I was with these young men and women on one of the biggest fires of 2020 as a Squad Leader. All seasonal employees. All in the 18-25 range except for one guy that was mid 30’s. Two separate trips of 14 days each. 40 hours a week? No, try 96 hours a week (of hard labor). A burn over that destroyed a US Forest Service fire station and put its entire crew in the burn unit all went down on the same division just a few hundred yards away. Fire destroys Nacimiento Station, injures 14 firefighters
Some of our guys received minor injuries. These guys never flinched. Never complained. Didn’t want a trophy. Just want a permanent job and a paycheck.