{"id":37748,"date":"2022-10-20T21:19:24","date_gmt":"2022-10-21T03:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/daugherty-battles-blazes-opposing-pitchers\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:39:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:39:52","slug":"daugherty-battles-blazes-opposing-pitchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/daugherty-battles-blazes-opposing-pitchers\/","title":{"rendered":"Daugherty battles blazes, opposing pitchers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"In
In addition to playing softball for Fort Lewis College, junior Cara Daugherty spends her summers fighting wildfires. (Cody Olivas\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Fort Lewis College softball player Cara Daugherty spent 26 days over the summer in Alaska. The outfielder wasn\u2019t leisurely hiking or fishing in the rugged state. She was fighting forest fires.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love it,\u201d she said. \u201cYou never know what\u2019s going to happen. It\u2019s hard work, but it\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most days on fires she said she works 16 hours, digging lines to create fuel breaks. She said her longest shift was 23 hours.<\/p>\n

To get to the remote Billy Creek Fire in southeast Alaska, Daugherty said they had to ride a helicopter in. Once there, they built their own camp, coolers and kitchens while dealing with bears. The helicopter periodically dropped food for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was quite the experience,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Daugherty, who is from Aztec, New Mexico, started working on a fire crew in Farmington two years ago, following in her father\u2019s footsteps.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up, he would come home from fires and tell us about his experiences,\u201d she said. \u201cAs I grew older, it sounded fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her first year, she said she went out on about 90 fires in the Farmington area. Most of them were caused by lightning, but she also helped on some house fires.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a lot of single tree fires,\u201d she said. She fought fewer fires last summer, but they were bigger ones. She said she been on four big forest fires, battling blazes in Arizona, Idaho, California and Alaska.<\/p>\n

While they usually fight the fires from a distance by creating fuel breaks or starting their own fires to burn back to the main fire and deplete its fuel sources, she said she has a few scary moments in the field.<\/p>\n

On a fire in Arizona, for instance, she said they made a dozer line that was 100 feet wide, but the line didn\u2019t help much when the wind changed direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt blew to where we were in a matter of seconds,\u201d she said. At that point, she said their focus was simply to get out of harm\u2019s way. \u201cGear is replaceable,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can replace a lot of things, but you can\u2019t replace yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Fort Lewis, Daugherty is studying environmental science and also pursuing a GIS (cartography and mapping) certificate. She said she thinks she\u2019ll continue fighting forest fires, but in a different capacity, after she graduates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ll try to stick with it, but in a different way \u2013 move into the GIS side,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019d still go on fires, but have a different role in them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working on the GIS side, she would map out the edge of fires, drop points where helicopters can land, water sources, topography they\u2019re facing and also potential hazards.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives them a general idea what to expect,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Diamond days<\/div>\n

Daugherty started playing softball when she was about 8 years old. She said she likes that it\u2019s a team sport but has an individual component to it.<\/p>\n

In high school, Daugherty was part of a state championship team in Aztec. She said she was originally going to go to college in Idaho, but then \u201csome family stuff happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI got an opportunity to play softball and be close to my family (at FLC); it was an opportunity I didn\u2019t want to miss out on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Fort Lewis has been a good fit for her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love it up here,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s so much to do outside of school. And the school is a perfect size. My professors know me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daugherty previously pitched and played in the outfield, but chose to focus on being an outfielder for FLC.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved them both, but I know outfield gets a lot of balls, and I\u2019d rather stick to one thing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The team also had a big change last year with Dwight Sanders taking over as its head coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was good; he came in and made us work,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was a different atmosphere. On the field last year, it felt like there was more competitiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team also had to grow together after losing about a dozen seniors. Being one of the team\u2019s veterans, however, is something she liked.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was fun getting to be a leader and show them the roles we\u2019ve been put in,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was fun to lead by example. That\u2019s something I really enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very excited about this year,\u201d she continued. \u201cI think we\u2019ll be that sneaky team know one expects. We have a lot of talent and I think it will be fun. I\u2019m looking forward to competing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The upcoming fire season, however, might not be as fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an interesting year,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s so dry, but there really hasn\u2019t been anything to ignite the fires. But it\u2019s so dry, if it does ignite, it\u2019s going to go. It\u2019s kind of scary for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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