Hungry Bear Heats Up Fire Crew at Camp

By Sherlene Mark

TOK--In July 1998, I was part of the fire crew from Tetlin, an Athabaskan village in eastern Alaska near the border with Canada. Our fire crew was being dispatched to a raging blaze about five miles from Chalkyitsik, another small village in eastern Alaska.

We arrived to find that the furiously spreading forest fire was threatening the village. About 21 crews were already stationed on this gigantic fire in an effort to contain it. We settled into a spot to pitch our tents and to become more comfortable psychologically with what would be our new home for the next 21 blistering, smoky days. We all assumed that this out-of-control fire posed the biggest and only threat to our lives on that summer evening.

We figured wrongly, as a matter of fact.

We were going about our routine at fire camp. We prepared our tools for the following day. We sharpened our palaskis (shovels) with files provided in our fire packs. Each crew member receives a fire pack on departure day from our home station, which in our case is Tok Forestry. We learned we would be doing the morning shift on the fire.

As my cousin and I were getting to know our new neighbors, we also thought about having to survive on those nasty, taste-challenged MRE's (meals ready to eat). Of course, there is always plenty of food at camp to keep the crew going, including what's known as the "food box," which consists of steaks, potatoes, canned goods and snacks. We had no idea at the time, however, that the camp food that would sustain would also soon be threatening our safety.

Time came for us to try to sleep after our long flight to the area of the fire, where we would be working the fire-line. At that time, my now-husband Larry was my then-companion. We went to our tent for a night's sleep. During this time, my cousin Barbie needed to take a walking trip to the "outhouse." She asked me to join her.

"No, thanks," I said. "But we are on a bear trail. Be careful that no bears peak in at you."

"Yea, right," she replied, rolling her eyes.

Just minutes later, we heard heavy steps pass our tent. I looked at Larry. I remarked at how loud the steps were, like thunder on the ground. Not long after, my cousin passed again.

"I made it with no problem," Barbie said, assuming no one was in danger.

As she was walking to her tent, though, Barbie had to pass the part of the campsite where the crew gathers to eat and wind down after many grueling hours on the fire-line. Suddenly she suddenly roared back as if someone or something was chasing her.

"Get up! Get up!" Barbie yelled. "A bear is getting into our food box!"

We didn't believe her, of course. We figured she was joking, getting back for our still-fresh bear warning to her that she hadn't taken seriously. Then Barbie started cussing uncharacteristically, like a sailor after one too many beers.

That's when I realized Barbie wasn't kidding. We grabbed our boots and tools. We scrambled to where our squad boss had left the food. Sure enough, a black bear was rummaging through our food box. The whole crew tried to chase the bear away, but a bunch of bleary-eyed fire-fighters armed with only axes and palaskis was proving no match for scaring away a bear with only food and an easy meal on its mind.

As with any bear under attack, its ears were back. Its hair was sticking up behind his neck. We all recognized that eventually this ole boy could launch into attack mode at any moment. I then remembered a lesson from my grandpa about bear attacks, for use only with no other man or men present.

Since there were plenty of men around, I hollered to Larry to speak to the bear in our Athabascan language, whispering each word clearly into his ear. Finally my husband listened to me about what to say to the bear and did what I asked him to say: "Go away. Why are you doing this?"

The bear looked directly at my husband, grabbed a bag of oranges, and ran off into the woods.

The whole crew gathered around the camp site after that to allow the adrenaline to subside before returning to our tents. We still had fires to fight the next day and needed a good night's sleep.

The next morning, the crew boss was just returning from his daily briefing about the fire. He mentioned that bears were around and to take precautions. We also found out that the fire supervisors had ordered a certified shooter to get the bear but had only injured it.

Fortunately, that bear never returned to our site for our remaining days fighting that fire.

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