Snowed on the hills all around us last night, blue sky starting to appear around us now.
Here are a few snippets about the Dispatchers the BC Forest Service once had as part of our organization.
The position no longer exists.
Here are a few snippets about the Dispatchers the BC Forest Service once had as part of our organization.
The position no longer exists.
PART 2
THE DISPATCHERS
| L |
ike the Lookout Men, Dispatchers were all men; women did not enter the male domain of Ranger Districts until the 1960’s. Until that time the Districts for the most part were in rural areas and like some other professions it was unheard of to have female employees.
Dispatchers in the Ranger hierarchy were the “low man on the pole”. They had a range of ages, the young ones often went on to become Assistant Rangers, the older ones were usually men who had had a different career and due to circumstances, often physical health, gravitated to the position.
Their office skills were quite varied, but if there was a common denominator, they, almost without exception, had a fetish for neatness.
| K |
arl
Karl was the McBride dispatcher when I went there first as a Cruiser then later as Assistant Ranger. He was a skinny little fellow, probably in his 60’s. He was the epitome of “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil”. Physically he wasn’t very strong and had been ill for years (I remember him eating yeast cakes) so his duties were confined to the office only. He almost always was the first one in the office in the morning. Like all other dispatchers it was one of his duties to maintain radio schedules with the Lookouts and to send and receive messages from the regional headquarters and other districts.
Except when he was away on his two-week annual leave, Karl washed and waxed the floors in our three-room office every Saturday morning. He didn’t receive nor did he expect any special consideration for this use of his time. Unlike most other dispatchers he was like a wraith in our office, hardly heard and hardly seen.
| C |
Corny was perhaps one of the most versatile Dispatchers I have known. He could type conventionally, he had an artistic flair and therefore could assist with draughting maps. He was fit enough that he could be utilized on small cruises as a compassman and could be sent out to fires to assist with payroll and other camp duties.
Although our office hours were 8 to 5 at that time, Corny was there at half past seven every morning. His routine was to first do the filing from the work of the day before and second to dust all the counters, tables and chairs in the main office. Then sharp at eight o’clock in the summer he would call our Lookout; if we had fires he would then call each of them in the order of the most recent first.
He loved to fly! At the slightest opportunity he would be in a Beaver, Otter, Norseman or Cessna, he didn’t care whether he sat in the front or the back. Consequently we often used him as an observer when carrying out “smoke patrols”.
The tool cache was housed with the office in a separate room. Because of Corny’s work ethic and orderliness it was difficult to find the usual chores for our Lookout Man each spring
I believe he served under at least four different Rangers during his career. In his whimsical way he was an example for all whom he worked with.
| A |
lec
When I went to Valemount in 1967 the dispatcher had just been promoted to Assistant Ranger and had moved on. To this day I don’t know how Alec found out about the vacancy, he lived some forty miles away and as far as I know never had any connection with anyone in the Forest Service. He arrived at the office door one morning, asked to see me and said that he was there to apply for the Dispatcher position.
When I asked about his work experience, he told me he had been a lumber grader, a faller, a saw filer and no he had never worked in an office and didn’t know how to type. He was forty-five years old at that time and had worked in logging and sawmilling since he finished school in grade ten. I told him I would get back to him.
A week later there were no other applicants, our paper work was behind, the filing was stacking up and the field work was suffering because either myself or one of the Assistants had to stay in the office. I phoned Alec and told him we would hire him on a trial basis.
He reported for work, got the hang of filing, and started typing reports first with one finger and later with two. He moved into temporary quarters on the station and went home to his wife and two children on weekends. Like most other dispatchers, he was always the first one in the mornings; he would open up the office, start the coffee and conduct his radio schedules. He contested with me as to who was the last to leave at the end of the day.
Within a month he could lay his hands in seconds on any file we wanted, he could knock off a report in a couple of minutes, he could talk the language of our logging customers and like the others I had known he kept the office spotless. In this latter regard he soon developed a little trick. If any of us entered the office with muddy boots, you might hear some papers being slammed down, you certainly heard the sound of a bucket hitting the linoleum. The next time you met Alec’s eyes there was no mistaking the reproach that was emanating outward. He soon had us all trained.
He had one more little trick (I had to be reminded of this), if he disagreed with something you were saying or doing, he would just look at you and inevitably he would raise his hand to his face, grasp his nose and give it a small tug. If he really objected the tug would be accompanied by an audible snort!
Over time Alec’s typing skills improved, he tried to learn to type properly with a self-help book but eventually gave up on that and soon became proficient with his two fingers and his ever present dictionary.
I swear we had the best maintained tool cache in the Forest Service, our tools were always sharp and our chain saws and fire pumps were always clean and tuned up.
He was a little rough on the edges but a real gold nugget nonetheless.
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