A Port Angeles, Wash. native is one of more than 10,000 firefighters dispatched to fight wildfires in California.
Brad Blesso, a firefighter with the City of Santa Rosa Fire Dept.,spent nine days on the fire line the Rocky Fire, at 69,636 acres the largest of the 18 fires burning in California.
Blesso worked 24 hours on, then 24 hours of rest.
"We have to be ready at all times to leave base camp within about three minutes, even on our off day," he said. "Some days we work all night and other days we get a chance to rest here and there."
"It's very hard work given the heat and the amount of equipment we wear and carry," he said. "Hydration is key for work production and safety - we consume gallons of water in a day."
"You depend on your crew like a family and we care about each other in a way that is unlike any other professional relationship. It truly is a brother/sisterhood," he said.
"The difficult times are the many days away from your family - I have three girls under the age of eight - and the burden it puts on my wife," he said. "They are truly heroes in their own right."
But he said he wouldn't trade his career for anything.
"We are all happy to provide whatever service is needed for our community and are deeply saddened by the loss those affected by fires experience. It certainly is an emotional thing to be thrust from your home with only minutes to evacuate and come back to find everything you own reduced to ash. I can't even imagine it."
As of Sunday morning, the Rocky fire was 70 percent contained and full containment is expected this week. The fire has destroyed 43 homes and 53 outbuildings.
The U.S. Forest Service reported Saturday that a wildland firefighter died after he was struck by a tree while working a new wildfire near Lake Tahoe.
A second firefighter who was also hurt was treated and released from a local hospital.
