Steaks for Firefighters

This has been a slow year for fire kitchen pictures. Outside of the few mobile kitchen photos I posted earlier this summer, federal incident command information officers have focused on the fires and not on the camp and logistics mechanism behind each fire.

Often, incident photographers post a series of camp pictures on incident websites. This gives viewers a look at the large "overhead" structure that keeps the firefighters on the fireline.

In the photo, two cooks from Stewart's Figherfighter Food Catering of Redmond, Oregon grill steaks behind mobile kitchen unit SK-103B at the Burgdorf Fire in the summer of 2000.

According to the 2006 Mobile Food Service Contract, Stewart's three large kitchens are capable of feeding 1,800 diners per day each. The federal government paid Stewart's approximately $45 per firefighter fed per day. Each mobile kitchen consisted of a kitchen trailer, two refrigeration units, handwashing unit, water hauler, supply truck and bunkhouse.

The Burgdorf Fire burned more than 64,000 acres in Idaho's Payette National Forest July to September 2000. Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division assisted the U.S. Forest Service to contain the wildfire.