THE FIRE TANKER FOREMAN

There was one fire tanker on the Orleans Ranger District that employed a seasonal fire crew of five people, including the tanker foreman, whose name was Carl.    Carl had spent many years working for the Forest Service as a seasonal employee.   He was in his 30's, had a degree in Botany, divorced, enjoyed his beer and smoked a pipe.   He always wore slip-on boots with slick soles, until management told him he had to wear Vibram soles, so Carl had Vibram soles put on his slip-on boots.    Carl was easy going and I never remember him getting upset about anything.    He lived in the woods on property belonging to an old girl friend's parents' up the Ishi-Pishi Road.    His bed was out in the woods and I'm not sure where he stayed when it rained, maybe in the house with his old girl friend?  

On a few occasions Carl joined a bunch of us single employees for a trip down to Arcata on a couple of weekends to indulge in a few beers, and eye the young ladies of Humboldt State College at a place on the Arcata Plaza called the Keg.    After closing this establishment down, we would retreat out to the beach at Samoa for the night with our sleeping bags.   One night we lost track of Carl and nobody knew where he was.   It was the next day as we drove back up Highway 299, on our way back to Orleans when we came across Carl walking along the highway barefoot and smoking his pipe.   After picking him up he said he probably left his boots in the Keg.    He must have walked 10 miles that night and said he started a warming fire along the highway as it got cold.   A California Highway Patrolman stopped and told him to put the fire out and left him there.  Carl was hoping the patrolman would take him to jail where he could get warm, so he continued to walk to stay warm.   The next year Carl received a full-time job in silviculture on the Weaverville District of the Trinity National Forest.  That was the last we ever saw of Carl.