WEBVTT - Into the Fire 0:00:00.600 --> 0:00:03.760 This is Latino USA, the radio journal of News and 0:00:03.840 --> 0:00:07.200 Kurturre Latino USC's Latin Latino USA. 0:00:07.440 --> 0:00:11.000 I'm Maria Inojosa. We bring you stories that are underreported 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:13.840 but that mattered to you, overlooked by the rest of 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:16.080 the media. And while the country is struggling to deal 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:16.639 with these. 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:19.680 We listen to the stories of black and Latino Studio United, 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:24.599 Latino Front, a cultural renaissance organizing at the forefront of 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:32.080 the movement. I'm Maria Inojosa, Ola Latino USA. 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:35.840 Listener, here's a show from the archives. And before we start, 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:39.680 little warning. In this episode there's a brief mention of suicide. 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:40.920 So take care. 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:43.440 And once you get there and you can get the briefings, 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:45.880 the plan, what they want you to do, you start 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:47.920 getting the little butterflies right. You start driving up towards 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:49.879 the line and you know what to expect because you've 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:51.600 being on other fires, but every fire is different. 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:59.920 Right From Futro Media and PRX, It's Latino USA. I'm 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:06.280 Enojosa Today Into the Fire with El Dorado Hotshot Armando Perez. 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:21.120 Massive wildfires continue to ravage California over the holiday weekend, 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:24.679 forcing thousands from their homes wildfire. 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:26.480 Danger in the state of Texas, so we're talking about 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:31.160 ninety nine percent of the state experiencing some level of droughts. 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:33.800 This is the view from the ground during the worst 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:36.600 wildfire season in California's history. 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:39.880 Firefighters near and far coming together today to mourn the 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:42.120 loss of one of their own killed on the line 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:42.559 of duty. 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:46.720 President Biden is now considering declaring a climate emergency. 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:52.440 Armando Perez, or Mando, as he likes to be called, 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:55.640 never imagine that he would be responding to some of 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:59.280 the worst wildfires in US history as a member of 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:02.800 a special firefighter team called the hot Shots. 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:06.480 My family was very traditional, old school Mexican family. It 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:08.919 was all about working family. So when I was growing up, 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:10.720 I thought I would be in the construction business because 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:12.800 that's what my grandfather did. A lot of my uncles 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:13.160 did that. 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:16.800 But for the past decade, Mondo has worked as a 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:21.280 wildland firefighter with the El Dorado California Hot Shot Crew. 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:24.919 Hot Shots get that name because they work on the 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:29.359 hottest part of wildfires. There are just over a hundred 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:32.120 of these hot shot teams in the entire United States, 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:36.400 and Mondo is part of one. Mondo's career in firefighting 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:41.799 wasn't just unexpected, it had a pretty unusual start as well. 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:47.440 When I started getting to my teenage yeers, young teenageers, 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:50.080 I started running around with my local friends and we 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:53.720 started getting into trouble. When I was sixteen, I got 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:57.480 sent to juvenile detention and I did two years, and 0:02:57.639 --> 0:02:59.880 that's where I kind of got introduced to firefighting. 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:04.200 At least thirty states in the country have laws that 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:08.600 allow for the employment of the incarcerated population in emergencies 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:13.120 and disasters, and the work is not always voluntary. The 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:18.639 constitution explicitly denies incarcerated people the right to refuse to work. 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:21.160 The program is we're do It was a little bit 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:23.880 better just not being locked up in your cell all day. 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:30.959 The work of incarcerated firefighters has been denounced as inherently exploitative. 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:35.480 Prisoners only get paid one or two dollars per hour. 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:38.840 In some states like Texas and Georgia, they don't get 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:39.760 paid at all. 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:43.120 You can to understand that it's pennies what they pay you. Right, 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:45.200 you're out there and in the middle of nowhere risk 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:47.440 in your life. There's chances you get hurt or high 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:48.200 out there. 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:51.760 And then perhaps the worst part of it all once 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:54.960 they get out of prison. Many of these firefighters have 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:59.080 extreme difficulties pursuing a career because of their background. 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:01.960 When I got out, when I paroled, it was a 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:04.360 little hard finding work based on my record. 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:08.520 But Mondo, who today is forty years old, persevered and 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:13.520 became an exception. He's an example of the paradox and 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:17.560 transformative potential that this kind of work represents. 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:19.880 I mean that work was hard work, but it was 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:20.440 work there. 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:26.560 His experience while in prison helped Mondo land a pain 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:30.680 formal job with the hot shots in El Dorado. Still, 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:36.400 even in freedom, conditions are far from ideal. For one, 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:41.160 the job is very dangerous. Over five hundred career, volunteer 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:47.320 and wildland agency firefighters, and these include incarcerated firefighters, have 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:51.280 died since nineteen ninety and the number of fatalities is 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:54.960 only going up. In twenty twenty, one hundred and two 0:04:54.960 --> 0:05:00.279 firefighters perished. And then the pay is low. It was 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:04.000 only last year that a minimum pay of fifteen dollars 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:08.560 per hour were set for all wildland firefighters. Advocates are 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:12.279 fighting to improve access to health benefits and mental health services, 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:16.320 which is key in a profession that is so demanding 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:23.360 on both the body and the mind. To understand why 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:29.039 Mando and thousands of other wildland firefighters continue to risk 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:34.040 their lives under increasingly difficult and record breaking fires. Mando 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:36.880 is going to recreate what a typical day for him 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:41.440 is going into the fire and also coming out of it. 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:49.160 Here's Armando Perez in his own words. 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:54.160 My names are Mondo Perez, and I am a hot 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:58.880 shot for the Eldorado Hotshots. I don't want to come 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:01.919 off as bragg cocky, but we're like the top of 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:06.000 the wildland firefighters. We're considered a type one fire line crew, right. 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:08.599 It's us and the smoke jumpers on the smoke difference 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:10.200 are the ones that jump out of the planes. We're 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:13.000 kind of the ground resources. We hike in everywhere, drive 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:15.919 to our destination, get off, back up, and hike. The 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:18.400 hikes can be thirty minute hike, they can be five 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:22.640 hour hike. We do them all. We're starting to see fires. 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:26.120 When we normally didn't seehim around January February typically it 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:28.839 was about six months and that was like the old ways. 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:30.560 Now we have what people are trying to call the 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:33.760 fire year, so it's year round, and it's starting to 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:37.159 be more common. Ladies. The fires has been more intense, 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:40.240 especially out there in the timber country where if you 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:42.800 have the right winds and the topography lined up, and 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:46.960 obviously it's been hotter lately, the fires they burn pretty intense. 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:49.880 So if there's fires out there going on, they'll call 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:52.880 us because we're in national resource, so we get scooped 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:58.679 up pretty fast, so it never gets easier. It's actually 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.560 getting harder and harder. I wake up in the morning, 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:04.080 I hug and kiss my wife. With the kids is 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:06.560 funny because they tell everybody the routine is, I go 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:08.320 up to them, I'll hug them and I'll kiss them, 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:11.000 and i'll pull a little pink too. I don't know 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:13.600 I do it, but that's my routine with them. If 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:15.240 one of them wakes up, then I'll talk to them 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:17.040 real quick. Then I'll ask me when you're getting back, 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:18.880 and I give them the same answer. I don't know, 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:22.480 it'll probably be fourteen days from now, and then yeah, 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:25.040 I just go downstairs, get my coffee, lock up, and 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:27.280 then jump in my car and take off and then 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:36.920 I'll see them in two weeks. Once we start traveling, 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:39.040 we start kind of gathering our thoughts, right, like, hey, 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:41.040 what do we expect? What am I going to do? 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:43.160 And most of us start getting information through the phone. 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:45.360 Right the internet nowadays it's easy to get information and 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:47.640 where you're going, like, hey, what is fired doing? What 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:50.760 are the expectations? Who's there, who's not there? And once 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:52.320 you get there and you can get the briefends the 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:55.119 plan what they want you to do, you start getting 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:58.080 the little butterflies. Right. You start driving up towards the line. 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:00.760 You know what to expect because being on other fires, 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:03.840 but every fire is different. Right, you get there, you 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:06.160 jump out, you guys get all geared up. Okay, it's 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:08.200 game time. Right, You get that feeling like oh man. 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:12.760 You start looking up. You see the fire, see your fuels? Right, 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:15.040 you got brush, you got trees. You kind of start 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:17.720 making assumptions your head, like if we're in tree country, 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:19.720 there's crowning where the fire runs to the top of 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:21.840 the trees. If you're in brush, heavy brush is going 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:25.440 to burn super hot. You line your guys out and 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:27.120 you see their faces, especially the new ones. Right. You 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:28.640 start looking at the face of the new people and 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:32.439 you're like like, okay, I remember that feeling so you're 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:35.240 just looking at them like okay. You just try to 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:37.480 prepare them for whatever comes right as best as possible. 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:39.800 You tell them what to expect and what the plan is. 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:42.679 If things go not according to plan, what to do. 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:45.120 Then you break out into your squads or your mods, 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:47.079 and one mong goes one way to other mogles the 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:48.800 other way, and you kind of try to attack the 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:52.200 flank of the fire. Right. You just start hearing the 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:57.000 chainsaws fire up and start cutting brush, and then you 0:08:57.000 --> 0:09:01.000 know it's like, okay, we're here, we're doing it. The 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:02.720 biggest thing is going out there and making sure the 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:06.400 guys can cut line right efficiently. It's pretty much the 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:10.240 act of removing fuel. So let's say you got a forest, right, 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:14.920 and you got brush or bushes and trees, just continuous fuel. 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:16.720 We're trying to get on one side of the fire 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:20.960 and remove a line of brush, secle fuel break, and 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:23.559 we're going over with the chainsaws. Chainsaws do cutting right, 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:24.959 and then you have a group of folks behind the 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:27.840 chainsaws which are the scrapes or the hand tools, and 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:31.360 they scrape the actual organic material, so it ends up 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:34.440 looking like a trail. It wouldn't be the perfect walking trail, 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:36.520 but good enough for us to get in and out 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:38.560 and then create that fuel break. So when the fire 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:41.040 does get to that point, it kind of puts itself 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:45.680 out on my squad boss myself. This is my ninth 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:48.400 year on the forest. Kind of started from the bottom up. 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:53.719 I was a senior firefighter for seven years. So the 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:56.839 squad boss is like the closest to the guys, the 0:09:56.880 --> 0:09:58.920 actual workers in the chain of comme out. I'm like 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:01.200 the first guy that the the screens go to the 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:03.400 senior firefighters. They come to me if I don't have 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:04.800 an aswer for them to bump it up to my 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:07.959 captain and so on. I'm just running around and then 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:09.920 listening to the radio traffic, because once you get on 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:12.600 the fire line, everyone's talking. You kind of gather more 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:14.920 information just by hearing people talk. People on the other 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:16.400 side of the fire, the other side of the line 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:18.720 down the road, they're throwing bits and piecea out there, 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:20.120 and you kind of get all that information. You start 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:24.520 putting it together. You start painting this picture in your 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:26.200 own head, so you just kind of put that in 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:28.640 the back of your k nogin and you continue to 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:32.480 colign or firing off whatever you're doing. We talk amongst ourselves. 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:35.520 We give our guys updates and what the chainsaws are 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:38.400 doing up front. If their captain, the superintend they're all 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:40.480 scouting around, they tell us what they see up ahead 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:43.400 of us, like, hey, this fire is doing this. If 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:45.280 we get to this point and the winds are doing this, 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.240 find out a good idea to continue. Just little information 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:49.720 at that. We're just we're hearing it on the radio. 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:53.040 We're talking about sterior. If we order a helicopter to 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:55.559 come dough water drops or bucket work, whoever ordered that 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:57.880 helicopter has to talk to them and they'll ask us, hey, 0:10:58.240 --> 0:10:59.559 what do you guys need to say, And we're like, hey, 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:01.760 you see that main head of the fire, can you 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:04.080 cool it off for us? And then don't go in 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:07.280 there and do their work. One thing we learn from 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:09.679 our eye ups is always been thinking about the next step. 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:11.160 What are you going to do next? What if this 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:13.640 happens with it? So you start throwing those what ifs 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:15.920 in your head while still trying to stay engaged on 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:21.720 what's currently happening. So it's just an ongoing process. People 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:23.640 are tired, you're kind of trying to snack in between 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:25.880 as you're going up and down these hills and trying 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:28.160 to find time to squeeze in a snack while still 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:31.640 trying to get productivity out of your folks. You continue going. 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:36.040 You got people sweating hard, tired, looking for the next 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:39.000 piece of line, and continue cutting on. If you're close 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:41.240 enough to the fire, it gets extremely hot, right even 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:44.000 with little winder foot two flames. You're sitting there taking 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:46.360 a little bit of heat, trying to go diregs hot. 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:48.400 You're like, man, my face is burning every now and 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:50.000 then you pop out trying to get a little bit 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:51.760 of fresh air away from the heat. Get back in it, 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:54.160 start thinking like, man, it's almost quitting time. I hope 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:59.080 nothing crazy happens when they say, you know what, as 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:01.280 far as doing this, they might say we need to 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:05.680 burn off now. Nowadays the fires are too intense or 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:08.679 too complex to get in there and do it safely. 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:12.640 So we've been doing more burning operations than anything, where 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:14.959 we go in there and light to fire ourselves, kind 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:16.600 of give ourselves a buffer zone. So when the fire 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:19.200 does come, it kind of just peters out there and 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:25.280 it doesn't continue. If you start burning, you're probably gonna 0:12:25.320 --> 0:12:29.120 be burning well into your next shift on a fire. 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:32.480 Our shifts are typically sixteen hours and then we've been 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:35.360 down for eight, but lately they've been going longer, so 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:38.280 you're scheduled for sixteen, but if the need should arise, 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:41.480 you will do whatever you need to do twenty four 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:44.000 or thirty two. We've done seventy two hour shifts before. 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:47.040 They're not the best, but when you're lacking resources and 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:49.240 the fire is just pushing your hand, you have to 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:53.559 do what you got to do. And as long as 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:56.160 we have line handline all the way around it, the 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:58.080 engines come in, they put a little water on the edge, 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:00.720 kind of secure the edge, and they feel good. Then 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:04.800 you could say it's not out, but it's contained right, 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:08.160 it's controlled. It's in a good spot where the hot 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:09.880 shots can walk away, and then you can bring another 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:12.840 resources behind us and they could monitor it until they 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:15.199 put it out. Competing, we like to go where the 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:17.680 actions at. We're better equipped for that. We're a bunch 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:23.760 of people that get restless sitting around too on. So 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:26.320 once the fourteen days come up, we're done. They send 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:29.160 us home. It starts with the drive home. Right when 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:31.480 you start driving home, I got thirty minutes thirty five 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:33.720 minutes to kind of start winding down, because you go 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:36.480 from going to one hundred miles an hour like intense 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:41.360 fighting fire, and your brain's always going to coming home 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:44.559 and you have to find that shut off. Right on 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:46.600 my drive home, I'll just turn off some music, listening 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:49.560 to music and kind of start winding down, let in 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:52.360 my mind kind of relax, get away from fire for 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:56.120 a little bit, start pre engaging myself with the home 0:13:56.160 --> 0:14:00.240 life you get back and to give you. It used 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:02.480 to be two days they just passed on recently, where 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:05.160 now we get three days off mandatory, which is awesome 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:08.480 because two days was not enough. You spend one day 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:11.280 watching packing and getting all your stuff in order, and 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:13.480 then your second day you can kind of enjoy the family, 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:15.480 and then the next day you're back at it. So 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:17.960 these three days help out. It helps out her recovery 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:20.560 because fourteen days of just banging your body out there, 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:23.400 it gets pretty uh, it gets pretty grueling, and your 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:29.000 body doesn't recovering. My family is my world. I'm married, 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:32.760 five to five kids. I've been married for twenty years now. 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:34.800 I don't know how my wife does it, puts up 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:37.240 with this job, but she's there. She's hanging out tough. 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:40.120 My kids they love what I do, even though they 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:42.680 miss me. I think they get a sense of pride 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:45.560 knowing that their dad is a wildland firefighter or even 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:48.560 more than that, a hot shot. So you get home, 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:51.280 you try to decompress. If you sit there with your family, 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:54.960 try to absorb what they're doing, and you're trying. You're 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:57.760 trying to fill in two weeks of time you missed 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:02.359 in two or three days, and it's impossible. It's impossible. 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:05.160 So you just got to kind of slow down and 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:08.120 just take what's there and make the best of it. 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:11.280 I mean, the option is not doing this anymore, right, 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:13.800 and most of us love what we do, but it 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:19.840 doesn't come with a price. Fire stressful, man, it's extremely stressful. 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:23.880 It's hard. I mean, people out there, you lose sleep 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:26.480 out there just thinking about the next day or the 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:28.680 next roll. Right, we get back and it's like three 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:30.400 days for us, it's a lot. We're like, oh heck, yeah, 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:32.720 three days. But in reality is as soon as day 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:34.400 two or three comes around, you start taking that Oh man, 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:36.040 I'm getting ready, I gotta get out of here again. 0:15:36.240 --> 0:15:38.480 Not wanting to leave, but it's going to happen. Right, 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:40.440 you know that the order is going to come, You're like, oh, man, 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:42.400 here we go again. I'm gonna be gone for two weeks, 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:45.040 and knowing that you're going to miss those two weeks again, 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:48.440 it doesn't make it any better. It's not easy not 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:50.800 to get all dark and gloomy. But the suicide rate 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:54.040 for a while on firefighter is high for any firefighter actually, 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:58.240 and I think it has to do with the fact 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:00.960 that when you do come home, it off. It's hard. 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:05.200 You do this long enough, you start seeing too much, right, 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:07.640 You start seeing people pass away, you start seeing people 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:10.160 get hurt, and then you feel like you don't have 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:13.200 the support from everyone around you, and it kind of 0:16:13.200 --> 0:16:16.040 starts bothering you and you start thinking like, man, is 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:21.720 this really worth it. I can't try to speculate what 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:25.040 goes through other people's minds, but for me, I understand 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:28.320 it's not easy. I mean, you think about it. You 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:31.600 have your kids are missing you, your wife's missing you, 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:34.440 your husband's missing, your boyfriend, and then you have the 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:36.880 job right, and the job stressed was as it is 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:39.840 already because you're worried about getting hurt or not coming 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:42.840 home or are you doing the job right because You're 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:44.640 affecting somebody's life out there if you don't do your 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:47.520 job right. So all these things just accumulate, Right, everything 0:16:47.520 --> 0:16:49.640 just starts building up, building up, building up, building up, 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:52.800 and then you come home and maybe all it takes 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:56.200 is one thing to set you off. Everybody got to 0:16:56.240 --> 0:16:59.000 find out help what works for them, whether it's actual 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:04.000 medical help, mental health. Right, you got to think about that. 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:13.680 I don't know. It's a decent living what I do. Obviously, 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:15.560 as you climb the ranks, you get paid better. But 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:18.240 I mean, starting off, I wouldn't say it's the dream 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:20.600 job as far as the finance part of it goes. 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:22.960 But I mean you could make a good living, especially 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:25.520 budgeting wise. You do it smart, you'd be fine. I 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:27.359 don't do it for the money. I definitely don't do 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:32.399 this for the pay. I don't love fires, but I 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:35.000 love fighting the fires. I feel like I'm good at 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:37.720 what I do, right, So that's the part that obviously 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:39.880 makes it better, is you're always learning something and I'm 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:42.159 getting better at it. But I love being outdoors. I 0:17:42.200 --> 0:17:44.560 love being a new country out there, seeing what's out 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:48.320 the nature. It's beautiful. I guess the danger part kind 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:50.080 of adds to it. Maybe I don't know. I'm not 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:53.560 a thrill seeker or anything like that, but the challenge 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:56.000 it makes you step up. Right, you see a fire 0:17:56.040 --> 0:17:57.320 and they're like, hey, we got to put this out. 0:17:57.359 --> 0:17:58.920 How are we going to do it? And it kind 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:00.960 of gets you like, Okay, this is this is challenging, 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:03.280 this is awesome, Like I want to stop this, I 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:08.760 want to help out. You meet some unique folks here, 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:11.600 like my crew example, you have twenty two people. We 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:14.560 all come from different backgrounds, right, you put us together 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:19.960 and through hard work, sweat pain, you guys build this bond, right, 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:22.080 and you get to know each other. You see that 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:24.480 even though you guys are all different, come from different areas, 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:27.280 you guys are like minded and you have a goal, right, 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:29.080 and you guys get together and you accomplish that goal. 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:30.719 And at the end of the day, that feeling is 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:36.440 like second to none. The act of stopping the fire, 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:38.719 the challenge of doing it and knowing that you're saving 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:42.120 someone's property or someone's livelihood, like you're doing for people 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:44.520 you never met. Right, So we got out there and 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:50.000 we saved these properties, and it feels good based on 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:52.320 my background right the way I grew up where I 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:55.240 came from. It wasn't an easy life, and I still 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:58.120 have family out there living that life, and I hope 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:01.000 the best for them. I always do. But seeing my 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:03.399 kid's face, or hearing him tell his friends that his 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:06.439 dad's a firefighter, seeing him talk about it, like the 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:08.719 pride he has in his voice when he tells his 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:17.000 friends it's awesome. I don't hide my previous life, but 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:19.639 I don't go around broadcasting it. Right. If people ask me, 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:22.159 I tell him. I'm pretty sure people out there judging me. 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:24.199 But for the most part, I think it's helped out 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:26.000 a lot of people. I've had a lot of people 0:19:26.000 --> 0:19:28.359 reach out to me talking about thank you. I know 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:32.280 there's hope now and I appreciate you stepping forward and 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:35.360 sharing your life with everybody. And that's also a sense 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:40.960 of accomplishment. I feel good about that we are out there, 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:43.760 even though the numbers are getting less and less. Crews 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:47.160 are having hard time staffing for whatever reasons, but there's 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:48.800 still a bunch of us out there that care and 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:52.240 are continuing to do the hard work. I love this 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:54.679 job a lot. I love my people around me, and 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:56.960 I think that's what keeps me coming back. I know 0:19:57.040 --> 0:19:58.879 my wife, even though she don't tell me, I know 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:01.800 she doesn't want me doing something different. But to be direct, 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:04.280 I don't see myself doing anything else Southern hot Shot 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:07.199 for a while when it's not fun anymore, and then 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:09.000 when it doesn't make any more sense than I'll think 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:09.919 about moving on. 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:16.520 Armando Perez is a wildland firefighter with the El Dorado 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:38.160 Hotshots in California. This episode was produced by Victoria Estrada 0:20:38.240 --> 0:20:41.800 and edited by Andrea Lopez Crusado. It was mixed by 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:46.280 JJ carubin special thanks to Amanda Montai of the Life 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:52.399 with Fire podcast. The Latino USA team also includes Rinaldo Leanos, Junior, 0:20:52.520 --> 0:20:56.439 Flori mar Marquez, Marta Martinez, Mike Sergent, Luor Saudi, and 0:20:56.560 --> 0:21:01.080 Nancy Trujillo. Penny Leiramirez is our co executive producer. Our 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:05.199 director of Engineering is Stephanie Lebau. Our senior Engineer is 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:09.480 Julia Caruso. Our marketing manager is Lis Luna. Our theme 0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:12.520 music was composed by sang Gevribinos. I'm your host and 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:15.800 executive producer Maria Noojosa join us again on our next episode. 0:21:15.800 --> 0:21:17.720 In the meantime, I'll see you on all of our 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:20.240