Galt's Gulch

(822) 'Hillbilly Brigade' saves Oregon town from wildfires - YouTube

Posted by $ nickursis 4 years, 3 months ago to Culture
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Now, this is what makes America. People who did not wait for the government, did not get permission, did not ask for it, just did what was needed to save their town. No protests, no riots, no handouts...nuthin...

SOURCE URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4NJK3BkgEI&list=WL&index=7

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  • Posted by preimert1 4 years, 2 months ago
    Did they have a permit? Were they trained and licen? Didn't they realize they were putting lives at risk by their reckless actions? (I didn't see any masks either) Mark my words, no good will come from taking the law in their own hands!
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    • Posted by $ Radio_Randy 4 years, 2 months ago
      I realize that your comment was probably made "tongue in cheek", but it does have some merit.

      Working for a state agency (32 years) that specializes in wildland firefighting (and having been on a few...), you come to appreciate just how dangerous it is for untrained volunteers to take on such responsibilities. Just watching the video, I noticed that the cat operator wasn't wearing her hardhat, neither was the older gent, running around with his shovel. I also failed to see ANY kind of radio communications between these people (I was a radio tech).

      Granted...when you've no other recourse, doing it this way may be your only option. However, like climbing towers (I did this, too) without a harness, or even a belt, often times has disastrous results that could have totally been avoided.

      Perhaps these folks should seek out an organization that could help them properly prepare for such actions, in the future...
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      • Posted by $ Snezzy 4 years, 2 months ago
        Ranchers are used to dealing with tough situations that suddenly happen. You discover that one of your cattle is tangled up in a fence. The equipment you need, such as the heavy-duty wire cutters, is back at the barn. All you have is your horse, a rope and a knife. What do you do? Well, you're a rancher, not a safety engineer. You just do it!

        For me, it's not cattle, but sheep and goats. I had to free a stuck sheep just this morning, and a stuck goat yesterday. No hard hat, no gloves, and a good possibility of losing fingers. Probably not OSHA compliant.

        There's a joke about the dangers of ranching, here: https://www.northernstar-online.com/s...
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        • Posted by $ nickursis 4 years, 2 months ago
          HA! yep.Now, we can take that storyand use it as illustration of exactly what the left is doing. They are "using their badge" to tell the country what is right, who is right, and dictate our morals and actions. They just have yet to figure out they have met a "prized bull" not their usual herd of lemmings waiting to be told what to think and do. It will not end well....they are "showing us their badge"..
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      • Posted by $ blarman 4 years, 2 months ago
        I've worked some wildlands fire training as a radio head, too, and training is better, no question. Most of the training doesn't come in firefighting techniques, however, but in command-and-control. I think that's the thing that impresses me most in this effort (not to far west of me) is that they still pulled off an amazing job despite being constrained on communication and having little centralized control. I'm sure everyone in that town were thankful to have a home to return to.
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      • Posted by $ nickursis 4 years, 2 months ago
        Thats the point. The State let everyone down, failed completely, they save a whole town creating a fire break. The weather that started this was forcasted 4 days in advance. It was this or burn. They didnt burn, and im ok with that. Out here farms run lots of bulldozers and big tractors, she is a ranch hand, and they do that stuff.
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        • Posted by $ Radio_Randy 4 years, 2 months ago
          I agree that ranch hands "do that stuff", but ignoring the simplest safety device...sitting right next to you, is negligence.

          I once needed some quick welding done on an antenna I was installing for a farmer. His foreman walked right past a welding helmet to do the job. When I asked him about the helmet, he stated something like "Oh, this will just take a second".

          A minute later, he was cussing his negligence as some splatter from the weld destroyed the lenses on his brand new glasses. He was lucky that he was wearing those!

          There are just some things people should not take for granted.
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