Gardnerville retiree runs mobile tower for fire helibase

While most Carson City residents had their attention drawn to the unstoppable blaze west of town during the Waterfall fire, a handful of others were focused on a green meadow off Jacks Valley Road.

For several days during the fire, a temporary helicopter base was set up there on the ranch owned by John Ascuaga. As many as 15 helicopters of different sizes and shapes used the base for several days to refuel, have maintenance done, and pick up supplies and fire crews.

Gardnervile's John Damann was in the middle of the action.

"It was like a war zone," he said. "The only thing is, you're fighting the fire instead of the enemy."

Damann maintains a mobile "flight tower" around which temporary firefighting helicopter bases are built. It's a part-time job with Special Operations Group, a Cody, Wyo., company.

"It's basically a 25-foot tow trailer I pull behind my truck," he said. "It's got telephones, radios, fax machines, a sat phone, a refrigerator, coffee pots, copy machines. It's just like a big office."

When a fire starts and the helibase is needed, Damann is called into action. After he puts the trailer in place, it's staffed by flight controllers from the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service, Damann said. Trucks of all kinds surround it - fuel, water, crash-rescue and fire crew trucks.

"I just take care of the trailer and do the maintenance on it - wash the windows, whatever the guys need," he said. "And I keep the generator running - keep it gassed up, check the oil. I'm like the grease monkey on a ship."

Damann isn't unhappy working behind the scenes; he's spent plenty of time on the front lines. He retired 10 years ago after 31 years with the Forest Service. Most of that time was spent in the Angeles National Forest in Southern California. He worked in law enforcement and did every job in firefighting from being on a hot shot crew to directing bulldozers that cut fire breaks.

"When I first started with the Forest Service, I made $1.75 an hour. And we all thought that was a lot back then. That was in 1962."

Now that he's retired, he and his wife, Tana, like to attend car shows with their 1967 Chevelle Supersport. Damann, whose grown children live in California, enjoys restoring old hotrods and gasoline pumps.

But when fire season comes around each year, he gets a dose of excitement. Whether he sets the mobile flight tower trailer up at Minden Airport to coordinate firefighting near Walker or tows it out to Jacks Valley, Damann is ready too go.

"When you have 10 helicopters coming to land and refuel, and you have three taking off all at the same time, it's something different to see," he said.

Contact Karl Horeis at khoreis@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1219.