Hi Shirley,

I want to provide some additional information about fighting forest fires in McDowell County.

First, I believe that the conversation officer worked for the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources (or the equivalent department back in 1969).

On the first Saturday that we teenage volunteers fought a fire, the conversation officer arrived at the playground on Stewart Street about 10:00 am. He asked if we would help fight the fire on the south side of Stewart St., and about 6 or 8 of us teenagers volunteered. The conversation officer went to the house of each volunteer and sought parental permission. He also began recording (unbeknownst to us) the hours that we worked.

It was approximately noon by the time the conversation officer had acquired permission from all of our parents. We borrowed shovels, rakes, and hoes from our parents’ tool sheds. And then we headed into the mountains and walked (briskly) to the head of the fire, lead by the conversation officer.

As we walked up the mountain, staying in the burned-out area, the conversation officer divided us into two teams. When we reached the head of the fire, Team A and Team B went in opposite directions, following the fire line and extinguishing the fire as we walked along the fire line. As we walked to the head of the fire, the conversation officer also taught us some basic fire-fighting rules (ala Lee Marvin in the Dirty Dozen):

1. Always stay in the burned-out area. Never cross into the unburned area.

2. Each team member must remain in the sight of all other team members at all times.

3. If the trees catch fire, leave the mountains immediately, and walk down to the nearest creek (again staying in the burned-out area as we walked to the creek).

4. We must make sure that even the smallest ember is extinguished to prevent re-ignition of the fire.

There were probably some other rules that I fail to remember.

As we continued to walk to the head of the fire, the conversation officer would shout out a number (e.g. 3) and the volunteers had to say, in unison, what that rule was. By the time we reached the head of the fire (about 30-40 minutes of walking up the mountain) every team member had memorized the fire-fighting rules.

We spent several hours that afternoon extinguishing our first fire. We reassembled at the playground on Stewart St. and the conversation officer made sure that no one had been left in the mountains. We were exhausted and hungry and smelled like smoke, but we had a sense of accomplishment.

Apparently we did a good job. For the remainder of the 1969 fire season (and the next 3 fire seasons), the conversation officer would come to the playground between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m., put us in a truck and drive us to another fire. Sometimes we would ride in the truck for nearly an hour, and then we would walk to the head of the fire. We typically fought 6-10 fires in any given fire season. And in the four years that I fought forest fires, we had only one re-ignition. And best of all, no one was injured during these 4 years.

A brief correction to my previous posts. Apparently my spellchecker changed "conservation officer" to "conversation officer". Sorry for the mistake. Both posts should refer to the "conservation officer" and not "conversation officer".

AB