preparing for the burn and AAR

In preparation for the a controlled burn either this summer or next spring the brush clearing at Wharton Brook preserve has been completed. The brush consisted of small birch and oak saplings along with some huckleberry patches. All was chipped and dangerous snags along the edges were removed. More discussion about the fire will come later depending on if and when it happens.

On friday the 30th we had the AAR (after action review) for the hancock lake fire, final acres from gps were 137. Mistakes were gone over, as well as other issues related to a long fire day and it being the first of the season. The big issues brought up were, who was the IC(incident commander) for this fire, lack of personel response that day, equiptment choice made by the crew members and bosses that day, one safety issue was the lack of radio quality and battery life. These issues were addressed and we all learned from them for the future.

The season is beginning so i will be posting more often as we do more to keep the parks maintained and dead for the public to come visit.

first fire of the season!!

On Sunday April 11 at 9pm the call came in for a potential wildfire in Plymouth, CT once the fire was found the State wildland fire crew was activated and at 7am Monday morning a crew was assembled from my unit at sleeping giant state park. Our arrival time on the scene of the fire was approximately 9am and on the fireline at 930. when arriving on the line the fire was approximately 100 yards from the scratch line a previous crew had begun.
The fuel type encountered was mostly mountain laurel and mixed hardwoods with some hemlock and white pine mixed in. the terrain was very steep and shallow soils that slid off the rocks underneath making for very tough going. By noon we had made the top of the hill and about a half mile of improved line was cut. Progress improved after noon but the fire behavior began to change to aggressive and unpredictable, at 1pm we had a close call when the fire began to speed up and fire was running up trees. That situation was under control with some fast foot work and some luck. At about 2pm i noticed that the fire was getting very aggressive very fast and told the others on my small crew that i would check the fire line behind us, soon after going back down the trail i heard yelling to run as fast as i can away from the fire since it had just jumped the line and was running very hard. At 230 the call that the west flank was lost came a new plan was made for the remainder of the night. We were able to attack again at 330 and meet up with the other team to control the other side of the mountain since the west flank would be allowed to burn to the river. The east flank was reinforced and a back fire was set at 6pm and the view off the mountain soon after was amazing, i was able to get a picture from the road below of the back fire. The back fire line was about a half mile long up another very steep slope.
UPDATE: total fire acres was 170-180, We will make the national incident list!!

Career Fair Update!

Unity College to Host Maine’s Largest Environmental Career Fair on Wednesday, February 10

Unity, Maine – January, 2010 – Environmental career employers from across the United States will connect with job seekers at the Unity College Environmental Career Fair 2010 on Wednesday, February 10 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Unity College Gymnasium.
The environmental career recruitment event is open to the general public, though focused on recruitment of recent or anticipated college graduates from across New England. Sponsored by the Unity College Career Resource Center
“We expect over 80 organizations to attend this event,” noted Nicole Collins '00,Unity College Career Consultant & Internship Coordinator. “This will be an opportunity for individuals to explore career options, seek professional advice and secure positions for employment. Also, individuals will have the opportunity to secure internships in traditional as well as emerging environmental fields.”
Employers will offer a variety of presentations and career related materials, including equipment, applications, videos and personal testimonials from Unity College alumni in the field.
Collins noted that the experiential nature of Unity College gives its students a great advantage once they enter their fields, while the success of alumni helps to establish long term relationships with employers and recruitment opportunities.
“This career fair will be an interactive and inspiring event,” noted Collins. She noted that Unity College has been hosting annual career fairs for 20 years, though not all were environmentally focused.
Space is still available. Employers seeking to participate or job seekers who are interested in more information on the environmental career fair may contact the Unity College Career Resource Center at 207.948.3131 ext 213 or by email at ncollins@unity.edu., or visit the center online at http://www.unity.edu/CareerServices/CareerResourceCenter/CareerFair.aspx.
Unity College is located at 90 Quaker Hill Road, Unity, Maine.
Unity College is a small private college in rural Maine that provides dedicated, engaged students with a liberal arts education which emphasizes the environment and natural resources. Unity College graduates are prepared to be environmental stewards, effective leaders, and responsible citizens through active learning experiences within a supportive community.

E-Portfolio Samples

Hi All-

I added a new section highlighting some E-Portfolio samples. While most students use a three ring binder to capture their internship experience, several students have chosen an electronic portfolio. Amber did and incredible job and it looks super sharp. Certainly something she could send on to a potential employer. If you are considering this option, just stop by the CRC and I would be happy to help you get started.

Happy New Year!

Nicole

More from ReVision Energy

So it’s been a WHILE, hasn’t it? Well with the end of semester madness and the slow season upon the renewable installation world it was inevitable that I wouldn’t be getting many hours in at ReVision. So with the tiny amount of spare time I have I’ll update you on the key things I was doing up until the middle of December before we left for break.
That laundry list of tasks that I mentioned before… pretty much all set! The site visit books came together fairly fast once the images were chosen and I had the joy of figuring out how to create the books in Word (~groan~). It’s not that the process was very difficult, it was just so tedious. Every page had to be made individually (as a former student of graphic design I would have rather pulled my eyelashes out… it was just monotonous) and you would say ‘but Heidi, just copy and paste!’ Oh no my friends, every image, text box, and logo needed tweaking. And just when I would complete an entire ‘book’ (ex: Commercial installations) then there was the critiquing and editing process. Now I’m not timid, I’ve been torn up one side and down the other and not flinched, it’s not personal, I get it. But from my previous statement of masochism you can imagine how awesome it was for me to say… change an image, readjust all the type, and then change it back. FUN!
Anyway, it wasn’t all tedious. Those large properties that I tagged and cataloged in Google Earth were for Epstein Properties (the one that was a secret). Well needless to say it’s no longer a secret that we are slapping panels on the womans roofs as fast as we can get our hands on them. FYI, Epstein Properties owns a large chunk of Bangor (like the mall and most of Stillwater Ave.) as well as some areas in Brewer and Old Town. So by next fall we’ll have a large chunk of the Bangor area covered in PV. Yay!!!
What else… I’ve started to answer the phones. There have been a few occasions when I was one of two people working in the office and had to flounder though odd questions from potential customers as well as ones that have been around for a while. All in all it went pretty smoothly (‘Can I take your information and have them call you when they have a minute? :P ). I also printed and compiled those site visit books. Now the guys have updated information and projects to display when they visit potential customers. Complete with product warrantees and updated schematics.
The power points are coming together as well, those are more of a group project though and before the holidays there wasn’t much time to work on them so I have a feeling when I head up there this week that’s what we’ll be focusing on.
This is also the last week that proposals for Efficiency Maine’s commercial project grant can be submitted. The grant basically can be used to pay for half (it’s a matching program) of any renewable or energy conservation job, up to $50,000. The state has a total of 2 million dollars from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to administer for this program. So depending on how the grant writing process is going I may get my first chance at working on getting some grant funds for our customers.
And last but not least, a project that I have taken on as my own, and will be working on as well, involves an idea that Doug Fox had to install solar hot water on the roof of the Unity Laundry Mat and Car Wash. I had the chance to meet Bob (the owner) at the student conference and speak with him briefly about the grant opportunity. He was interested in getting a quote and site visit from ReVision so I will also be setting up those details in the coming weeks as well.
I’ll let you know how it goes in the next installment!

2009 Internship Photo Contest: And The Winner Is...

Kellie Adkins

Kellie Adkins ‘13, a Captive Wildlife Care & Education Major at Unity College, is working with a halter trained Dromedary camel named Johnny during her summer internship at Black Pine Animal Park, in Albion, Indiana. Kellie has been a volunteer at BPAP for three years. It’s a non-profit organization that exists to give displaced, abused, and retired animals a home. A majority of the animals have come from private homes, where people thought they could keep them as pets. “Our mission at the park is to not only provide a safe refuge for these animals, but to educate the public on responsible pet ownership and reinforce the ideal that wild animals are not pets”, said Adkins.
BPAP is home to over 70 big and small cats, bears, primates, birds, reptiles and other former pets and retired performers. “During my internship, I did basic husbandry for small cats, assisted with large cats, primates, reptiles, hoof-stock, and birds. I also led tours and provided animal enrichment” added Adkins.
“My project was to teach Johnny how to walk on lead and follow basic commands. The park is my heart and I look forward to returning during breaks”.

2009 Internship Photo Finalists

Thanks to all students who submitted their 2009 internship photos. This year's photo contest was difficult to judge, being that we had a wide variety of dynamic photos from across the world. We would like to highlight the included photos, as they made it into the finalist pool. All entered photos will also be posted later this week. A second contest will be held next week to judge photos submitted of just landscapes and animals.
Highlighted here are photos from Matty Zane, Deb King, Andy Gagnon, and Adam Douin.