Chapter 5- Disaster Training Disasters

A cold hose shower was not the welcome I would've liked when arriving in a new place, eager to make a good first impression. Yet, that's exactly what I got.

It's your own fault, though, I scolded myself as I shivered from the cold. You should've stayed on the base instead of going with Dusty.

"That ought to do it", Maru announced, satisfied. "Well, back to work. I gotta mix up a fresh batch of retardant."

"Well, now that that excitement's over", Wildflower spoke up cheerily, striding over with a tray, "I got nice, refreshing drinks for everyone! Firefighters gotta keep their strength up."

The firefighters took the drinks gratefully.

"And once you dry out, you can both wing it on back to the lodge with the rest of the tourists", Blade informed us with an ice cold glare, made even worse by the fact that his eyes were an icy blue.

"Actually-" I began, wringing out my jacket.

"We're not tourists", Dusty corrected him. At least he was acknowledging my presence again, even though we still weren't exactly talking. "Actually, we're the ones that May-"

"They're the trainees", Windlifter cut in.

Blade was still unimpressed. In fact, I think hearing that made him even less impressed. "You're the trainees Mayday radioed about? Oh for the love of-"

"Blade, please be nice!" Wildflower pleaded quietly and sympathetically. "They just made a mistake. Everyone does."

"In our line of work, mistakes cost people their lives!" Blade reminded her seriously.

"I know", Wildflower began, looking a little nervous. (She obviously hated confrontation as much as I do). "But that's no excuse for hostility. They're sorry. Let's move on."

Blade didn't look like that idea appealed to him.

"Oh, come on, Blade!" Dipper jumped in. "That's not just some SEAT. It's Dusty Crophopper! The champion air racer!"

"No big deal", Dusty insisted modestly.

"Don't be shy, come on!" Dipper urged. "Tell him! They raced all the way around the world!

"I did", Dusty admitted, sounding as nervous as I felt. "I did do that."

That still wasn't enough to impress Blade. He rolled closer, still glaring. "The world wasn't on fire though, was it?" he quizzed Dusty.

"Was the whole world on fire?" he repeated. "No..."

He shifted his cold look towards me. "I don't suppose you have any incredible feats that are supposed to impress me?"

"N- No, sir", I stammered, shaking my head. I knew everyone could tell how nervous I was.

"Hm. Maru!" Blade yelled.

"What?" Maru yelled back.

"Rip off his landing gear!" Blade commanded.

Dusty's eyes widened in horror. "Uh, wait, what?"

Maru grinned. I squirmed at how much pleasure this guy seemed to be taking in such a task.

I sat patiently and watched as Maru fixed Dusty up with some pontoons.

"Still, it does feel kind of weird. You know, without the tip tanks", Dusty commented since Maru had removed those too.

"Tip tanks?" Maru echoed incredulously. "You couldn't exactly go flying into fire with fuel tanks on your wings. Ka-boom! Nope, you're gonna need these pontoons. They may be old-"

"Old?" Dusty repeated, surprised.

"-but they'll let you scoop water right off the lake", Maru continued as if Dusty hadn't said a word.

"You're goofing on me. You have any new ones?"

"Dusty!" I elbowed him.

"New?" Maru laughed as if it were the funniest thing he'd ever heard. "We don't even know what that word means around here!" He tapped the pontoons, sending dust flying, which made us both cough. "I rebuilt these babies myself. They're better than new. Give 'em a go."

"Huh?" Dusty rocked unsteadily on the pontoons. "All right. Let me just get this... this... manoeu-"

I had to dive out of the way, in order to avoid getting smacked by Dusty's wing. He slapped Maru's welding mask back over his face.

"Pop the wheels, genius!" Maru snapped.

"The whee… yeah, pop the wheels!" Dusty laughed at himself. "Oh! That's it!"

"Yeah, you think?" Maru wisecracked and I couldn't quite decide whether I liked him or not.

"Yeah, I'm tall! Look at this... Hey! You guys have a Wall of Fame, just like the Jolly Wrenches!" he noted excitedly. The two of us stared at the newspaper articles and photos pinned up to a nearby wall.

"Wow!" I breathed. These people are heroes! I thought, eyeing the planes and occasional other vehicle and human.

"So what's the deal? What do you have to do to get your picture up here?"

There was a moment of silence before Maru answered. "Crash."

"Oh", we chorused. Well, that killed the mood.

"Yeah, dangerous work", Maru went on. "But that's the job of a firefighter. Risking their lives for people they don't even know. They fly in when others are flying out." He paused. "Takes a special kind of plane... And an even more special kind of human."

"Sorry?" I turned away from the wall to face Maru.

"Humans are much more vulnerable than vehicles", the forklift elaborated. "Not just in firefighting, but in general. They're a much higher risk. We used to have a whole bunch of human Smokejumpers about ten years ago."

"What happened to them?" I wanted to know.

Maru pointed to a picture on the wall.

"Oh."

"Blade doesn't normally like to train or employ humans", Maru informed me. "He only agreed to sign on Dragon because he got a strong recommendation from his old boss in Washington. He's fought wildfires here in the US and in Canada and Australia. Then he took on Macca because of the agreement."

"Agreement?" I repeated.

"Yeah, Macca spends his winters- our summers- fighting fires here. Then he and Dragon go back to Australia to fight fires in their summers- our winters. They got close and Blade trusts Dragon, so here Macca is." He paused before adding, "And he's only training you because he trusts Mayday."

"Well, then I better not let him down", I murmured, feeling even more responsibility adding to the weight on my chest.

I had a lot of people counting on me. Could I make them all proud? I would find out the very next day.


"Fighting wildfire means flying low. And that's why we have Augerin Canyon, our own little obstacle course", Blade explained as we flew over said canyon, ready to train.

I was flying on Dusty, in a better than new firefighter's uniform, complete with oxygen mask; fire extinguisher and axes to clear debris. On top of that, Blade had me exchange my glasses for my contacts (although, that was really no sacrifice; I usually wear my contacts, anyway). I didn't really have to do anything for this part of the training. I would be fighting the fires from the ground. Blade just wanted to make sure that Dusty could fly weighed down not just by me, but my equipment too.

"All you gotta do is stay below the rim and when you get to the bridge, fly under and pull out", Blade continued.

"Flying low. No problem", Dusty assured him.

"Overconfidence. The kind of attitude that could get you killed", Blade stated drily.

Dusty dove down and weaved through the canyon.

"Okay, now let's see you make it under that bridge."

Beep, beep, beep, beep! The warning light Dottie had installed was blaring at us. So, Dusty pulled power.

"Why did you pull power?" Blade demanded. "You gotta firewall it!"

"The bridge. It's too close to the falls", was Dusty's excuse.

"No excuses. If there had been a downdraft, you'd be dead", the chief pointed out.


His next lesson was how to collect water off the lake.

"Make a normal seaplane approach." Dipper demonstrated as Blake spoke. "Stay on the step while collecting water through the scoops. Climb out loaded, return to your holding orbit and drop as directed. Copy that?"

"Copy that!" Dusty confirmed as he brought out the scoops on the pontoons.

"Okay, you've got twelve to fifteen seconds to scoop then fifty feet to climb out." I don't think he was getting the hang of it. He struggled to make his way across the surface of the water. "And watch out for the tree line!" he added, noticing as Dusty narrowly avoided the trees on his way back up.

I winced.


At least I was somewhat familiar and comfortable with my work. Blade had me practise chopping up logs and moving them, so that I could assist the Smokejumpers with their work. This, I could do. I did this kind of thing all the time back home.

"All right. We'll help you the first time to show you what to do the first few times", Dragon informed me, speaking for himself and Macca. "We'll pretend the fire is in a different position each time with a different wind direction and rate of spread."

"Okay..." Macca consulted a clipboard and read the first scenario out loud.

"Ready with the stopwatch, Drip?" Dynamite asked.

"Hey, Macca!" Dragon teased. "Let's see who can move these logs faster, me or you!"

Dragon grinned. "Bring it, mate!"

"And... go!" Dynamite ordered.

Even though the work was no problem, this time, I was partially distracted. Thoughts kept going around in my head. Is Susannah okay back home? Is my mom taking good care of her? How's Dottie going with refurbishing Mayday? Maybe I ought to be back home helping them. Wait! What am I saying? I should be here, helping them and everyone else in Propwash Junction.

"Hazelwood!" Blade barked, pulling me from my thoughts.

Unfortunately, he also made me jump, The axe flew out of my hand and narrowly avoided the helicopter a few feet away.

"Sorry", I apologised sheepishly.

"You need to focus!" he snapped. "You lose your focus in a fire- even for a second- and you could regret it for the rest of your life!"

"I know." I nodded remorsefully. On the inside, I was cursing my stupidity. "I'll be more focused next time, I promise."


Later that night, we received a lecture about the most important things to remember while fighting a fire. I had a notebook and pen ready to take notes. Instead, I was bombarded with enough information to make anyone's head spin.

"Indirect attack, parallel attack, direct attack.

"Know what your fire is doing at all times.

"Wind speed and direction.

"Temperature and relative humidity.

"Finally, all aircraft must be on the ground thirty minutes after sunset. Flying low at night is the fastest way to get your picture on the Wall." Hearing that made me nervous already, but Maru's visual representation didn't make me feel better.


Dusty had to try spraying water onto fires. Even when he was crop dusting, where he used his sprayer, he wasn't used to having a target. I guess that's why it didn't work out so well. And Blade let him know.

"Too early!"

"Too high!"

"Too low."

"Those crops of yours, they die a lot?" Blade wondered.


"You got this, Dust!" I whispered as we made our way through the canyon.

"Approach looks good", Blade radioed. "Now, increase your airspeed. Redline it. Go to max torque."

Only, Dusty couldn't do that because his alarm went off again.

"Don't back off", Blade ordered as Dusty did just that. "Don't back off!" He groaned. "Why did you bail out again? If you don't push it, you're not gonna make it. And you won't be certified!"


"Um... Dust?" I began tentatively on our flight back to base that afternoon.

Dusty sighed. "Yeah, David?"

"Don't you think you ought to let Blade know that your gearbox is busted?" I asked.

I could tell that my friend was frowning. "Why?"

"Because, well, um... it's obviously interfering with your training, so maybe you should tell him. Maybe there's another way. We just don't know 'cause you haven't mentioned it."

"If I tell him, he'll know I have a problem", Dusty insisted. "And if he knows that, I won't be certified."

"I know, but-"

"You know, David?" he interrupted, annoyance creeping its way into his voice. "You do not always know what's best for people."

Was that what all of this was about? "I was just trying to help-" I started to protest.

"Yeah, you're always just trying to help!" Dusty retorted, cutting me off. "Does it ever occur to you that maybe people don't want your help?!"

"Actually, no, it doesn't", I informed him, still trying to remain civil.

"Well, maybe it should. I mean, I- " Dusty broke off, noticing a trail of smoke in the distance. Eager to show off, he headed for it and sprayed retardant...

...right over a couple of campers!

"Good job!" Blade droned sarcastically. "You just saved those folks from a nice vacation."

I couldn't help raising an eyebrow. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe they didn't want your help?"

Dusty laughed bitterly and tried to pass his next words off as a joke, but he meant them; I could tell. "Oh, shut up!"

I hope David seems realistic in this story. I'm worried he may be too much of a Sue. I'm trying to portray him not as someone who's perfect, but someone who puts too much pressure on himself to be perfect. I hope that makes sense.