Fire Monks (39 page)

189 Smoke inhalation causes more deaths from fires than burns do: From
www.emedicinehealth.com
and
www.firesmoke.org
.

193 Tassajara planned to dismantle it: A new retreat center is under construction at the time of this book's writing. The canvas tent yurt will remain as the primary workshop space until the center is completed.

194 Harmony of Difference and Equality Sutra: By Sekitō Kisen (700–790). From the collaborative translation used at San Francisco Zen Center,
http://www.sfzc.org/sp–download/liturgy/12–Harmony–of–Difference–and–Equality-cc.pdf

203 “An ancient Buddha said”: These lines are from Dōgen's Yuibutsu Yobutsu, “Only a Buddha and Buddha.” Former resident Meiya Wender made the plaque. Kazuaki Tanahashi's translation can be found in
Moon in a Dewdrop
, p. 161.

205 A time when female Zen students deliberately disfigured themselves: See
Zen Women: Beyond Tea Ladies, Iron Maidens, and Macho Masters
(Boston: Wisdom, 2009) by Grace Schireson, a Dharma-transmitted priest in the Suzuki Roshi lineage.

207 “Firewood becomes ash”: From the Genjo Koan. See chapter 3 note on the translation.

219 “It is
like
a massive fire”: From the Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi, or Hōkyō Zammai, by Tōzan Ryōkai (807–869). Accessible at
http://www.sfzc.org/sp–download/liturgy/16–Song–of–the–Jewel–Mirror–Samadhi.pdf
.

222 Defended the tanks and the observatory structure himself: According to MIRA caretaker Ivan Eberle, a contracted hotshot crew stood by taking souvenir photos and refused to help him during the fire's July 12 run at the observatory. “I did cajole one hotshot into helping me untangle and unkink the hose and hold the nozzle end for a moment while I sprinted 30 yards to turn the electric fire pump on,” Eberle wrote in an e-mail to me. “He thrust the nozzle back into my hands after I did so and that was the sum of the help they gave me.” In an April 17, 2009, article in the
Pine Cone
, a local newspaper, Eberle conceded that he may have brushed up against one of the firefighters while unrolling hose, but he was shocked when six deputies from the Monterey County Sheriff's Office showed up the following day to warn him that if he so much as spoke with another firefighter, he'd be arrested for interfering with operations. Eberle was eventually charged with two misdemeanors, battery on an individual and interfering with the duties of a firefighter. He told me that surely he'd have “gone down the hill in bracelets” on Sunday, July 13, had the charges already been “cooked up.” He spent thousands on legal fees and hours assembling photos to assist in his defense and was fired from his caretaker job at MIRA, a position he had held for twelve years. The charges were dropped, but the fact that crews stood by and watched while Eberle attempted to knock down the flames alone rattles him still. “Asked to stay and help with the firefight by every division supervisor and branch director I encountered, and assured of structure protection and safe passage if I did, I nevertheless found myself with no engine crews nearby on the morning of July 12. . .. There was an imminent danger to the community of Jamesburg being rolled by fire within hours that was never publicly acknowledged.”

227 Sixteen helicopters and six fixed-wing aircraft: Morales based his numbers mostly on the daily ICS 209 report for July 10. There were actually nineteen helicopters assigned to the incident that day, sixteen of which belonged to the USFS. Of the six aircraft, three were USFS planes. “I pointed my criticism at the USFS because they were in charge of the fire,” Morales told me later.

228 Members of the incident management team told me: Retired IC Bill Molumby and CAL FIRE unit chief Rick Hutchinson (who replaced George Haines, also retired). Molumby and Hutchinson both worked in unified command on the Indians and Basin Complex fires.

229 For fear of being sued: In a November 11, 2006, article on
www.dailybulletin.com
, IC Dietrich pointed to Public Law 107-203 as the reason why “every Forest Service employee who's in a management position should have professional liability insurance.” The 2002 legislation (sponsored by Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat, and Representative Doc Hastings, a Republican, both from Washington) requires an independent investigation when a USFS firefighter dies in a burnover or entrapment. Arguing that citizens have the right to protect their properties “when nobody else will” at a Big Sur community meeting in August 2008, Micah Curtis, whose brother Ross was arrested on July Fourth, protested: “Prosecuting commanders who lose people is crazy! Firefighting is dangerous. They don't tell these cops not to go into East L.A.” Transcript available at
http://www.kusp.org/fire/sur.html
.

230 Given a sense of responsibility: Ted Marshall, Tassajara fire marshal in 1977, told me that the policy of having the abbot be the responsible leader “needs to be soberly addressed. We need to be able to entrust the most capable person to lead a firefighting effort to do just that.” Marshall acknowledged the importance of the abbot's position but said it is “not to be confused with the right person to accomplish any and all tasks.” Ted Putnam and Karl Weick would agree (see note, chapter 11, “Organizing for Mindfulness”): “expert decision making can arise spontaneously where it is needed most and is independent of rank, position, or expectations.”

232 Creator of the
Sitting with Ginger
mock blog: Alec Henderson,
http://sittingwithginger.blogspot.com/
.

234 Firefighter Andrew Palmer: Details from
Accident Investigation: Factual Report
, July 25, 2008, at
www.nps.gov
.

237 Donations poured in: Revenue shortfalls from the guest season and expenses generated by the fire were compensated for by insurance payments and generous donations from sangha members. “We came out ahead,” said Zen Center president Robert Thomas, “and we were trying to get there because we were anticipating a shortfall due to the fire for the following guest season.” That expected shortfall did occur, and continuing fire-related repairs and building expenses chipped away at the surplus until the fire was “pretty much a wash”—in financial terms, at least.

June 25.
Residents say good-bye at the work circle after being ordered to evacuate. Only fourteen would stay behind.

June 28.
Simon Moyes sets up Dharma Rain on the bathhouse roof.

July 1.
CAL FIRE captains Dave “Spanky” Nicolson (far left) and Stuart Carlson (right) confer over maps with Tassajara student fire marshal Devin Patel.

Water pumped from Tassajara Creek fed the Dharma Rain sprinklers throughout the fire.

July 2.
Resident Bryan Clark looks up the Tassajara Creek watershed from Hawk Mountain. Almost two weeks after the lightning strikes, flames had not been spotted yet from within Tassajara.

Tassajara director David Zimmerman (left) gives Basin Complex fire branch commander Jack Froggatt (in yellow) and Abbot Steve Stücky a tour of the residents' fire preparations on July 2.