Like most of the folks on the Rocky Mountain Fire Use Management Team, Logistics Section Chief Loren Wickstrom takes taking care of fellow crew members as job one when it comes to hygienic bathrooms/showers and quality grub.
The food firefighters are served must meet federal standards, but, perhaps more importantly, must be palatable and nutritious. Meals must not only be good so the guys on the line can continue their strenuous exertions, but it must also be good to maintain morale.Firefighters eat a lot.
“You’re looking at probably 4,000 calories a day,” Wickstrom said...
Wickstrom said that was a guess, offhand; he was not exactly sure what the federal standards were.
Most of the management personnel from the fire bosses to other managers have been there — sweating and cutting fire lines a stone’s throw from the flames.
“I think I make a good logs chief because I have been on the line,” Wickstrom said.
Wickstrom is personally committed to the crews’ health and spirit. If firefighters complain about the victuals, Wickstrom takes care of it.
Firefighters get served to dine in either a mess tent or have food delivered if they can’t tear themselves away from the business at hand — fighting fire.
MREs, or meals ready to eat designed for soldiers — consisting of dehydrated food sealed in plastic — can sustain a firefighter, and they often do.
“You can eat MREs,” said Wickstrom, “but after a while, they get old.”
After a couple of days, when firefighters are in isolated locations, Wickstrom will have hot cans flown in. Hot cans keep food hot for up to five hours. Or they can be packed with ice to keep milk cold.“They appreciate it,” Wickstrom said.
Transported coffee may get cold, but Wickstrom will send in stoves so the guys on the line can warm the java. If a stove isn't available, Wickstrom said, in a pinch, they’ll drink it cold.
Though some might find it inappropriate, Wickstrom has also purchased — out of his own pocket — and sent cans of snuff to crews after they have been in the hills a week or so.
“‘You don’t know how you saved me by bringing Copenhagen in the hot cans,’” one firefighter told Wickstrom.
Sack lunches are ample. Two sandwiches with meat one-quarter inch thick, apples or oranges, a couple candy bars, and a fruit drink.
Sometimes they will include frozen burritos wrapped in foil. Around lunch time, firefighters can toss their foil-wrapped burrito in the fire to warm, Wickstrom said.
Special diets can be an issue, but Wickstrom caters to their needs as best he can. He asks what firefighters’ requirements are and purchases the necessary food items in town.
The Gunbarrel camp is a tent city laid out like a military bivouac. Trucks are lined in a row, tents where personnel sleep in another designated location. There is an information trailer, incident command, logistics, etc. Personnel are served in an open-air tent and chow down in another.
Caterer Gary Fales enjoys serving Gunbarrel firefighters.Fales runs Rimrock Dude Ranch and the Trail Shop and Inn on the North Fork of the Shoshone, off U.S. 14-16-20, and said he has been the caterer at similar incidents in the past.
The chow is pretty good. One evening firefighters enjoyed steak with all the trimmings, he said. A couple of weeks ago, Fales said there were 150 people.
Fales’ employees do the cooking. The hours could be described as brutal.
“We start at two in the morning,” Fales said.
Fales is working hard, but said he must give credit to his wife, Dede, and his cooks’ for their efforts.
Suppers look appealing — enticing aromas surging from steamy pots seduces the stomach. A casual reporter’s camp survey one evening indicated dinner was toothsome.
“I like to cook good food for these people and it is fun to hear they like it,” Fales said.
The chow usually is pretty good, Wickstrom said. He compared supper to that served at a hometown diner or an Applebee’s Restaurant.
“My main priority is that the folks on the ground are taken care of,” Wickstrom said.
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