A Willamette Mission Style Campfire

The month of August at Washburne Campground included the delightful routine of a nightly campfire at Ken and Karen's spacious site # 7.  We all brought snacks to share and a drink of choice.  Terry usually had the fire set by 5 pm and we'd meet as soon as the Lighthouse late shift returned to the Campground.  Between the stories and laughter that we shared Terry kept the fire at a steady crackle.  He earned the fire tender award from all of us.  We knew there would be no 'happy hour campfires' at Willamette, but never guessed that Terry's skills would not be wasted!

In my last blog I told of learning to use the dump truck at the Burn Pile in the field beyond the office.  We didn't know then what a long history that Burn Pile had.  It had been receiving limbs, logs, sign posts, cement, metal and huge log posts for at least 6 years and was covered with a Blackberry Jungle.  The Rangers at Willamette must have seen Terry, the Fire Master, coming because they asked him to torch the "Burn Pile".  What a great job for Terry- no little campfire here!

Of course, it had to be tended.  The only thing that could approach the task and destroy the Jungle was a little John Deere and driver!

Once the Fire was going the huge mass had to be corralled into a strong burn and that took lots of work.

When lunchtime rolled around I realized I would have to feed the hungry Fire Master and check to see if I could help.  By this time the metal and cement chunks were obvious so I did help get those into separate piles and away from the tractor's path.

Terry had a very full and busy day eliminating the Burn Pile.  He was happy to help and the staff at Willamette Mission were delighted to see it burned at last!  Terry's many work skills are so well used
here and he had all that practice every night in the month of August.

Once my helping was done I got a chance to enjoy the view as the promised evening rain storm approached.