02x08 - Fire Line

[bunniefuu]

[Jared] One of my mentors
once told me,

"Logging is a very bumpy road,"

and this season
has proved him right

over and over, and over again.

This new claim
is a logger's dream

that'll make my business thrive

and not only change my life,
but the lives of my crew.

But time is not on our side.

The end of summer logging season

isn't days away, it's here.

We gotta fire up for [bleep]

[narrator]
Previously...

-[long beep]
-[Jared] It's dead.

...on "The Last Woodsmen"...

[bleep]

[Jared] I think I'm cursed.

...after logging like hell
to hold on to his chance

for the Forever Claim.

She's going, she's going.

Oh, baby.

Booyah!

Jared and the Cypress
Creek crew

face a flat out sprint
against fire shutdowns...

There she goes!

...with one goal ahead.

[Jim] Making some noise.

...to pack one last
log barge at the claim...

Look at that.

It's gonna start
your saw on fire.

...and settle up...

No more excuses.

$150,000 on that next barge.

...before time runs out
on the summer logging season.

Got to get the [bleep] wood
to the [bleep] barge,

before John Mohammed
takes my [bleep].

Oh, it's going.

Saved out pretty good.

[Jared] This creek's drier
than my bank account.

The annual summer fire
shutdown is almost here,

and Jared and his crew have up
to three days left

to fill one last log barge

and deliver a $150,000 royalty.

It is hot.

Like, it's in the air.
You can just feel the heat.

We've had setback...

after setbacks
at the Forever Claim.

[bleep]

[exhales sharply]

[Jared] Once it gets too dry,
we have no choice,

we're gonna have to shut down.

Here we go.

[Glen] Contact!

OK, Glen, while you're
working that high side,

I'll be on the low
side here, bucking.

[Glen] Roger.

To maximize wood
moving off the hillside,

Jared's teaming up
with a critical element

of his operation,

the super snorkel.

[Jared] Super snorkel's
like fishing for wood.

You cast out there
and you grab it.

It's grab-and-go,

it can produce
thousands of dollars

in profit a day,

and that's
what we need right now.

[Jared] My main concern

is getting these logs
small enough

so Glen can pull them
to the road.

This spruce is extremely
knotty and heavy.

The knots will hang up.

But my job right now
is to make them small enough

that Glen
can yard them to the road

and they're ready
to go on a truck

off to the barge,
off to the market.

On its own,
this snorkel

can harvest five truckloads
of timber a day.

But with time running out,

an extra man on the ground
can yield up to seven.

[Jared] Hold for a sec, Glen.

You see that snag up there?

I'm just wondering if maybe
you can beat that thing down

with the end of your snorkel.

[Glen] You bet you.

That is definitely
the way to do it.

Best in the west
couldn't be beat in the east.

[bleep] wild man.

[Glen] That'll make it
a little safer.

That's much safer.

And hey, we got some
free trees out of that one.

Good job, Glen.
That was [bleep] awesome.

[Rob] Getting hot.

[breathing heavily]

[Jim] Don't know if we're gonna
be making it to this afternoon.

[Rob] Oh, who knows?

Maybe we'll get
shut down for heat.

Further up the mountain,

Jim and Rob search

for the biggest
end-of-life-cycle trees

to tip the inbound barge
into the black.

[Rob exhales]

A bit of a tough one
ahead of us, looks like.

But as far
as wood's concerned,

highly valuable.
-[Jim] Yeah.

You're gonna have to
watch this -- this --

Look at this dry duff.

That, when you're cutting,
you're gonna have to watch

that [bleep] doesn't
catch on fire.

[Jim] We have to be cognizant
of where we're putting our saw

against the tree.

We've got debris that looks
like it's drier than hell.

And if that actually went up
and it lit this thing on fire,

I actually don't believe
we'd be able to stop this.

[soft tapping]

[Rob] You got some sound wood
in the front, though.

[Jim] Yeah, it's just where
we're gonna wanna
put this is all.

If I can keep it away
from that stump,

that'd be the best
case scenario.

[Rob] I think so.

[Jim] Although there's another
stump just to the left

of those balsams too, though.

[Rob] Oh, it's gonna be
a pain in the a*s.

[Jim] Yeah.

Right in the middle of this
trough that I'm aiming for,

we have two great big stumps.

And I'm gonna wanna
avoid these stumps.

I'm gonna wanna
avoid those trees.

And I'm gonna
wanna avoid those logs

that are beside me, so --

there's a very,
very small window

that I'm trying to sh**t for.

And I'm gonna have
to control this

as well as I can.

To keep this 170-foot tinder
box from breaking,

Jim will carefully aim
his undercut straight downhill

and try to thread the tree
between two stumps below.

But if at any point

his chainsaw muffler ignites
the dry debris on the trunk,

his whole plan could,
literally, go up in flames.

OK, Jim, you wanna get
the [bleep] down now?

Yeah.

Uh...there is one thing.

I wouldn't mind maybe
grabbing that one first.

[Rob] Yeah, you bump that
with this thing,

and there's gonna be
[bleep] flying everywhere.

[Jim] If this thing
hit those logs,

it's gonna be
bouncing around.

I'm gonna wanna avoid that.

We're gonna have
to remove dead obstacles

that could cause problems.

But on top of that,
we have to be extra cognizant

of where the saw is gonna be.

Just cause
of the dust could light up,

then could potentially
light this forest up.

[coughs]

[chainsaw powers off]

Oh, that's what I'm
talking about.

Exactly what I'm talking about.

Just this little bit
of tiny mufflers touch...

[coughs] Excuse me,

on this dry...

punky stuff, and you can see...

we've actually got
glowing cherry.

-Just like that.
-Got smoke there, Jim?

Yeah, I got smoke here, Ed.

[Rob] Holy [bleep]

Extreme heat, yeah.

[Rob] Well, let's get her
done then.

[Jim] All right,
making some noise!

[Rob] You can't see it,
but those saws,

if you run them in the dark,

they're actually sh**ting
flames out of the exhaust.

So it doesn't take much.

You get close enough,
and you're starting a fire.

Yeah.
It -- it's gonna be close.

[chainsaw powers off]

-I think that's pretty even.
-[Jim] Should be good to go.

-[Jim] I'll start my back cut.
-[Rob] Let her rip.

[Jim] Yeah, baby.

-[Rob] Hey!
-Smoke?

Oh [bleep].

In the hills
of the Forever Claim...

[chainsaw buzzing]

-[Rob] Hey!
-Smoke?

Oh [bleep].

[Jim] [bleep] smokers.

Ugh.

That's that dry [bleep]
we were looking at earlier.

This stuff right here.

Cooled off anyhow.

Just have to watch this.

Maybe dig the [bleep] out.

[Jim] Some of this stuff.

All right, mitigate that
by dealing with this first.

Yeah, pre, uh...
what do you call it?

Preventative measures.

[chainsaw buzzing]

-[chainsaw continues]
-[wood cracking]

[wood cracking]

[Jim] Oh, please baby,
talk to me.

[Rob] There she goes.

Whoo hoo!

-[Rob laughs]
-Oh -- [exhales]

[Jim] That's awesome.

Stayed together really well.

[Rob] It stayed together
way better than I thought.

[Jim] It's a great big
solid piece of wood,

and we're gonna get

ten times the money
out of this thing

better than we ever could've

if it wound up
hitting that wood,

hitting those stumps.

[Rob] Let's do a little
fricking heat check.

No hot spots.

[Jim] This is what we call
cold trailing in the business.

So, if you've already
had a couple of smokers,

we call them smokers,

where the moss
just starts smoking away.

It's good -- good idea just
to go around and...cold trail.

-Feels cool to me, Jim.
-Yeah, it feels good.

Cool.

Well done.

[truck horn honks]

Back by the water...

Here she comes.

...the last logs of summer
roll down from the hills,

so the race is on to splash,
sort, and stage them

for the inbound barge.

At the helm of that operation,

foreman Brad Laviolette.

[Brad] All the action is kinda
coming to a head here

at the booming ground.

We're getting them wrapped,
we're getting them splashed,

you know, we're all
pulling together.

[Brad] There's so much
pressure on all of us

to make sure that all this wood
is hitting the next barge.

And that barge
is gonna leave full.

So right now, we're just putting

another boom boat
in the water,

and I'm gonna be running it.

Mechanics have been
working on this boat

for the last couple of weeks.

So we've got a new transmission.

It's time to splash that boat.

Let's get to work.

As a supervisor,
your day never ends.

You're attached to your phone,
you're attached to the radio.

You know, there's the ongoing...

ball of activity
all day, every day.

It's a non-stop onslaught
of challenges,

but...you know, your days go
by quick as a supervisor.

He's almost
in position now.

In the water, he's gonna keep
a hold of that lifting bar,

and we're gonna get
the boom man Kris here

to get on board
and just check this thing.

Let's see if it'll fire up now.

-Moment of truth.
-Come on, baby!

[engine starts]

-[Brad] It's alive!
-[Kris] Nice.

We're good.
Let's get out of here.

So basically,
we're gonna get out.

We're gonna get
this one bag ready

and bring it out
to the stiff lake

for the barge coming up.

I can't do it with just
the other boat,

so I needed this one too.

So two boats
will help bring that out.

So the plan of attack,

we're going to head to the bag

right away?
-[Kris] Yeah.

We gotta move this bag,

because the bag isn't too far
for the barge right now.

The barge can't reach it,
so we gotta move the bag

to where the barge
is gonna tie up.

-OK.
-Then the crane will reach it

and pull the bundles out.

-OK.
-[Kris] You just can't
reach it here,

so we gotta tow it
a couple thousand feet that way.

To prep log bundles,

boom boat operators
wrangle them 50 at a time

into floating pens
known as bags.

But when a bag
is finally filled,

it must be towed
into deeper waters,

where the log barge
can reach it.

For that haul,
a second boom boat

should cut the commute
time in half.

-Let's get at her.
-Yeah.

-Get up at her.
-OK.

[Brad] OK.

So right now, Kris and I
are kinda working in unison.

He's able to push
more wood that way.

I'm just kinda assisting,

keeping it away
from this other bag.

We're just trying to get
this whole bag away

from the shoreline.

It's kind of a Skipper
and Gilligan situation here.

Kris has got lots of experience.

I'm just the --
the foreman here,

willing to help.

You know,
I'm not an expert at this,

but I can run the machine
enough to, uh...

to add some horsepower,
because this is a lot of mass

moving through
the water right now.

Two machines are better
than one, obviously.

[metal clangs]

OK.
Here I go.

Damn it.

Back up the hill...

Ooh, it's too hot for this.

...Jared and Glen push
the super snorkel to its limit.

[Glen speaking]

[Jared] You wanna get some money
to the side of the road fast,

Glen's your man.

He is surgical
with that machine.

It's the extension of his arms.

[Glen and Jared speaking]

or I can try this hemlock
down here.

Yeah, try some
of these big ones here.

There's some pretty big
trees down there.

But if it isn't cut properly...

Glen's gonna have
a real hard time

with this, wood's like lead.

[Glen] Come on, you b*stard!

[bleep] off!

Heavy one, eh, Glen?

Come on.

Oh!
[bleep]

Oh!
[bleep]

Do not like that.

That, uh,
gets your heart racing.

Yeah, no doubt.

Yeah, I think you'd better
come and buck this one.

OK, on my way, Glen.

Right on, thank you.

[Jared] As good as Glen
is as an operator,

and trust me,
there is no better,

if he cannot get that cedar up
on that road, nobody can.

This log's too heavy,
so I got to get down there

and I got to buck it.

A bucker is a logger
that runs around with a chainsaw

and a measuring tape,

and makes logs
the old-fashioned way

with a power saw.

The snorkel will assist him
in those logs,

but he is processing the log

into a finished product
and off to market.

[Jared over radio]
OK, Glen, you can go for it.

I cut about 10,000
to 15,000 pounds off that tree.

A tree like that is so heavy,

it's little surprise
it tipped the snorkel.

Thing's a beauty.
Thank you.

Let's keep going.
Keep this momentum going.

-This is awesome.
-Roger.

We got that big g*n
barrel there.

That's not gonna be fun
to deal with.

It's gonna be kinda iffy.

Keep an eye out.
Stay in the clear.

[Jared] We call these
g*n barrels.

g*n barrel logs
are very hard to control,

and they can go
into the cab of the machine,

hurting the operator,

or punting the machine
right off the road.

Come on, Betsy,
behave yourself.

You miserable old girl.

Whoa.
[bleep]

Oh, [bleep]

[Jared]
About took out the cab.

-Son of a b*tch.
-That's a scary one.

Made my pee-pee tingle a bit.

[breathing heavily]

Whew.

Higher in the hills...

Rob and Jim set off solo
to double their output.

[breathing heavily]

[Jim] Temperature,
I can feel it now.

It's already climbing.

We're going to be kicked out
of the bush sometime,

we're literally trees
away from finishing.

Ooh.

[Jim] Our boss,
he wants to reach the top,

the crown, the dream.

This definitely is something
that speaks to me,

that calls me to push myself
as hard as I can.

That's something you lick
your chop, so to speak.

You're hungry for.

And you go and chase that.

That's what you're chasing
every single day.

And I'm very, very proud
to do my part in that.

Hopefully, we can keep
that moving forward.

[exhales] Ah.

That's pretty nice.

[high-pitched tapping]

That's solid.

And...yeah, there's a problem.

Looks like
there's a split that goes


in the back.

There's gonna
be one in the front,

and there's both up each side,

so it's really de-segmented.

[Jim] Because this thing's
in four different slabs

and on four different legs,

there's a good possibility
that as I'm cutting,

and these slabs are fully
disconnecting from this tree,

they could just come right off

and kick out away
from this tree,

and it's probably gonna
wind up smoking me.

It's either gonna fall off
and drive me into the ground,

or it's gonna hit me
and launch me way

in front of this tree


[Jim] Where's it gonna wanna go?

It's gonna wanna go down there.

This looks like
this big path here

is gonna be the best approach.

Steady downhill,

nothing in the way,

nothing gonna cross
it up.

Keeping this together,

might be the biggest
challenge that I have.

So we're gonna have...

two front quadrants,
two back quadrants,

and the two fronts
are gonna be cut up.

Once we cut the bottom back...

that's gonna
leave this top one...

a flail segment,

and it's gonna wanna
lift and split.

To keep this cedar
from splitting on impact,

Jim will aim
his undercut downhill,

toward the softest
possible landing.

But in doing so,

he'll also be backloading
the final slab

with 80 tons of force.

And if it splits loose
while he's still cutting,

it could deal Jim
a deadly uppercut.

Alright, time to get
my [bleep] together

and get my day done.

[Jim] Not only we're trying
to beat the heat.

We're trying
to beat the humidity

and the temperatures, so...

we do have our fire
extinguishers on us,

but those aren't
necessarily 100%

if anything ever went
south or started a fire.

So we're gonna try
and make as little contact

as we can
to the muffler to the tree.

Got my gunner cut in.

Now I'm gonna start
my back cut,

see if I can't get
that bottom side first.

We're about to this point

where this is the kinda
the do-or-die situation.

This leg here, this is flail.

This is all by itself.

This is cut off
on this side and this side.

So what I'm gonna do...

is I'm gonna cut
this off completely

and keep it going.

Then, I'll continue my back cut,

chase it,
until it just falls over.

That's gonna be
the plan anyways.

Alright, making noise.

[wood cracking]

Oh my [bleep]!

This thing's broken
through already.

It's actually
completely separate.

It's [bleep] luck then I thought
it was gonna be.

[Jim] There's a high probability

that this is gonna peel away
and separate from the tree,

and just be sticking out
on its own.

[wood cracking]

It's talking, it's actually
making a bit of noise.

It wants to go prematurely.

It's actually not a good
scenario I'm in right now.

[wood cracking]

[Jim] Oh, [bleep] no.

[wood cracking]

I'm gonna have
to cut like crazy.

The only thing that I could do
is cut as fast as I can...

so that the rest
of the tree could catch up

and it could fall down
as one unit,

instead of one leg...

breaking off prematurely
and coming back at me.

[wood cracking]

[wood cracking]

Oh hell!
Nice, nice.

Oh.
Gonna be honest.

Ah.
When that came flipping up,

I actually didn't think
that was gonna stay there.

I thought
that was gonna keep going.

[exhales heavily]

If I stopped cutting,

that would've slabbed
the whole back side up.

It would've
de-segmented from the tree.

It would have split as far up
the tree as it needed to,

and then would've
come straight down.

There's a little bit
of slabbing on the butt,

but the rest of the tree
is gonna be money,

nothing but money.

This is exactly what we want.
Whew!

Back at the splash zone...

[metal clang]

Damn it.

So one of our boom chains
just let go.

There's kinda
a weak link in the system.

So now that that's broken open,

we're gonna have to fix that

before we can move this bag.

[Kris] You're on.

[Brad] Got a lot of time
and energy invested

in getting all those
bundles corralled

and put into that bag.

So now with that
boom chain breaking,

while we're fixing this,

we're just wasting money
and wasting time.

I'm holding on to one end of it,
while he grabs the other,

and we're gonna try
and lace it back together

and use some,
uh...bigger, beefier...

boom chains, or at least
one that's healthier.

[Kris] Alright, just let her go.

-[Kris] That's for you.
-[Brad] Yep.

Oof!
That could have sucked.

Lose all those bundles
and be right back to square one.

Oof.

So now that we got
that back and contained,

Kris is gonna go
around the outside,

hook onto the far end.

He'll start pulling
and I'll start pushing.

And this is why they call
them boom boats.

[engine revs up and down]

[metal hull clangs]

[Brad] Obviously, this is a lot
of weight trying to make its way

through the water right now,

trying to...overpower the tide,
overpower the wind.

Always a wise guy.

or just hold off for now?

OK.

[Kris speaking]

Right on, man.
Nice work.

You, uh...just wanna
start stowing now,

or do you got to head back...
-[Kris] Yeah.

to the dock?
-[Kris] Let's do it now

while we've got the tide.
Let's stow some bundles.

-There's both of us out here.
-Oh, [bleep]

It looks like we've got two
or three bundles heading...

-[Kris] Oh, [bleep]
-...out of the booming ground
right now.

New plan.
Let's go get those things.

-I'll follow you.
-[Kris] Alright.

[Brad] I think as we were
spinning that bag around,

the bag got hung up
on a couple of the boom stacks,

and I think it opened up
the one window there.

The tide and the wind
just feathered these ones out.

Obviously, it's not
an ideal situation.

Right now we got...

four bundles
floating outside the pens.

He's got one in there already,
so I'm just gonna hang back

and kinda feather these things,
trying to keep him in lead

with the gate
that he's got to go --

go into the booming ground with.

He's already got one in,
now he's gonna come back out.

I think we're well on our way
to getting them all back now.

Yeah, this is the last bundle
that we can tell got away.

Kris got all four in there.

He saved me a little bit of fun.

I got the last one in, but now
we're back inside the bullpen.

Well, that was exciting

for all the wrong reasons.
-[Kris] Yeah.

Yeah, [bleep]
Got her done.

I'm glad we got out there
when we did,

because any more time,
they probably would've...

spread out
in all different directions.

[Kris] Barge load ready to go?

Yeah, no, that feels good.

-We got more wood coming in.
-Yeah.

They're just gonna
keep stacking up.

That whole package
is ready to go,

so...nice work, my friend.
-We're out.

We're gonna do it.

[Brad] It's a great feeling now

that I can start to see full
bags going out to the tie-up.

Good visual on all the hard
work that's gone into this,

and it makes me feel good as
a new supervisor, new foreman,

knowing that I've done my job.

And it's a hard, grueling job.

It'll kick your butt all day,
every day, if you let it,

but we've got
some real talent here,

and I'm just super proud

and excited
to be a part of this team.

-[Brad] Let's get back to work.
-No splash, no cash!

-[Kris] Let's go!
-Yeah.

[Brad] No rest for the wicked.

Back up the hill...

as afternoon highs
hit their peak...

Careful with that one, Glen.

[Glen]
It certainly is a torpedo.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Ah, crap.

Damn things.

That, my friends,
is what we call big timber.

Oh.
It's hard on the heart.

I think we made it.

[Jared] Nicely done, Glen.

I don't know.
That one kind of was scary.

[Jared] Things are looking good.

Keep snorkeling
that wood, buddy.

[Glen and Jared speaking]

[Jared] That banging,
that's the sound of money.

That's as good as it gets.

Glen's making load
after load here.

[bleep]

[man over radio]
Jared you got me on here?

Yeah, go ahead.

[man over radio]
We have fire.

Cypress Creek of our lives
is just the soap opera
of logging.

[groans]

-[bleep!
-[bleep]!

Why do I do this to myself?

[groans]
[bleep]

It's stressful.

[bleep] dumber than a sack
of [indistinct] [bleep], idiot.

Take a break.

[Jared groans]

Take some breaths.

As much as a d*ck
as you might seem,

as hard as your job
might be...

[beeping]

...as rough and gruff
as you might be

every day and pissed off...

Are you on this channel, Ross?

I don't want to see
people lose their jobs.

That's horrible.

-[beeping]
-One, two.

You on this one, Ross?

[Jared] I want to make sure
that they can rely on me.

[bleep] Joe, look at this!

[Jared] When things go wrong...

[bleep] [bleep]

...probably a good time
to laugh at your mistakes.

Just got a shot.
Put a radio on it.

This is the [bleep] I get.

Get back on task.
Get this job done.

Driving me insane.

I'm going to lose my [bleep]

[soft music plays]

[Jared] For [bleep] sakes!

We've got a fire up [bleep]

Watch that top chunk
doesn't roll on you.

[Jared] What's going, Norm?

I've got a Bambi Bucket coming.

[indistinct]

One, two, three.

[grunts]

-There you go.
-Hey!

Perfect.

[helicopter blades whirring]

Tell'em to put two more on it.

[Jared] One more.

[Jared] We got to make sure
we cool the ground,

get everything saturated here,
so it doesn't flare back up.

-Muffler caught on fire then?
-No.

[Jared] [bleep] me.
That's insane.

Thank God we had
a helicopter today.

And no wind, too.

Whew.

All right.

I think we got her.

We got her out.
That's all that matters.

[Jared] People getting hurt,

that's paramount,
is that doesn't happen.

So...everything has to shut down
for fire season.

There's no telling how long

until we can start
production again.

And that scares me.

But...just not worth the risk.

-[soft music plays]
-[birds chirping]

[Jared] I need every dollar
that I can get right now

to pay John the royalties.

So I need this log barge
to leave full.

No doubt about it.

[Dave speaking]

[Jared speaking]

We'll, uh, try and get
a bundle count here.

Alright.

Come on.

Right now, we're getting
this load out of here,

and I know Jared wants
to make sure it's a big load.

I think he's pretty
stressed out.

He wants to make sure
there's enough bundles

to fill this barge,
so every bundle matters.

[Jared] This is the last
of the wood.

Dave, what's
it looking like for you?

Guess you're banking
on a full load.

Yeah, banking
on a full load here, buddy.

Yeah, you got
a lot of bundles here.

Good job.

[Jared] Well, that's some good
news, finally.

Definitely like that.

I'm super stoked with them,

so...definitely owe them some
camp beers for this one.

A few camp beers for the boys.
Whoo hoo!

[Jared] This has not been easy.
I'm gonna take this win.

We live for these days,

but there are far
and few between.

Right on, full barge.

Nothing feels better
than a full barge.

Right on, David.
The guys worked hard.

-They really did.
-[Brad] Yeah.

[Jared] You know?

We told them to, you know,
put in some double time

and make it happen,

and this is kinda the fruits
of their labor.

[Jared] But the big picture
is buying the Forever Claim

at the end of the season.

And I've definitely fallen
behind on that goal,

because these royalties
are k*lling me.

I'm a little worried that we're
not gonna raise the $2 million.

You know, if I come up short,


that's a season that's just...

all for naught.

[Jared] I have eight weeks...

Mother [bleep]

...eight weeks left
to buy the Forever Claim.



Come on!

...to raise a million bucks.

-Uh-oh.
-[indistinct radio chatter]

[bleep] [bleep]

[Jared] We are all
fighting for the legacy

behind Cypress Creek.

[bleep]

[Jared] A legacy
of hardworking, good people

that go out there every day
and risk their lives...

Oh, God, no.

...for a product
that the world needs.

[Jared] Now we need
to pull together...

[bleep]

...hard work prevails.

It's got to be the last stand,

one more big push,
one more chance...

to keep the dream alive,

get the Forever Claim,

and save our legacy.