April 1st

April fools day - hmm! No can't be bothered.
Beautiful day yesterday temp soared up to a balmy 17 but today it is raining and temp of 5C. Looking out the window I see a couple of sparrows building inside one of the bird houses, another sign of spring.

Before I add the conclusion of "Fire in the Euchiniko" I should emphasis that this was back in 1961. At that time the only helicopters that were around were piston driven three seaters. My first use of one on a fire was in 1962. Also the use of air tankers did not start until '62 or'63.

Conclusion

Chapter 7

W

e headed out just before seven am.  Every man was heavily loaded and I knew I had the heaviest load I had ever packed!  We took it slow and for the first hour the going was quite easy; we were in mature pine, very little deadfall or underbrush.  We had our five minute break, then we hit our first noticeable down slope.  Going down hill with a heavy pack is a mixed benefit, the forward motion is easier but the jolt of each step is worse and soon knees and ankles begin to suffer.    Just after we started into the second hour, we could hear an airplane coming from the north, so I called another halt and we quickly set up the radio.

  When it was ready, I simply went on the air and said, “Niko Fire portable standing by.”  Almost immediately Georgio’s voice came back, “Niko portable this is O N N over.”

  “I replied, “Go ahead O N N.”

 Georgio came back with, “ OK John, we’re over the fire, its just starting to pick up a bit and moving slightly towards the South East. Estimated size is 700 – 800 acres, what is your position?”

  “ O N N – Niko, we are an hour north from where we camped in the creek east of the fire, probably close to 3 miles. You might be able to spot the reservoir we made yesterday. Over.”

  “Roger that Niko, we can’t – no, yes we just spotted your dam site, Ok you should be Ok, at this time it is moving mostly away from you, but there is some easterly movement as well so you should keep moving. Over.”

   “ Roger, Roger O N N, we are shutting down now, we’ll be off the air until we reach the lake or have an emergency. Niko over and out.”

  We quickly repacked the radio again and I told everyone that the next leg would be an hour and a half long as we just had two breaks in a row.  We headed out again.

  That was a long torturous day.  By the time we took our second break I couldn’t get back on my feet without hoisting myself with the aid of a tree trunk.  I tried taking the pack off and then putting it back on, but I no longer could lift it to my shoulders.  We gradually went slower and slower, finally we came to the final slope down into the valley and we dropped our packs on the ground and with the aid of gravity, dragged them down the hill.

  That gave us some respite and with another rest break (this time 15 minutes) we were able to pick up the pace a bit.  Even though we were approaching midday, it was cooler as we were in taller trees.    The wind that was starting to blow could be felt at ground level.

  We heard planes nearby several times, but there was no way I was going to unpack the radio again.  Finally just before two o’clock we stepped out on a riverbank.  It had to be the river that flowed into Tsacha Lake, so we turned to our right and followed down stream.  Fifteen minutes later we came on a small clearing and there was the fishing cabin on the far side.

  A Cessna 180 floatplane was tied up to the tiny dock and as we approached, Dave Hibbard stepped out to greet us.  This was somewhat puzzling, as this was a private aircraft and not authorized to do any form of commercial work.  Dave just said that he was our taxi and Georgio would fill me in.

  We piled all our packs in a heap. By using a jump seat at the back the plane could only just squeeze in five passengers.  As it was going to take four trips to get us all out I sent out three loads of four and the last two out were Alec and I.  We took a couple of the packs in that last load.  It was after seven o’clock by the time Alec was dropped off and I got out of the plane on the Nechako River in Vanderhoof.

  The next day, Georgio told me that there was not one commercial plane available in the region to fetch us out and so he worked out a little deal with Dave Hibbard, the flying time would never show as airplane hire.  The only problem with that was if the plane had crashed with any of us on board, there would have been no insurance and probably no workers compensation! Dave returned a couple days later and hauled out the remaining equipment.

  I have fought many tough fires, but beyond any doubt, the Niko Fire was the toughest fire I never fought!

  

Epilogue

T

he day we pulled off the Niko fire it increased in size to about 2500 acres.  The day after that it over ran our campsite and spread to the beaver pond on which we had landed and built our raft.  An aerial mapping of the fire boundary put the final size at 12, 500 acres.

  The weather eventually deteriorated and first rain and then winter snows finally extinguished Niko.

Alec Johnny and myself 30 years after Niko

I was doing fire training and he made lunch for the trainees.