers all received full refunds and the opportunity to register for any open sessions we had throughout the rest of the summer (many did this). They also had the opportunity to register for 2001 sessions a week earlier than other potential campers.

For our second evacuation, once campers had returned to camp, we did our best to continue the program as scheduled and rescheduled what we needed to and could.

All campers and staff were very sensitive to fire and the fire potential. We modified our fire drills so these would be less "stressful." When I hired staff mid-season, I disclosed all that we had dealt with previously so they might better understand some of the comments and concerns. We did have some campers cancel for the 2000 season, and they received full refunds.