"Today I had one of the more fun moments I've had as a crew leader. Because we are the fire crew, we get a chance to get called out on wildfire assignments. We've already had one this year, and my crew has been anxiously awaiting the call that we get to go on another roll. I checked my phone around 2 this afternoon and had a missed call from Ryan Banks, Program Director for Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, but no voicemail, so I assumed it was nothing too important. So with my crew standing uphill from me while I balanced a chainsaw on a fallen tree, I called Ryan back and got his voicemail. No surprise there. He called me back quickly though, and said "Hey so you got called", which was kind of a surprise since our crew just became available this morning. So as Ryan is giving me all the details and my crew is staring down at me asking "Did we get a fire?? Did we get a fire?!?" I'm just trying to keep a straight face and not give too much away. When I hung up with Ryan, I told the crew he said they were doing a terrible job and he was very disappointed in them, followed pretty quickly by the real news, that we report to the forest service office in Steamboat tomorrow. There was an immediate mood shift, everyone was filled with a giddy excitement, smiles all around. We are now on our way back to headquarters to trade out vehicles and gear, pick up our fire packs and nomex, and get ready to head out. Stay tuned folks, we'll be back in two weeks!"
-Erica Kistner, Crew Leader of the 2018 RMYC Fire Crew
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