Application needed...

I think I've started three different blogs since I last posted. Each time I sat down to write, words were penned, but it never seemed the words were timely. So I let them pass and let new words come to mind - but they too were not timely. Yet today, something timely has come up and I feel it's important to pen, and actually post.

If you have paid any attention to the news within the last few days, you'll have noticed that Southern California has been under a bit of a fire crisis. From Malibu to San Diego, were seeing our natural terrain turn to scorched earth, taking the lifelong possessions of many along the way.

This scenario is not new to Southern Californians. Whenever the Santa Ana winds blow, the news shares countless reminders that we're under a fire watch. As a child, I saw news reports play out warning after warning... warnings that then become live reports beside a mountain that was ablaze.

As predictable as the fire season is, and as painful as the devastation can be to families, there's another constant that is present each time these headlines flash on our television screens - the fact that I want to be a wildfire firefighter.

The exact moment occurred to me a few years ago - while watching helplessly the Cedar Fire tear through areas of San Diego. I was watching childhood fishing spots, communities where I played high school sports, so many communities being bulldozed by fire... and all I wanted to was skip my college classes and drive south.

As a young boy, I didn't mind digging holes in the ground for no reason, chopping wood for hours upon end, or staring at the creation of fire endlessly into the evening. I started wondering if these kinds of items could be put on a resume for "Why I should be a Volunteer CDF (Calif. Dept. of Forestry) Firefighter." These are men who are called at a moments notice, told to show up with their gear of minimal hand tools (think shovels and saws) and directed to cut fire lines into the terrain. Sometimes they are driven, sometimes told to hike, and other times parachuted from an airplane.

Their tireless work during fire season reminds me of my work in the education system - hours of toil and focus to accomplish a task that may help countless, or only a few. And though my danger of getting burned is only by the harsh words of parents, theirs is very real, and something we all are appreciative of - though one I wouldn't shy away from.

And so whenever the winds start blowing, and I'm forced to watch my state from a distance, I wonder if there is a way I can become a CDF member, available to be called in and help save not just my hometown, but anyone's...