This summer my brother Tom fished with his uncle David, his friend Nathan, and other people who asked him. This summer there was a fire fighting step test that he took and passed by one point Tom patiently waited until there was a fire somewhere in Alaska His first job was between St. Mary's and Stebbins. They were closer to St Mary's than Stebbins. He told me how he fought the fire with burlap, water, and a certain kind of tool called a polaski. He said they traveled miles and miles to put the fire out. After a lot of hard work they all finally got the fire out They lived on m.r.e.'s (meals ready to eat) and water or juice. He said the trip was fun. After he came back I asked him a lot of questions. It sounded hard the way he told it to me but it wasn't that hard at all for him.

His second job was in Takotna and McGrath. I was home when he took off late that evening with his crew. They left around 1:00 in the morning. They took off in one of those small cargo planes that looked like an army plane. They stayed up in the Central part of the state for about two and a half weeks. One problem he talked about was bears. They even had to rum away from the fire because a brown bear was around the area they were fire fighting. After putting out the fire around Takotna and McGrath they all headed home. Tom mostly stayed home after that and did things he normally does. He went out on boat rides and hunted certain kinds of animals that my mom would cook. He spent time with his friends during the evenings. He mostly stuck around Gary Kameroff. They are best buddies. He misses Gary who is in Mt. Edgecumbe High school He also rode around with his four wheeler and did the usual flings he does during the summer.

Interviewed By: Marlene Papp
Marshall School