South Pole Bound

Hey Y'all. So I just accepted a position to work at the South Pole, as a firefighter, for the rest of the summer season. I bet you have a bunch of questions for me so this entry will be in the Q&A format that many of you enjoy:

Phil, aren't you like at the South Pole now?
No my friend, I am technically on Ross Island, a part of Antarctica joined by the ice shelf and the frozen sea ice. The South Pole is actually several hours South of here. It is literally the bottom of the earth, while I am more at the edge of the bottom.

Wait, there is a South Pole Station? I thought it was an Illuminati Conspiracy!
No my overly paranoid friend. There is a pole station, owned and operated by the USAP. It is a giant building. There used to be a dome down there, but it is no longer operational to my knowledge.

How is this assignment different from McMurdo?
This assignment is basically 98% ARFF, for the Air Force to fly to the Pole Station. They need our crew to man our ARFF sled down there so they can deliever fuel and supplies to the Station. There is a fire crew down there that is made up of a volunteer squad of scientists. Our small force will train these guys, but they will be running the show. This is because when winter comes, all of our guys pull out to go back to McMurdo (or home) and they are stuck there. So besides inspections and flight stand by's...I imagine that is all I'll be doing for work, but I'll keep ya'll informed.

How is the Internet situation down thurrrrr?
I hope you mean "down there", we speak the queens english on this blog my friend. But seriously, I have been told that the Internet situation is roughly 10 hours of really slow Internet a day. The 10 hours depend on the satellites and a couple other factors. I'll be updating this blog as often as I can and answering emails too.

I sent you a package...will it make it to you?
Yes, I believe they will be forwarding my mail down to the Pole. At a later date I will be posting my new shipping address.

How many people are you working with down there?
A total of 6 people will be down there. I will be going with one other firefighter and the Pole Captain. There will be 3 rotating people from McMurdo FD coming down for 32 days at a time, approx. Last year all the firefighter slots were rotating, so this is pretty exciting.

You must be jazz-er-cised, no?
Yea I am. I wanted to go to Pole wicked bad. So when I was offered to spend all season down there I jumped on the chance. It will be tough, hours will be long, but I think it will be worth it. I've experienced McMurdo and I'm ready for a different assignment. Worst case scenario, if I don't like it...I can transfer back to McMurdo. Fun Fact: Everyone will be literally north of me when I'm down there...so that is something I'm really digging right now.

Is it cold there?
I'll answer this question because I'm sure some people want to know how cold is it. It is usually around a warm -40 degrees bellow zero (f). I have seen -50 and I think -70 at one point last summer. McMurdo will be around 15-20 above zero. It is also really high elevation down there, so all of the Antarctic winds start and end there due to the cold temperatures. All these factors will be interesting at best.

I saw the movie Whiteout and...
STOP RIGHT THERE BUSTER. That movie is so wrong. It did get all the names of the places down here right...but the geography is false. There are no mountains at the South Pole...just flat ice for miles and miles. I hear it is just like Kansas, sort of. Flat, WHITE and boring. Eat that Kansas.

So I hope that answers all your questions...now for the last one When am I leaving?
Um well that is really up in the air. Sometime between Oct. 11th and Nov. 1st. In theory. It all depends on the weather and on the planes. I may fly down in a Bazler or a LC-130. So more on that when I find out. But yea, fairly soon. It will be sad to leave McMurdo...but one of the reasons I came down here was to make it to pole.

So Alex Davis, my good friend, I challenge you to get further South than me. I'm going to pole, so unless you also make it here....I think I won this contest, sucker. Everyone else, take care and I'll keep you in the loop too.