We departed Australia on March 17th and by the time we touched down in LAX both of our phones were blowing up with phone calls and text messages.  We panicked as normally this is never good news, but as it turns out, the USFS awarded our helicopter company 2 Exclusive Use contracts…which was inconceivable  hat we were awarded one…let alone two!!!  Our S61 was awarded Oakridge, Oregon with a start date of June 1 and our SuperPuma was awarded Libby, Montana with a June 17 start date.  The reasons I mention the start dates are for many reasons.  Once we stopped jumping up and down and hugging each other uncontrollably in the International Terminal of LAX…the realization came of what needed to happen in order to even begin to fulfill these 2 contracts.  SEVENTY-SIX DAY’s… 76 days were all that we had to pull the rabbit out of the hat.  Good news…we had the helicopters….bad news…we had NOTHING ELSE!  

If only I had documented each day of the 76 days we had. It actually gives me a bit of anxiety typing this entry thinking back about those days.  The tasks ahead of Aaron and I were insurmountable.  At one point, Aaron and I considered asking them to take one contract back as we just didn’t think we could pull this off.  We are good…but maybe not that good. 

Here is just a sample of some of the items we needed to have done by June 1:  Find 2 “workable” Jet A fuel trailers (not an easy task at all and still during Covid mind you), find drivers to pull those trailers (this is TOP priority as no fuel…no flying), weigh both helicopters to make sure they make weight (won’t even start on that topic), once we obtain fuel trailers, make sure they have all the required equipment on them (also a lengthy list), make sure helicopters have all the required USFS equipment installed in order to be carded…oh ya…carding…each helicopter and fuel trailer must be inspected by a designated USFS employee to make sure it makes contractual requirements and must be scheduled before your start date (you would think scheduling would be easy, but not this time of year as every other vendor is doing the same thing also during Covid), hire Pilots, hire Crew Chiefs, hire seconds, get 2 service trailers to haul all our equipment, order more Bambi buckets, order fire shelters, once we have enough pilots, get them all carded by the USFS (also must be scheduled with a USFS representative and on each helicopter), rent trucks to pull the trailers, work visas for our Canadian workers that don’t already have them, travel letters to get them across the border that they are essential workers, company training, have required paperwork documentation, pilot records, mechanic records, all things that usually take a good year to put together….we had 76 DAYS…and it was just Aaron and I.  

There are too many stories to even begin to tell during these 76 days and I am sure I would run out of blog space…but unbelievably Aaron and I pulled off one of the most epic USA seasons we have ever managed.  We had both helicopters fully staffed for the entire duration…during Covid, during a Jet A Nationwide shortage, crossing International borders with employees during Covid, all things Covid!  The S61 did 150 consecutive days on contract only missing 2 days for scheduled maintenance.  The SuperPuma did 120 days on contract missing a total of 1/2 day availability due to not getting a part…COVID.  

It honestly still gives me chills that we pulled this off.  The S61 never did one day in Oakridge, OR (which is actually another funny story…sorry mum and dad).  It started in Weaverville, CA and ended in Chico, CA.  The SuperPuma started in Helena, MT…did at one point go to Libby for a couple of weeks, then finished its contract in Porterville, CA.  We were so very proud of the crews for their tireless efforts all summer long.  It took each and everyone of us to make it happen….and we did it….with 76 Days and counting…

While most of the world shut down for Covid, Australia Bushfires didn’t.  One of our helicopters transitions from Indonesia fighting fires during the summer months to Australia for the winter season (summer season for the southern hemisphere) to assist with bushfires.  Our base in Australia is out of Maindample, VIC and we have been going over for years.  It works out perfectly as our USA season ends around Oct/Nov and Australia is just about to start…so with a few weeks off to reset, we head over around the end of November and go until about March.  Australia has almost become a second home for Aaron and I…we absolutely love it there! The people are incredible, the landscape is dreamy, and the critters are abundant.  

Due to Covid, travel for everyone basically stopped.  Fortunately for us, the jobs kept coming in, but it became almost impossible for us to go anywhere and get the jobs done. When we go to Australia, work visa’s are always required and normally are very easy for us to obtain and once submitted it usually takes no more than a week to receive.  As with everything during Covid, these became nearly impossible to get and if it wasn’t for some pretty influential folks, I don’t think we would have been able to get them to fulfill our obligations over there.  

Normally crew changes are not a big deal, but due to the fact that ticket prices were astronomical and everyone coming in had to quarantine for 2 weeks, we basically were left with a small handful of employees that either had to do 2 months on or do a stay-on-stay-on schedule for the entire duration…something Aaron and I are both unfortunately used to.

Now for the fun part…14 DAY QUARANTINE! All incoming flights to Victoria, Australia had to enter Sydney for the 14 day quarantine period.  There were many hotels that were only used for quarantine purposes and you never knew which one you would end up in.  We got super lucky and were right downtown Sydney with a view of the harbour. Honestly, I thought we hit the jackpot.  We came with another crew member, and he was down the hall a few doors down but on the opposite side with a view of the street (this becomes crucial info later 🙂 

I will admit, getting off the airplane in Sydney, being transferred through the airport like prisoners, having to take an immediate covid test upon arrival, waiting in lines for hours, continuing to be led to unknown places, put on buses, transferred to an unknown destination…it really made me realize I can’t do prison!  Once we arrived to the hotel, we were all put in separate lines, had to give lots of personal information incase we were taken to the hospital, pay in advance for the hotel stay, and then go over all the rules and regulations. Once again….prison info!  We were then led to our rooms where once the door was shut, you could only open it up 3 times a day for meals…and you must wait 10 seconds after the knock on the door so the person didn’t come into any contact with you….you guessed it…prison. 

Once we got settled in and checked out the view, we thought..this is a cakewalk.  We had more paperwork once we got inside, we realized we could order food from door dash if we didn’t like what we got for food from the hotel, we also could order one bottle of wine a day, but they did daily checks to make sure you weren’t drinking in excess and they also had mental health checks everyday as well.  We thought this was odd…but then realized after a few days how your mind can really take over!  One of our friends that had just got out of quarantine explained it the best.  He said days 1-4 you are just getting used to the new environment, getting great sleep as you always have so much work to do at home or on the job, binge watching tv and eating junk food.  Days 5-9 your mind takes over, you can’t open a window to get fresh air, you start panicking that you can’t live like this, you have watched every possible channel on the t.v., you have taken 4 showers and 2 baths in a day just to kill time, you hand wash your clothes to kill time, you start a new fitness routine only to realize how out of shape you are, and you start thinking about how to escape.  Then days 10-14 roll around and you have anxiety of going back out into the real world again, how you have enjoyed your quite time, maybe this isn’t so bad, you don’t really have responsibilities in life lol, maybe this is what you are meant to do for the rest of your life!  ROLLERCOASTER OF EMOTIONS!  

That’s pretty much every thought Aaron and I had.  Aaron brought along a adult coloring book and I mocked him for packing it, yet I became the sole colorer.  I started a website for our company.  We went through years of emails, text messages, and stored cache on our computers.  We organized music on our iTunes.  We became super efficient at guessing the next letter of the sky writer airplane in the sky.  We had a fun game once we ordered door dash with our coworker on the opposite side…once we would order the food, we would all take guesses at what the person looked like and what kind of bicycle they would be on (this is why his location at the hotel was so important in the end lol).  We figured out when the doorbell of the elevator would go off, that meant our food was coming down the hall!  You know, all the important things.  By the end of it, we obviously couldn’t wait to walk more than 10 steps in one direction, feel the importance of wind in your hair and breathe fresh air! We also realized how lucky we all were to get to experience this and how precious each day really is.  

Once we got out, we made the drive to Maindample to get busy getting the helicopter ready for bushfires where we would spend all winter and early spring hopping around to different places in VIC (Victoria, Australia) and have a busy season. You know…same old same old…put water where the water needs to go lol!  Enjoy the pictures….

My last blog was October 2020. For a few years I was pretty faithful in trying to keep up with our adventures and document our journeys…but then time got away from me and before you know it..3 years passed… Just…Like… That….

My mom is the inspiration for me to get this little blog site back up and running.  My parents have been on some pretty amazing adventures the last few years and she has been documenting it on her blog.  After reading and enjoying her posts…I decided it was time to get back on the horse.

It’s a little overwhelming thinking of where I should even begin, so I will resort to my pictures on my iPhone and try to fill in the blanks over the past 3 years and remember as much as I can.  You would think that 2 years of it would be pretty blank with the whole world shutting down for Covid…but our line of work kept us on as “essential workers” and logistics only became our worst nightmare…more on that a little later.  So for now, let’s go back to October 2020….where we last left off.  

After years of paperwork, Aaron was finally successful in getting all the required documentation and bids in for the USFS, ODF, and CalFire.  We wrote off that summer as it was late in the season and no call came in for us to be used…but one late evening around September 4th, a call came in from the desk of ODF (Oregon Department of Forestry) looking for an S61 for a fire on the coast of Oregon.  Our helicopter was in Quebec at the time and Aaron said it was available but that it was in Quebec, Canada.  The dispatcher asked where is that…Aaron replied “basically Maine”…the reply was “we will call you back.”  We figured that was the end of that conversation when the phone rang back about 4 minutes later and said…great we will take it!  

With no fuel truck, no service trailer, no second engineer, no co-pilot…really nothing in place….we said yes to ODF…and off we went. The crew had 2 days to get the helicopter to Oregon, while we tried to source a fuel trailer and the rest of the logistics.  Aaron never ceases to amaze me and within a day…was able to pull off the unimaginable.  The call came in on a Monday evening and by Wednesday evening the helicopter flew across the country and was in place for a Thursday morning start.  Now this is where the story gets crazy.  The morning we were supposed to go to the fire…they said to hold our current position and wait for a call.  About 2 hours later, they called and said we were released.  For those of you not in this industry…let me break it down for you…20 hour ferry flight from Quebec to Oregon, all paid for by ODF… overnight in Oregon…released before we even put one bucket on a fire…20 hour ferry flight back to Quebec..paid for by ODF.  

Aaron couldn’t believe it and really didn’t take no for an answer, so within an hour, ODF came to their senses and hired us for a fire out of Ashland, OR. The next 3 weeks we were hired and the devastation in the pictures below show you how cruel wildfires can be in urban interface.  These are of downtown Talent, Oregon and I5.  

After working for ODF for 3 weeks…fire season wasn’t over but our time for ODF was, so the only thing left to do was try and get the helicopter and fuel trailer carded for the USFS.  Aaron’s quick thinking and Aaron being Aaron…got us hired within 2 days after getting released from ODF and for the next few weeks we stayed in California finishing up our season in Weaverville, CA after an amazing first season ever working for USFS and ODF with our USA side of the helicopter company!