Our longest fire camp experience was near Prairie City, Oregon, a 21-day ordeal where our kitchen unit served 1,500 firefighters and support personnel.

My wife and I worked a couple of seasons for OK Cascade, a Bothell company owned by the Keener family well known to us.

The hourly pay was small, but we often got 50-60 hours of overtime a week.

We would get a call from the company and immediate...