Knott's Salutes Firefighters

Firefighter and guest get in free, 6 additional guests get in for $17.00...

Just needs agency ID, Forest Service Red Cards work, we used our Link Pass last year.

A note from one of our followers

Thanks so much ladies. Just reading your words, knowing you understand is so comforting. Abigail, I can't even imagine being a "single mom" for MONTHS at a time. Or maybe I don't want to! You are stronger than I. Since it's October now, I hope your WFF is home.
Trina, a 24/48 FF is far from "plain and boring"! Not only is wildland firefighting rare here. But so are full-time FDs. The communities are so small they're all volunteer. So I don't even know any wives of full-time structure FFs either!
And my husband is on the volunteer dept too. So even when his is home we lose him when the pager goes off as well. The other volunteer FF wives understand dealing with our FFs leaving during supper, baseball games, birthday parties. But they can't relate to being without him 24 hours a day.
My WFF came home on Tuesday. So we're the excitement of him being home has waned a little. Now we're dealing with reverting back to our old routine together. Even a good change is still change. The good news is it sounds like he'll be home for awhile.
Again, thanks for your thoughts. Hope to see you around this blog and other FF wife blogs in the future.

From a WFFW

Here's an email I recieved from a WFFW. If you have any suggestions on how to handle her feelings, especially as a new mom. Please click on post a comment and share.


Hello!

My name is Tracy. My husband is a wildland firefighter. I've been following your blog for a few months now, and wanted to thank you for writing about it. We live in Iowa. Needless to say, wildfire isn't very common here. So I don't have any other WFF wives geographically close who understand. The wives of volunteer structure fire fighters and even local police officers can sort of relate. But it's not the same, as you know. Reading your blog makes me feel like I'm not loosing my mind.

My husband is in Marble Falls, Texas right now. Day six of his third 2-week detail of the season. Probably doesn't sound like much to you. I assume living in an area that sees fire your husband is out all the time. But it's the most my WFF has been gone since we got married five years ago. Almost six. Our anniversary is later this month. He's supposed to be home by then, but you never know.

I was excited for his first detail this season. Possibly even more so than he was. It was an adventure. And one that paid pretty well. This time it took some adjustment. Before it was just the two of us. But now we have a son who just turned one. The very first day our WFF was gone I realized what I was in for. I made a quick run to town. With my son. By myself. And I had to pee. Being the sole provider was tough. But it was still exciting. My WFF was making a difference. He was helping people. Saving property, maybe even lives. He's our hero.

Our WFF was only home for a week before he got orders for a second detail. The break was enough to rejuvenate me. I was ready to tackle another two weeks. Sure, some days were more exhausting than others. But I knew our WFF needed to know everything was OK back home. I told him we were doing great and smiled so he could hear it in my voice. And it was okay. It just wasn't the same.

When he got called this time, the excitement had worn off. I thought about every diaper change, every tear, every rough night, every daycare drop off and pick up, every feeding, every bedtime... for two weeks. More than two weeks. I was instantly tired. But the pity party didn't last long. Never does when I stop to think about the people he'll help, the lives he'll change. So I did laundry and helped him pack.

I miss him. Our son is too young to really understand. But we kiss a photo of Daddy good night. In the morning as we walk out the door, we kiss his photo again and tell him to be safe today.

Everything is fine at home. Just different.

And it's good to know someone else understands.

Teaching him about why Daddy has to leave again

Our son is old enough to understand that Daddy fights fires and comes home when he puts them out. My husband has had many assignments recently that took him away from our family time on his day off. Even though we tell him, it's hard on our son, when Daddy leaves again.

We were about 15 minutes from an amusement park (we had been so excited to visit) when hubby's cell phone rang. I was dispatch with an order "immediate need" which means it's a 4 hour call back. Basically from that phone call they have 4 hours to be at work and en route to the assignment. So we turned around and headed home, our son was sad when we said we can't go (to the amusement park) because Daddy has to go to a fire. He got upset because he thought we meant we couldn't go to the park because it was on fire. Hubby & I tried to keep the attitude positive but we both felt sad that our family day plans had been canceled. We know this is part of the job and that we have to be flexible, but it's hard to explain to a 2 1/2 year old.

Yesterday, hubby and our son had some Father/Son time alone, without Mommy. They went to a kid's indoor play area and were having fun together. Hubby said he felt his phone vibrate and he just had a feeling. So he stepped aside to listen to his voicemail, and was sad to return to our son and tell him they had to leave. So hubby sat him down and said "okay we're going down the slide 2 more times, then we have to leave. Daddy has to go fight a fire." Our son told hubby on the way home, "I had fun wit ou Daddy." My husband is our hero and we're thankful for what he does to provide for our family. However, it's moments like that he said make it hard to leave us. Last night on the phone, hubby told our son how much he had fun with him today. Our son smiled and said "me too, Daddy."

I understand this job and the sudden urgency it can have. However, this is a tough one. I have to admit, I am sad when hubby leaves again, too. Please share your ideas, tips or thoughts on this by emailing me at firemans.wyf@gmail.com or posting a comment..

PS- I'd like to take a moment to offer condolences and prayers of comfort to our fellow FF wives who lost their husbands in the tragedy of 9/11. Even though our husbands may fight different types of fires, we share a common bond of being married to a fireman. We mourn with you and pray that you'll find comfort and healing as the years go by.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSvwgqwdYYU&feature=related

The little Firefighter toy

We thought and thought about how we wanted to include our son in Daddy being gone, fighting fires. Our son has a large collection of fire toys (go figure.....LOL), so before my husband left for his first fire this year, he asked our son "What do you want Daddy to take on the fire?" Our son got excited, grabbed his Little People fireman and said "this one, Daddy." I am happy to share with you that I have seen the little fireman in Daddy's pocket of his nomex shirt. Every fire he goes on, he takes a picture and sends it to our son. As you can see, some are on the fire line while others are in
the area of the fire. Our son gets so excited when Daddy sends him the picture. I have kept a folder on our desktop with all the pictures and title them where the picture was taken. It will be fun to print the pictures off at the end of every season and keep them in a little photo book. I figure when our son gets older he will really love to look at the book and know that every fire Daddy has gone to, he was in Daddy's thoughts.






If you have children, I encourage you and your hubby to find something special like this. I'd love to hear some of your ideas firemans.wyf@gmail.com

Different departments, but same lives

This past week an opportunity came up for myself and two other WFFW to chat. It was so nice to share similar stories and to understand lingo and feelings that only the WFF community knows. As I was visiting and laughing with them, it occurred to me that even though our husbands worked for different WFF agencies, we still had a common lifestyle. I know from experience that the FF community is a huge family. I feel like even though I have no biological sisters, I have found my sisters in the WFFW family. It's so nice to know that when things get busy, stressful or funny; other women can relate. I hope you email me your thoughts, stories or whatever that I can (moderate) and post to our blog. firemans.wyf@gmail.com

Random stuff

This will be a bit longer post. First I'd like to remind that even though I'm the moderator and have control over posts, this is your blog, too. I'd like to take some time to answer a comment left from a fellow WFFW (girlfriend):
I'm a WWF gf, this is my first season. He was sent out on his first fire today. I thought I was prepared to deal with the waiting, but I'm so scared. How do you deal with the not knowing?

I have learned (15yrs now) how to deal with the waiting. One piece of advice: Stay busy, and keep your cell phone close. When you're not busy, doing things you normally would be doing, your mind has time to worry and wonder what's happening. When we first got married, I remember thinking I couldn't leave the house (this was before cell phones were really popular) because he "might" call. Now, with cell phone in hand, I continue to leave the house and have fun with family and friends. You have to "keep the fire burning" (no pun intended) while they are gone. My husband shared with me, how he feels relieved knowing that I am at home keeping things together and how he wants me to go do things. I enjoyed (before having a child) scrap booking........it's relaxing and makes me happy to see pictures with his smiling face!! My husband and I have a strong belief in God, so I just pray for his safety and pray for my peace of mind while he's gone. Hang in there, know that you are not alone in your feelings and that during fire season, especially, many women are just like you. But, from my husband's advice to me and I'm sure your BF would agree, it helps them to think clearly and do their job if they know you are okay. Plus, you have this blog to come to and read...

********************************
Now, for some random stuff (might help you, too) but I'm feeling like this needs to be posted tonight.

Tonight while saying our bedtime prayers, my son (2 1/2 yrs) informed me that he would pray. Usually I pray and he copies my words. So tonight, he bowed his head with hands folded and eyes closed. His little whisper words "Dear God, Daddy....Fire.....Home.......all done." I almost started crying knowing that in his mind, he was talking to God about keeping his Daddy safe and bring him home, soon. In a bit of regards to the above post, yes, I still worry when he's gone. I am always praying for his safety and for his strength while on the fire line. However, I have realized that as a WFF Wife and now Mommy, I have to be an example to my son. If he knows how much I love Daddy and he hears my continuously talk about Daddy, then he will grow up to know that his Daddy works hard to provide for our family. Daddy loves us and misses us. He's always thinking about us. Daddy is good at his work and loves being outside. His Daddy can't wait to come home and go play with us, too. I'm finding this whole role of being a WFFW has changed now with a child.

For my peace of mind, my husband bought this really cool device called a SPOT device. When he's in an area where he can't get cell service, he just hits the button, which sends a message to my cell phone and to my email. It is a GPS tracking device, so on a google map, it marks the exact location where he's at. I love when I get the message on my cell phone, because I feel like he had a moment to say "I'm thinking about you" but couldn't use the phone....he used his SPOT device. Tonight he told me that he programmed another button this year, to send me a message to my cell phone but not email. It will simply say "I love you." When he told me this tonight, during our phone call as he's been on a fire for 6 days and looks like it will be another 2 weeks, I wanted to cry. To know that he has moments during the day when I cross his mind, in the midst of being hot, tired and working in extreme conditions. During the day when I get the GPS message, I tell our son to come to the computer so we can see Daddy. He sits on my lap and as I zoom into the map, you can actually see a red dot in the exact area where Daddy is. Obviously it's not a live picture, in most cases it's about a year old satellite picture. But our son gets excited, puts his finger on the dot and says "I see Daddy!!" He leans in close to the computer screen and kisses it. He started saying (this week) after he kisses it "I love my Daddy". So after that random rambling, I just encourage you to find a special way to keep in touch with your WFF. I am not selling, nor do I have any intentions of selling this product. But if it's an expense you can afford, I suggest the SPOT tracking device. We also use SKYPE when he's in an area where he's on his laptop (usually travel status, not on a fire). This morning, while he was in staging, we got to SKYPE with him with the web cam. Our son had so much fun making silly faces at his Daddy and talking to him, too. For me, it was sooooo good to see him. Even though I know what he looks like (since we've been married for a long time), it is such a good feeling to see him not just hear his voice. The only part I hate, is at the end of the call, when we say "Talk to you later" and hang up. For me that part of a phone call, and now SKYPE is the hardest. We don't like to say "good-bye" because it's not, it's a "see you later" moment. To me "good-bye" seems like a permanent statement. "See you later" means we'll see each other again soon. Those are just a few funny quirks I have. I also save text messages from him, so I can read them when I'm missing him and sad. I love to read the words and feel like I can hear him say them to me. I have surrounded myself with a big support group of friends from church, other WFFW and lots of my non-fire friends & family. They help with things while he's gone and also just offer a huge support of any physical needs and also help pray for him. The friendship I have with one WFFW has been especially encouraging to me. She is awake late at night, when I can't sleep, so we text each other. We take our kids to parks and do other stuff with them, too. We don't ever have a pity party over being alone, rather we keep each other strong and encourage each other on hard days. Just to know she knows exactly what I'm going through, first hand, is so special to me. I would have never been blessed to have her friendship just because. But, because we are both very faithful, supportive WFFW, we have developed a strong friendship, too. Not to mention our husbands are on the same crew.
I hope this post isn't boring or makes you feel like I'm bragging. I simply am sharing some things that I have discovered or done over the years. Every year, I still worry. But these small things have helped me tremendously!!!

I pray for safety for your WFF this year!! I pray that you find comfort in knowing that he loves you!! Stay busy, stay strong, be supportive and love on him, lots!!