No, I actually build Swimming Pools out of Friendsville, all my Firefighting was done in Colorado in Forest fires with my Dad's caterpillar or dropping Retardant or water when I used to help my buddy in is B-25.
Believe it or not that Quote is from the Cartoon Maxine LOL
I have been in Clinton for almost 9 years, been in East Tennessee for 13, I moved here from Flagstaff Arizona but I am Originally from Los Angeles California.
It is pretty nice up here in Clinton, plus no wheel tax, and thanks for the comment on my MZ3, still a work in progress, just going a little slower because of the Economy hurting business.

 

The BMW X5 is definitely a sweet ride, but I am glad you joined the Mazda club. I have been enjoying my I Sport, but want to break it in right. I have had it for a little over a month and currently have right at 670 miles on mine. I work two jobs, but both are close, however i commonly take the long way home just to get to drive it a little bit more. Do you have a 6spd or auto?

 

Thats one thing I have never done is fought any large brush fires. Unless you consider 5 acres large. LOL Theres quite a few veteran fire fighters around our dept. that have and spoke of their experiences. You have to be in tremendous shape to endure those conditions. This year, with all the rain we haven't had to contend with any. I used to know a guy that was a hot shot. That is a pretty amazing job, and much better pay. No wheel tax would be nice. I would love to do so many different things to my 6, but you haven't seen slow yet on account of our third child arriving 4.5 months ago. Do you miss Arizona or California? About all I miss of Miami is the beaches. It is great for a single guy, but I wouldn't want to raise my family there.

 

I knew quit a few Hot Shots and Smoke Jumpers while working the West Coast, I know I have all the respect in the world for those guys and I myself could have never kept up. I know when doing water drops we made quit a few drops on crews that got in a little deep and surrounded.
It is a little different cutting firebreaks with a loader, normally well in front of the fire.
Yes I do miss the beach, as well as the mountains and desert. Don't miss the traffic or the sky high Taxes though.

 

A couple wild land fire fighters died Saturday in Colorado, when the vehicle they were in somehow went off a mountain. I am not really sure how that happened, but I guess it must have something to do with smoke visibility. I definitely don't miss the high property taxes and insurance costs both auto and home in Florida as well. I haven't done a whole lot of time in the mountains. I have only been snow skiing once in my life, and I was 15 at the time. I enjoyed that alot, and want to take my kids when they get a little older. We had gone to Ski Beach in North Carolina. It was somewhat warm, we were in shorts, and they had to pump in artificial snow, so I don't know if you would count that as true snow skiing or not. Probably not.

 

From what I understand they were trying to outrun the Fire and went off the road, the Fire roads in California are big enough to get the engines and tankers in but not big enough to make a mistake or a sudden move to avoid something.

I keep forgetting you are from Flatland, when you look south you see mountains, when I look south I see foothills

 

I meant to correct my post the other night after I had entered it, when I realized I had typed Colorado instead of California. One of those guys was a 9 year veteran expecting his first child in a few weeks. So Tragic. Now come to find out, the fire was human made.

 

I all can say is I hope they catch the 1 responsible for setting it.
Largest fire in LA County History, I was out there for quite a few when I was a kid.

 

I hope they catch this person to. You gearing up for the big game today.
I hope they beat Western Kentucky, or there will be a helicopter waiting to take Mr. Kiffen out of Knoxville after the game. I am at the station today, and as long as nobody does anything stupid, I will get to watch it. The guy I am working with has a 2007 Mazda 3 S sedan incidentally. Did you ever experience any earthquakes while you were in LA? I have had my share of hurricanes while living in Florida.

 

I was in a couple of the larger Earthquakes, Silmar in 1971 and Northridge in 1994 along with a slew of smaller quakes. I watched my rear trailer bounce across the front of a car while sitting in traffic on the 605 freeway in a 5.5 quake (BTW, in California, a 5.5 is still a small quake)