California State Highway 20 travels 213 miles from the High Sierra to the Pacific Ocean. It's journey through Nevada County is one of the most scenic. There would be times when the view would be your least concerns. One being a logging truck in your rear view mirror.
Miles Rodney's "Fandango Dance" wiil go down as one of the funniest moments in fire camp history. One that still can make you laugh over 40 years later. A very classic event.
Miles Rodney was member of White Cloud's CWN Fire Crew. An "insane group" and Miles was most certainly the " insane of the insane ". One of the most fun person we have ever met. He died at a all to young age, I am sure he had a lot of laughs left in him when he passed on.
Giant burn towers could be found at the many lumber mills that were spread throughout Nevada County in the 1970's. They burned sawdust and other wood scraps and their smoke was seen and smelled at almost every spot where you could see trees. By the end of the decade they were all gone. Air pollution was one reason for sure and the most obvious. But the industry was always evolving and what once was waste soon became another product. Wood waste became a thing of the past as every part of the tree was put to good use.Wiley Dog could smell the burnt rubber in the air. It was from smoking tires as Sparky at slammed on the brakes and suddenly brought the careening Edsel to an abrupt stop. The large V8 now stood at a quiet idle. In front of the long blue hood a Desert Tortoise was taking it's time to see what was on the other side of the road. Wiley Dog and Sparky took an advantage of this unexpected pit stop and they both jumped out of the car. Sparky using the door and Wiley Dog leaping and flipping an complete somersault before landing up right on all fours. His red Chuck Taylor's barely making an imprint on the desert floor. Sparky looked over his shoulder and yelled, " 5 point 0 ! You should be in a Jackie Chan movie !" The Nevada City Duo climbed back into the Edsel. As Sparky turned the radio dial to the Giant game, Wiley Dog figured that they were halfway to the canyon ahead. " Hummmmmm Baby !", Sparky yelled out. That was good news as the Giants were currently ahead of the Dodgers. They both smiled at each other. After all any day Dodger Blue is losing is a good day. And this was to their beloved Giants, that was even better ! The tortoise was now safely on the other side and Sparky buried his foot on the pedal and the Edsel responded by roaring back to break neck speeds. Wiley Dog returned to his thoughts of Sparky's first day on the job as a fire fighter for the U. S. Forest Service.
Sparky had cut his long hair, bought a new pair of Levis and a khaki shirt which he was wearing when he pulled his Dodge pickup into the White Cloud dirt parking lot. This would be the first day of fire training for the new fire season and both new and experienced fire fighters had gathered from all over the Tahoe National Forest. The real first thing he noticed was the Hobart Hot Shot Crew. They had come over from Truckee which was east of the Sierra Summit from White Cloud about an hours drive. At this time except for crew management they were all Indians. They had been around for some time and always proved to be one of the hardest working crews on the Forest. What Sparky really always ed remembered was EVERYONE of them had long hair, most all the way down their back ! He had cut his hair and he knew even then as a young man that hair, much less long hair would soon be a faded memory. That moment would soon pass replaced by the thoughts that this was going to be fun....and it was.
Wiley Dog's thoughts broke has the radio blared out " Bye Bye Baby " as a Giant had just hit a home run to add to the Giant's lead. " Hummmmm Baby !", the duo screamed in unison. Wiley Dog returned to his thoughts. Sparky had told him that in the Fire organization there many levels. At the top were the 20 man hot shot crews that fought all the big fires and of course had the largest ego's, usually well deserved. These groups are the ones that books and movies are made about. Sparky was a district fire fighter and the public hardly ever heard of the fires they fought. Their motto was " Hit em hard, keep em small !". After all they were picking up sticks. Fire on the other hand could not tell you apart and the job was truly dangerous. A job filled with hours that border on true boredom and in an instant can be start terror. What a great way to spend the summer ! The BD Crew was so new and awash with money that they soon found themselves involved in almost every kind of fire, both small and very large. Yippee! Sparky did almost nothing but fight fire that season with only a rare chance to enjoy Nevada City's ever increasing night life. And there would be no trips to one of his and Wiley Dog's favorite places......the Yuba River. That summer was filled being away on a fire the longest span being 28 days at one time. Hell, the money was rolling in and you had no time to spend it.
A bad fire season and loads of money led to the most interesting times. One was the formation of a twenty man crew that were the Call When Needed Crew. They fought fires and picked up sticks right alone besides us but were you might consider a temp worker. They were called the CWN Crew. And this Summer they worked almost every day of fire season, yes awash with money. It really takes a special kind of person that wants to spend the season fighting fire. And this group was all that and more. Lifetime friendships were formed and the combination of BD Crew, CWN Crew, the woods and fire proved to be the most interesting. Sure, a lot of hard work was done, but the stories all came out of something other than that. All those years have to many to tell so a few that involve one of life's really true characters should do. Mile Rodney stood about 5 foot 7 and must at least weighed 213 pounds. Every ounce was either fun or trouble usually both. Sparky considered him the Tasmanian Devil with a voice like the cartoon character Yosemite Sam. On this occasion we had all gone to a large fire as a 20 man hand crew. Days had gone by and the effort had turned to a routine, a very boring one at that. One night after dinner we had all gathered around the burn barrel camp fire and stared at it with lifeless eyes. All of a sudden I could here the Tasmanian Devil's voice. : Gentlemen for your pleasure I will perform for you the dance of seven veils !" What could this be Sparky thought ? Miles had stretched a semi transparent plastic sheet between two poles. He began to dance around he had his hard hat on with the headlamp on. You could only see his round shape as he peeled some bit of clothing and waved in the air all the time gyrating in in some sort of "exotic" moves. There must have been fifty fire fighter who all turned on their head lamps and shined them through the plastic onto Miles. He did this for at least 15 minutes and he finally was down to his boots, underwear and hard hat. During all that time we all were howling and clapping our hands. Taking a bow Miles turned off his headlamp and slipped away. Such fun...everybody laughed for days.
Another crew story that involved "The Devil" was a trip to a fire in the San Francisco Peak area close to Flagstaff Arizona. Once again a 20 man hand crew we bussed to Redding California and boarded the Big Banana. A bright Hues Air West 737. We were traveling with a crew from the Lassen National Forest. The most disciplined fine crew you could imagine. To this day Sparky thinks that they must have consider his crew mates insane or close to it. As soon as the plane reached cruising height and the seat belts came off the Tahoe boys went Zerk. Screaming at each other, running up and down the aisle. It was non stop and at the peak of this Miles pulls down his pants while being at the head of the cabin and yells out " Mile high BA !". All this time the Lassen crew watched in total disbelief. We landed in Winslow Arizona, boarded separate buses and were off to the fire. Our driver drove like a bat out of hell and the Lassen bus was soon out of our site. Well the fire by then had been snowed on and it turns out the crews were not needed. The Arizona Highway Patrol caught the Lassen bus and they turned around and got on the same plane and flew back to California. There was no catching us ! We showed up at fire camp but not before the bus got stuck in the mud. At last there was something for the Tahoe boys to do. Piling out they all pushed the bus from it's muddy grasp. Arriving at the camp and being told what was going on . There was nothing to do. Well Miles had found a hut made of logs and a roof of paper sleeping bags built by the convict fire crew. Making friends with them and the fact they were on the night crew we took over their makeshift shelter. A night of playing cards under your head lamp followed. Out of the sleeping bag hut the next morning proved it had once again snowed and everyone was going home. We in our spotless bright yellow nomex fire shirts and those that the yellow was long gone by the fire's grime. Returning to the Winslow Airport we waited for our plane. A group of us started to play cards and drink Bud in the can. So much Bud that those selling it to us did at least two beer runs to refresh their vastly depleted supply. It seemed that Pete Newell and Sparky cleaned up that afternoon stuffing their pockets with dollar bills. We flew back in an old DC 3, many times the return trip was with "different" than the getting there. Once again this was Animal House in the air. The good news it was just us and the flight crew. Oh, speaking of the crew. There was Miles with a small group of friends in the very small bathroom all smoking. The smoke seemed to go out the tail some how. Heck it was an old plane ! When there was a knock on the door. Ignored it got a little more aggressive. Still ignored it became a beating with a loud voice yelling " This is the pilot ! I have to pee!" The look on his face as people kept coming out of that small bathroom was amazing. What fun....
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