After a week of being glued to the weather channel watching the progress of Ike in order to be prepared to respond I get an order as a liaison officer to go to South Central Oregon for a fire. It was kind of a relief because I hate working hurricanes. I have done many in the past. Its hot, humid and the people think we are FEMA.
Anyway, I get my orders and my travel taken arrangement completed. I fly from Show Low, AZ to Phoenix then to San Francisco and on to Medford. I get into the hotel about 12:30 and totally wired from the large cup of Peets coffee I had at SFO. I finally get to bed about two am.
6am rolls around I call Medford dispatch and I am waiting for my ride to the fire. I get to the fire and go thru the check-in process and then find the IC (my boss). He says to me “ooh, we thought we canceled you”. Anyway they don’t need a liaison officer so they put me in as a PIO.
Flight 1599 from Show Low to Phoenix
