Posted by Brian Miller (216.220.226.146) on July 23, 2010 at 09:25:02:
In Reply to: Fire Captain Russ Gorden posted by Jim Barnes on July 03, 2010 at 19:25:30:
I was a firefighter at Whitethorn Station, Humboldt Del Norte Ranger Unit, in 1977 and 1978. Russ Gordon was one of my Fire Captains at the station and I remember him well, and with great respect.
Whitethorn was a one engine station some 15-20 miles west of Garberville. We had an old 1966 Chevy Model 1 that Russ liked to drive like a bat out of hell. He had a thing for fast cars and always showed up for his shifts driving a souped up '56 or '57 Chevy, "The Beater". He was living in an old trailer in Garberville at the time and let us firefighters stay there on our days off when he was working a cycle.
This was back in the days of the 120 hour work week for $650/month for CDF seasonals. Working those hours, a bad supervisor made a hard job miserable. The Captains were Princes at those stations (although the Ranger 1, John Barber was the indisputable king). Russ was one of the best, and fairest Captains I ever had. I'm not sure how he ended up there, on the ass end of nowhere, because all he talked about was getting a transfer back to Rohnerville and Air Operations, which he considered paradise on earth. I think he'd been forced to leave Rohnerville when he promoted to Captain and had to do penance on the engines before he could return: the prodigal son.
I went to a lot fires with Russ in those two seasons. He was unflappable. One hot night in 1977 the "loggers" decided to burn out the "hippies" in Briceland. Some of you probably remember what rural Humboldt County was like back then: the wild fu*#kin’ west. Anyway, we were first unit in to a lot of fire. There was Russ, mic in his hand, talking to Fortuna dispatch in that flat, easy drawl, not a trace of excitement or panic. I remember that to this day. Little thing, but it always stuck with me. That was class. To a crew of young kids who were just learning how to be men, he was THE man at that time, on that day.
I should also say, just because he was who he was, he did a remarkable job preventing his wild teenage firefighters from sticking their johnsons in the fan. I've always been grateful for that contribution to common sense.
I lost track of Russ when I went to the USFS. At that time, the feds paid a lot better than CDF. I ran into Russ in a hotel bar in Columbia 10 years later during the "Seige of '87". I was a jumper out of Redding then and had just been demobbed off a fire we'd jumped IA on the Stan. We had a few beers, caught up with each other and then I never saw or heard from him again. I was shocked when I read Jim Barnes eulogy, and needed to contribute my own.
I spent several years as a jumper, then as a city fireman in San Luis Obispo. I eventually went to medical school and am now a head and neck surgeon in Maine.
I owe a debt of gratitude to all those firefighters that looked after me when I was coming into the business. Russ Gordon, Kevin Papineau, Ed Brady were among all those guys that set the standard, taught the work ethic, helped me learn the trade, didn't accept excuses. As they start to leave us, I realize how fortunate I was to have been a part of all that. We’ll all walk the streets of glory someday, my friends.