The two guys in the white T-shirts were the other two guys up there, I was wearing a black sweatshirt I had in my truck and I was below them. They went ahead and stomped out spots while I followed up and dug line directly on the fire. They helped a lot. I tried to convince them to stay further down and not get uphill of the fire but they were confident that they could jump it if it picked up. This worried me because grass fires can move 60+ mph uphill in a strong wind. I was hot but I put on the sweatshirt for fire protection. T-shirt + fire fighting = bad idea.
When I was first taking off up the hill I was mostly concerned for the guys already on the hill. I am a certified wildland firefighter and a certified EMT and I was worried that these guys would get hurt. After I got up to them and talked to them I felt better, they seemed to have a good handle on the safety precautions. Karen yelled at me when I was taking off up the hill but I told her who and what I was and she let me go. She was more worried about her shooters lives than the grass above the range and for that she is to be commended. She was absolutely right to be worried because if something goes wrong on the fire front and you don't know what to do, you are screwed. Like I said, fire moves fast, and until you've actually seen one pick up in the wind and haul a$$ you can't even imagine what it's capable of doing. I've only seen little flare ups in my limited exposure to fire but it was enough to drive the message home.
Karen and I talked for a bit when I came down and she is a real sweetheart.
CM
P.S. - Took my CCW class last night. Yay!