Tyler led me to the truck bay where the rest of his crew was hard at work. Two of them had the hood up on one of the trucks, two were sweeping and mopping the concrete floor, and a few more were in the corner with the equipment.

“What are those?” I asked, pointing to the axe/hammer hybrids hanging from the wall.

“Oh, those are pulaskis. Those,” he said, pointing to a shovel-like tool, “are rhinos. We make those here.”

“You make those?”

“Yeah, with the welder, a saw, a sander, and a few other tools. Whatever we can find, really. We have to get creative sometimes.”

I pulled out my camera, took a few shots of the tools, and then aimed at the crewmembers going about their day. Tyler approached the men tinkering under the hood of a vehicle that looked like an oversized ambulance.

“This is a crew bus,” Tyler said.

“When it runs,” one of the men said.

“The sign outside says Interagency, and you have Interagency equipment here, but also engines, and this is the city fire department?” I asked, confused.

Tyler shrugged. “Double duty. Just makes things easier, especially since a lot of us do both urban and wildland. It’s closer to town, too, during off-season.”

I nodded, pulling out my notepad and pen.

“This,” Tyler said, pointing to a man taller than him, but not as thick, “is Smitty.” The short but solid hotshot wore glasses, and was a sophisticated kind of beautiful, with olive skin and a grease smear on his cheek.

They both wiped their hands on their pants and greeted me.

“Lyle Smith,” Smitty said, shaking my hand.

Tyler pointed to the other one. “This is Taco.”

“Taco?” I asked. His red hair and freckled skin gave me no hint of a reason for the nickname.

“Clinton Tucker. My son is two. When he says our last name, it sounds like taco. Unfortunately, it stuck, but it’s not the worst nickname around here.”

“Does everyone have one? A nickname?” I asked.

Tyler shrugged. “Pretty much.”

“What’s yours?”

Smitty chuckled. “He has one, but no one is brave enough to say it to his face.”

“You’ll have to let me in on that,” I said with a smirk.

“No,” Tyler said. “He won’t.”

I jotted down their names. “Is it hard for you, Taco? Being away from your son for days or weeks at a time?”

“I guess. We don’t really know another way. It’s what I do,” Taco said, wiping his hands with a rag. “During fire season, it’s months at a time.”

“How long have you been a hotshot?”

“This is my fourth season in Colorado.”

I nodded and let them get back to their jobs, then stood in the corner to snap a few candids of them working.