Andy Stahn's summer adventures

The Stahn family moved into their new home at Sun Mountain when their third son Andy was a third-grader.

He's all grown up now - and he spent the summer of 2012 fighting fire and doing a hundred other things he never dreamed of doing.

Andy went though the entire Sisters school system and graduated from high school in 2008. Ask him how he did and he'll sort of blush and say, "Oh... I did all right."

After graduation, he had his next step all carved out. Ever since he was a little guy in primary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, he had his eye on going on a two-year mission, as most LDS young men and women do.

Andy had been saving his money for that big dream, and after graduation, while employed at the local McDonald's, he put in his mission papers and waited for the call.

No one applying for a mission call knows where he or she is headed; when the papers arrive in Salt Lake City, Church Elders pray about the destination of the applicant and what answers come is where he or she goes; 18 months for a young woman, two years for a young man. In Andy's case, he headed for the Nebraska Omaha Mission and enjoyed his time "in the field."

Andy came home and, like most young men of this century, he spent a while looking for a job. He settled for his old job at McDonald's. But the year 2012 changed things for Andy more than he could imagine.

One of the jobs Andy has always wanted to take a shot at is that of a professional welder, but other than getting by on what he was bringing home from the Golden Arches, he wasn't getting any closer to his welding career. He put out feelers for a good-paying job in Sisters, Bend and Redmond, with no results. Then one of those unfathomable moments happened, a thought came to him out of nowhere, "Andy, why don't you go fight fire...?"

Craigslist had a notice that PatRick Environmental, Inc. of Redmond needed firefighters. Within a week he was training hard, learned how to operate fire tools, how to stay safe, how to watch our for his buddy's safety, and what to put in and how to carry his personal, 45-pound pack that would help keep him alive and fed while he as trying to control one of nature's most exciting and dangerous elements: wildfire.

His first fire was outside Vale. On July 10, PatRick crews were sent to BLM land to work the Bonita Complex Fire. That was his baptism of fire and lasted about five days, where he served on a three-man hand crew operating from a Type 4 Engine, tackling spot fires.

Then he was sent to the Geneva 12 Fire outside Sisters, working with a three-man crew doing mop-up for about three weeks.

The next fire Andy was on was the big one in southern Oregon at Berry Point that went charging off into northern California. This one was on private land and Andy worked on hand- and dozer-line for about five days. Up to that point he had fire camps to rest up in, with fresh food, showers and tents, but then came the Klamath Falls Wilderness Fire.

When the crews hit that one they were running all the way, but instead of a nice cozy fire camp, the crew had to "spike out." No showers, no prepared hot food, just tents, sleeping bags and MRE (Meals, Ready to Eat). Five days of fighting fire and sleeping on the ground and then four days resting at home.

Without a doubt, the strangest fire he and his crew went on was in Minnesota after a blizzard. Yes, you read that right - after a blizzard. Eight wildfires had been burning in an arboreal forest just below the Canadian border in a forest floor that was all peat. It was still burning beneath the surface, and the smoldering peat was the big problem.

If the wind came up it would fan the glowing embers in the peat and a new and dangerous wildfire would suddenly burst to life. Even though the fire crew was pinned down in a motel for three days with a blizzard raging outside, everyone knew when the snowstorm passed the backbreaking work would begin.

Smoke from a peat fire is not good to breathe, so, as Andy and his partners walked the burned out area, they tried to stay upwind. But to find burning peat, Andy had to remove his fire gloves, kneel down and place the back of his hand on the surface of the peat to check for heat.

The last of the fire season found Andy and his crew fighting fire in North Carolina and then heading north to New Jersey to do cleanup work in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which Andy is always ready talk about. Corner him sometime for a dish of ice cream and he'll be happy to share his adventures of the last summer - and share in his excitement of heading off to welding school in the new year.