Reflections on 10 years of blogging on wildfires: introduction - stumbling into wildfires

This reflection piece is what I hope will be the first of several periodic reflections on what I have learned in 10 years of blogging on wildfires. In this piece I am looking back on how I first got interested in wildland firefighting in July 2008 and how I got interested in aerial wildland firefighting in early 2009.

For those of you who don't know, I first got interested in blogging on wildfires on July 9, 2008 when I made a post on a wildfire that was then burning in southern California, the Basin Complex Fire. The post is still up but most of the links are all outdated, so I am not linking to that article. But it is easy enough for you to find if you scroll down to the right side of this blog and look under blog archives for July 2008, the post is called "Fires in CA." I was interested in the Basin Complex Fire because I had heard about the fire on the national news, and I had some acquaintances that lived near the area where the Basin Complex Fire burned. For those of you who might want to read more on the Basin Complex Fire, Big Sur Fire (provides fire, rescue, and EMS services to the Big Sur Community)  has a page devoted to the Basin Complex Fire with several links you can go to, most but not all of the links still work.

I will be the first to admit that I knew I had to lot to learn about wildfires. I am not sure that I fully understood how much I did not know. After a half year of knowing that I wanted to keep writing a blog, but not really knowing what I would write about,  I stumbled upon the Basin Complex Fire. Realizing that I had a lot to learn gave me the motivation to learn more. I began reading more about wildfires on the internet and a former grad school professor who knew something about fighting wildfires suggested that I start by reading Norman McClean's book, Young Men and Fire, on the smoke jumpers who died fighting the Mann Gulch Fire in 1949. After reading this book, I was hooked. I did some more reading on the internet and read some more books. During the fall of 2008 and early 2009. I blogged on what I was learning

Eventually with the help of a couple of now very good friends (retired and current air tanker and helicopter pilots), I (again) stumbled into the world of aerial wildland firefighting in early 2009. Those friends, took me by the hand so to speak, and helped me learn about the world of aerial wildland firefighting. I was again hooked. I have my Grandpa to thank for my passion for aviation. While he and I never talked much about airplanes until just before he died, I believe I got the aviation gene from him. He was an early aeronautical engineer. I know that he is pleased and smiles down at me.

As I began to blog on aerial wildland firefighting, I found a deep sense of purpose of what direction my writing and blogging would take. I had been searching for almost four years to find a purpose for my writing. In July 2008, it was as if someone left a door slightly ajar and I entered the world of wildland firefighting through the Basin Complex Fire. I had found that which I had been searching for for over four years. I was home.