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Watch Port Protection Alaska UNLOCKED, Season 3 Episode 10 on Dailymotion (2026).
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00:03Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
00:30The first one, I was a young man.
00:38Out in the middle of nowhere in our farmhouse, flames shooting up the sky.
00:44You're coughing from the smoke and you're watching the flames just roll under your door in your bedroom and across
00:49your ceiling.
00:50You're laying there going, is this a dream?
00:55Or is my house on fire?
01:16If we start the fire on the back wall here on the high side there, I'm hoping that we can
01:21actually get the structure to cave this direction, away from the cliffside and away from these trees.
01:26I'm the fire chief here in Port Protection.
01:28We're getting ready to do a controlled burn for one of the residents in Port Protection.
01:34She's got an old cabin that's been let go and run down.
01:39It's pretty dry and pretty rotten.
01:42It's a fire hazard when we're doing a controlled burn.
01:45It gives us an opportunity to just make sure that it's just going to burn itself out and we can
01:50go back home and stay warm.
01:52At least it's a controlled burn instead of an emergency response.
01:56I like the controlled burns a lot better than these get up, get going.
02:00I'm a safety officer here in the fire department.
02:03We're a community, not a municipality, so we don't have paid first responders.
02:09It's all on a volunteer basis.
02:11You've got to pick up the slack wherever you can out here and usually there's a lot to pull.
02:15Okay, let's go check on some things.
02:17Yeah, see if we can't bust some rust off the equipment, make sure everything is firing up properly.
02:28Well, nice we got a break in the snowstorm.
02:30It's got a mind of its own sometimes here.
02:32You don't like it, give it five.
02:35At least it gives us a chance to run through everything real quick.
02:38Got plenty of gas.
02:40We're a water-based community.
02:42We have no roads.
02:43A fire truck doesn't really do us any good here, so our fire truck is a fire boat.
02:50It's amazing how much corrosion we get on all this equipment.
02:53I mean, most of it's built for land-based firefighting.
02:57We've got saltwater environs, cold temperatures.
03:00Things tend to freeze up.
03:02Things tend to break.
03:02Things tend to corrode.
03:04So unless you actually keep on top of stuff, you'll go to respond to a fire and it won't work
03:10out.
03:12Motor's good.
03:13We've got oil's good.
03:15Yeah.
03:15Fuel's all good.
03:16Make sure it can.
03:18Yeah, make sure she ain't pointed at me.
03:20Yeah.
03:20All right.
03:21You want to fire her up?
03:22Yeah.
03:35We've had quite a few fires here in Port Protection.
03:40We'll have a fire maybe every other year.
03:44There's a number of contributing factors, small gas generators, electrical fires, wood stoves getting out of control.
03:51It's a real hazard out here in the bush.
03:54Fire is one of the main tools we use for a lot of different applications, and sometimes it has a
03:59life of its own.
04:04Well, right on.
04:05That's successful.
04:07Let's park this now that we've gone through it, and head on down, give a last little check, make sure
04:13that this burn will go successfully.
04:15All right, brother.
04:19You've got to be a jack of all trades, and a master of most of them.
04:28I got a call from my old buddy, Gary.
04:31He's got the oldest boat, probably in southeastern Alaska.
04:34He's got a rotten tiller arm on his, uh, on his rudder shaft.
04:41It's one of the most important parts.
04:43Your steering system, if you can't point your boat in the right direction, then you're...
04:50Gary does all his other general maintenance on the boat.
04:54But his tiller arm desperately needs attention, and he doesn't have the technology to do that.
05:00And I just happen to have the technology.
05:09Anybody on board?
05:11What up, Sam Bones?
05:12Well, I managed to make it.
05:14Yeah, well, it's a nice day.
05:16You know what?
05:17I did forget.
05:17I did not bring a tape measure.
05:19Well, I know a gaff looks 28 inches, and a dollar bill's 6 inches.
05:23I think it's...
05:24I got 8-inch reach, except on this hand.
05:27Yeah.
05:27This one's 8-inch.
05:28This one's only 5.
05:31The salmon season's on the way here, and a guy's got to get prepared for it.
05:38Almost everybody here commercial fishes.
05:40Margaret T is a fishy boat, but she's old.
05:43This year, she's 100.
05:46But I like to ride around on the T there.
05:48She's quite a Cadillac for me.
05:52Boy, I hope I can get that off of there.
05:54Gary, this rudder post, just like us, has seen better days.
05:59The first thing I have to do is attempt to remove the old tiller arm, and it's going to
06:04be real tricky because it's been bolted on there for God knows how long.
06:11How's it going, Sam?
06:12Well, the good news is, is that I got lots of thick metal to work with.
06:16I can grind it down to clean.
06:18And if we can't get it off, I've got over a half inch of material right here that I can
06:22just clean up.
06:23Well to it.
06:23And I can, yeah, I'll just do a much better job.
06:26I will give you a guarantee it will never break again when I'm done with it.
06:29You're the man there to do it, Sam.
06:31I'm just here to help you do whatever I can do to help.
06:34It's always best if you scratch your head a little bit before you dive into something
06:37like this, though.
06:38So something you might have an epiphany about an easier way to do it.
06:43Can't even spell that.
06:46Sam Carlson is a very talented man here.
06:48He has a lot of different hats there, as we say, for the different things he can do.
06:53I've known Sam for, well, well on to 40 years now, a little more, but who's counting?
06:59We're lucky to have Sam, let me put it that way.
07:02I just need this piece tacked together so I can take it home and attach the arm to it
07:08and bring it over here, then finish welding it out.
07:10Good deal, Sam.
07:12Indeed.
07:16The old saying goes, you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but living out here, I've learned
07:22so many things, and I'm still learning every day.
07:31I can't see where he's been working over here.
07:35I can't see branches on the ground that he hasn't even touched yet.
07:39Let's get this son of a bitch, Curly.
07:41Time is a precious resource in port protection, and today, Mary Miller and Curly Leach will use
07:48the brief winter daylight to harvest meat and fur.
07:52Curly, an experienced trapper, will teach Mary how to set beaver traps, and they will
07:58also hunt for deer before the season closes.
08:01Poor beaver boy.
08:04He's gonna be pissed.
08:06Right now, I know absolutely nothing about trapping.
08:13I don't know how you do it, and what you bait the traps with, or if you bait them at
08:18all.
08:21I guess you bait them with their favorite kind of stick, you know?
08:24Like, if you're gonna set a trap for me, you put a cold beer or some chocolate in there,
08:29and you'll catch me.
08:33Hooey.
08:35Oh, God, Curly.
08:38Oh.
08:39How powerful.
08:41What the hell is that ?
08:43It's a beaver caster.
08:47What is...
08:48It's a gland out of him.
08:50Where is it?
08:51Out of his ass?
08:52Yep.
08:53Oh.
08:56Beaver is very territorial in that.
08:58They get a whiff of human odor, and they'll shy away.
09:01You'll never catch them.
09:03And so the thing I'm gonna use to bait my traps with is just beaver casters that have
09:36came from a different beaver that doesn't belong there.
09:37have a beaver here in the trap.
09:39But for now, do a little deer hunting and take advantage of the daylight.
09:44You know?
09:45Good luck, Curly.
09:46You too.
09:52Most of the hunting I do is from skill.
09:54I like to get out and beat the brush.
09:56Most of these people around here, they like to hunt the roads, and anybody can do that.
10:02I just assume to get out there amongst Mother Nature and get my exercise in at the same time.
10:09I usually go out deer hunting by yourself, because less noise is better.
10:13But I am, you know, a scaredy cat, so I always would rather be hunting with somebody, because
10:19you see how dangerous it is out here.
10:21You can break a leg, an arm, you know, anything can happen.
10:27Stupid little ponds, they're bottomless, some of them.
10:32There's folks that come out here hunting, and you'll never see them again.
10:37And that's where they are.
10:45I'm always scared, sometimes more than others when you're hearing weird things.
10:52You know, keep your guard up.
10:54They're out there.
10:55They're out there hunting, too.
11:03Wolf, frozen wolf.
11:06That's a frozen wolfy.
11:09Bad.
11:14Lots of scary sounds out there.
11:18Sound like maybe a deer running at you with the call, but it's just the trees.
11:25It's spooky out there.
11:27I'm not really a superstitious person, but the kushika is kind of like Bigfoot.
11:37He's half man and half otter.
11:41Half man, half otter is able to transform itself into different animals and stuff.
11:48There's something, something going on there that I can't explain it, a presence that comes
11:54upon you.
11:55You never know what you're going to run into.
11:59I think it's just an old myth that I never leave home without a gun.
12:20You just can't let your mind get carried away, freak yourself out, because a lot of it's just the branches
12:27and the trees blowing in the wind.
12:30And, but sometimes, it is the big bad wolf.
12:35Here we go.
12:36Here we go.
12:55The wooden deer.
12:58In other words, a stomper.
18:22entre life and Dev, and she loves the eagles.
18:24She has that love for all animals.
18:27And watching her be so compassionate with this eagle
18:30was really, really touching to me.
18:33All right, let's keep going.
18:35We still got stuff to do. It's getting cold.
18:37To have her there with me to kind of understand
18:41that full circle of life is awesome.
18:45Let's get our Devil's Club, and then we'll be able to go home.
18:48Devil's Club is aptly named.
18:50It is pretty terrifying.
18:52It's covered in spikes, and when they get into your skin,
18:55they can be incredibly irritating.
19:00It's nice to kind of be able to use the forest
19:03as our local drugstore.
19:06If we run out of triple antibiotic ointment,
19:10we can't just run to the corner market and get more.
19:12Just knowing that I can always replenish that supply,
19:17it's awesome.
19:21Yeah, we are getting out of here.
19:25That was successful.
19:26Yeah, it was. That was great.
19:28Two birds, one stone.
19:34Every day you learn something, you get smarter.
19:39But then I can't remember.
19:42Hell, it should be a rainbow somewhere.
19:45To make needed repairs to his fishing boat, the Margaret T.,
19:49Gary has enlisted the help of his friend, Sam Carlson.
19:52Today, they will install a new tiller arm for the boat steering.
19:56Without the fix, Gary would be unable to navigate the area's vicious seas,
20:00and his upcoming fishing season and safety would be at risk.
20:07Well, we've arrived.
20:09These guys have been kind of showing up and hanging.
20:12I don't know where they go at night, but they'll be here off and on all day.
20:15Gary, yeah, they're cute, and I get a kick out of them.
20:18I've left my dog at home, girls.
20:21You wouldn't be safe with him.
20:24And that has to be right there.
20:26Yeah, this is going to be not a big job.
20:29Good, but it has to be strong.
20:31About all I know is stay away from the sparks and don't look at the welder.
20:36Yeah, that's as far as it goes.
20:41One thing about Gary is they don't make him like that anymore.
20:44He's the last of a dying breed.
20:46I remember the first time I met Gary.
20:48I think I was just out of high school.
20:51I think he had a fur cap back then, and I thought,
20:54well, that guy looks pretty rugged.
20:55He was just a real likable fellow,
20:57and I've been hanging out with him ever since.
20:59I really get a kick out of helping people like Gary
21:02do things that they can't do for themselves.
21:04It's something that I get a great sense of satisfaction out of.
21:08My dad was the same way.
21:10He was always working on people's stuff.
21:11It's just part of living out here.
21:14It's what you call craftsmanship.
21:17Well, once this is dry, we'll take her back to the boat.
21:21Yeah, no, I appreciate it, Sam.
21:23Looking forward to it.
21:29One step forward, two steps back.
21:32If you persevere, you can usually find your way to a better trail.
21:37Hey, Sam, good morning.
21:39How are you feeling?
21:40My only regret with this stuff is that we don't have a pole to slide down.
21:45Glad we got Sammy down here now.
21:47We definitely have more than a two-man adventure coming up.
21:51Well, I'm thinking, uh, we should have her down to Umbers by well before dark.
21:56I've never let a house burn, so I don't have a clue to how long it takes.
22:00Today, we have a good window of opportunity right now
22:02to, uh, get this place lit up, burnt to the ground.
22:06Hopefully, we'll have a successful burn, and things will go great.
22:09Let's get this fired up, and let's get out of here and start burning things down.
22:17I'm going to have me and Stuart up on the hill there,
22:19and, uh, Sammy will be running the water cannon from down on the bay.
22:22We've gone through checklists from A to Z.
22:25Looks like everything's performing as it should.
22:27I think, uh, I think it's going to work out well.
22:29At least the wind's staying down like they said it would.
22:34Nice of the weatherman to be right for once.
22:37It's a win-win.
22:40The wind could be a factor.
22:42It could start blowing the embers and the flames
22:44in the direction that we don't want them to go,
22:46especially when we're trying to make sure
22:47that we don't burn these trees down.
22:50All right.
22:51Uh, we're going to go up and mess with the, uh, hydrant
22:53and get the hoses set down there.
22:55Okay, I'm going to get that in the water,
22:57get the pump primed.
22:58Yep.
23:00All right, man.
23:01See you on the other side of the hill.
23:06We just got the boat on site.
23:07I'm getting ready to, uh,
23:10get the saltwater intake,
23:13which feeds water to the pump.
23:16Yeah.
23:16All right, come on.
23:17Yeah.
23:20I'm going to clamp this down.
23:22It's like, what the hell?
23:25Son of a...
23:26We just broke.
23:31Uh-oh.
23:32We just broke.
23:34S-O-B.
23:37That is a major malfunction.
23:39The connector for the intake broke,
23:41which means we have no access to the water.
23:44We're sunk.
23:45We can't pump any water until we replace this piece.
23:47I've got the whole Pacific Ocean right next to me,
23:50and I cannot get any of it into the pump.
23:53Yeah, one, two, one, two.
23:55Yeah, we just had a major mechanical malfunction down here.
23:59The intake aluminum fitting just snapped right off,
24:03and then I'm not sure how we're going to fix it.
24:05The saltwater environs are just rugged on equipment,
24:08especially in the cold weather.
24:10No matter how many times you go through a drill,
24:12how many times you go over your equipment,
24:14you still run the chance of things coming apart on you.
24:18There's no fixing that.
24:20This is a piece of cast aluminum,
24:22obviously not marine aluminum.
24:24Let's see.
24:24Okay, I snapped right off.
24:27Okay, I can run back up to the fire hall,
24:30and if I can find a reducer to come down to fit that,
24:34we can do this, you know?
24:36Okay, well, I think we got a good game plan.
24:38I don't want to miss out on our window of opportunity here
24:40to get this sucker burned down.
24:43No, I'm really glad this happened now
24:45and not during an actual fire.
24:46All right, sounds like a good plan, fellas.
24:56I am confident in my skill set.
24:59It does make me feel that this is somewhere that I do belong.
25:09Our annual Devil's Club harvest.
25:12I love that there's plants all around us
25:15that have these special properties that can be useful,
25:17and that is really rewarding to me
25:20to be able to take something that is as scary
25:23and potentially painful as Devil's Club
25:25and turn it into something that's actually soothing for people.
25:29So we're taking off the level with the spines right now
25:33and exposing that cambium layer.
25:36That green layer here is the next layer.
25:38That's what we want to take.
25:40That's what has all the good stuff in it.
25:43If I was more of a hippie, we would have done this on the full moon.
25:47The blood wolf moon.
25:49That's ridiculous.
25:51Not tedious.
25:52It's kind of nice, though.
25:53It's like, kind of let your mind wander, enjoy the sunshine.
26:00This place changes you.
26:05You learn how much you can take.
26:07You learn what you're willing to do
26:09for the lifestyle that you want.
26:12Once you've conquered the things that you have to conquer
26:15just to live here,
26:16I think sets you up for confidence in every situation.
26:21It's really liberating,
26:23and I want Shipley to understand
26:26what it means to have that freedom.
26:32So this is that cambium layer
26:35that we kind of shaved off.
26:39I let it soak about eight weeks, usually,
26:44and that makes a very potent infused oil.
26:48So I'm just going to dump the oil directly into it.
26:53Some of this will be salve.
26:55Some of it will be tea.
26:57There we go.
27:00And then this thing goes.
27:03And I'll see you in two months.
27:06Knowing that I have more oil
27:08just sitting in the back of a cupboard
27:10makes me more comfortable to use
27:12the rest of the oil that I have from last year,
27:14so I just have a little bit left,
27:15enough to make a few jars of salve.
27:18So it's just two-thirds of a cup of oil,
27:21a couple tablespoons of beeswax,
27:22and a couple tablespoons of shea butter.
27:26Shipley is kind of in her clumsy stages,
27:30so she's got a lot of scrapes and bumps and bruises,
27:33so it's nice to be able to put something on those
27:36that makes them feel better and heal faster.
27:38Having that salve already made, ready to go,
27:43is just really nice.
27:46Done!
27:52It's a lot of fun learning a new skill out here,
27:55another way to provide for myself.
27:57That's an important part of living out here
27:59is finding new ways to do things.
28:09Oh, man, here we go, brother!
28:14Here comes hell, Curly!
28:19After an unsuccessful deer hunt,
28:22Curly and Mary are heading back to the beaver ponds
28:24to check their traps.
28:26Harvesting a beaver will provide them with valuable fur
28:29and teach Mary a new skill
28:30that will aid her survival in port protection.
28:37Well, here we are.
28:42Looks like we're going to get wet today, Curly.
28:44That's a good chance of it.
28:48Well, this one is undisturbed.
28:55That ain't good.
28:58So, well, I guess we go check the next one.
29:10I can't keep up with you, Curly.
29:12You're too fast, man.
29:14Huh.
29:15So far, not looking good here.
29:20Well, this one's still set.
29:22It's the way we left it.
29:24What the hell's going on?
29:26Well, sometimes you go in there
29:28and it happens right away.
29:29Other times it don't.
29:30But we'll just move on.
29:35Well, let's go check the rest of the string down here.
29:40At this point, it's starting to get frustrating
29:42when you keep coming out here and burning gas
29:44and no deer, no beavers.
29:46It's getting frustrating,
29:48but you're never going to win if you give up.
29:50Just got to keep trying.
29:58Ooh.
29:59I'm sinking.
30:06Lookie here.
30:07You got one?
30:13Lookie here.
30:14You got one?
30:17Yes, we do.
30:20Yes!
30:21Curly, you rock!
30:24Yeah, we sure do.
30:27Don't touch it.
30:28Don't touch it.
30:28I want to see.
30:32I want to see.
30:36Oh, man!
30:37Yeah.
30:39Back in the day,
30:40I used to make quite a bit of money
30:42trapping beaver,
30:43and it's a good way to grow up, though.
30:45It kept me out of trouble.
30:49Now it's better off to keep the beavers at bay around here
30:52because they will plug up the culverts
30:54and then the water starts running over the road.
30:57Next thing you know,
30:58it washes the road out.
31:00You know,
31:00if we don't take care of it around here,
31:03nobody else is going to.
31:06It's got a nice fur on him.
31:09Those teeth are just gnarly.
31:11Yeah, you're only seeing part of them.
31:13They go way back here in their jaw bones.
31:17They go clear back in there,
31:19and these are long like that,
31:21and these here are kind of half moon-shaped.
31:24Good Lord.
31:25Well, we won, Curly.
31:27Yep.
31:29We did it.
31:33Come on, beaver boy.
31:34Let's go.
31:37Mary, she's a tough customer
31:39and a hard worker, too, to boot,
31:40and a lot of the women around here are, you know.
31:44I wouldn't want to tangle with any of them.
31:50The men always talk about, you know,
31:53how they go out and do it
31:54and, you know, how hard it is
31:55and this and that,
31:56and I think anybody can do it, you know.
32:00Like, anybody could do anything
32:01as long as you try or want to do it.
32:03Sorry about dragging you, buddy.
32:07Just don't give up.
32:16Grit your teeth.
32:17Nose to the grindstone.
32:18Beats the hell out of the old folks home.
32:23Here we are.
32:25Margaret T. has been a good boat,
32:26but the tiller arm on my rudder there deteriorated
32:31and Sam built me a new one
32:32and we're going to hook that up.
32:34If this breaks,
32:35guess whose ass is going to be grass?
32:38You don't want to get out there
32:40in rough weather
32:41and lose control of your boat
32:42or be anywhere near the beach, God forbid,
32:45and not have the ability to steer.
32:46That's one of the aspects
32:47you always have to think about
32:48when you're fixing something for somebody.
32:50when they head out to the ocean,
32:51if your repair breaks...
32:53Well, when you get Evel Knievel in a boat like me,
32:56you know I'm going far out.
33:00I'm going to be taking my finished tiller arm
33:05and I'm going to make sure
33:06it fits nice and tight on there.
33:08I'm assuming I'm going to have to grind that
33:09just a little smidge to get her to go.
33:15When you live in Alaska like we do,
33:17there's a fact of life
33:19that things are going to break down
33:20and you're going to have to be able
33:23to address the problem,
33:25figure out how to either fix it
33:27or gary-rig it
33:29or whatever you want to think there.
33:31You can't just go and drive it into the shop
33:33and get it fixed there.
33:35That's it right there, Garrett.
33:37Cool.
33:38That is it.
33:39Well, this is ugly.
33:41But I like ugly.
33:42Oh, yeah, I do too.
33:44Turn the wheel back and forth.
33:46Okay, hard over, hard over.
33:48Yeah, just work it around.
33:49I just want to look at it.
33:50Roger.
33:59Yeah, look at that.
34:02It works.
34:04Well, it looks pretty good, Sam.
34:06You like it?
34:07The job is done.
34:08Yeah.
34:08I got the tiller arm on.
34:10I'd say this old girl is ship-shaped.
34:12I can't thank you enough, Sam.
34:14Thank you very much.
34:15Well, it's been a good one.
34:17I want that first fish you get.
34:18You get it.
34:19I hope it's a big one.
34:20I'm putting my order in for a 40-pounder.
34:22Well, that would be cool.
34:25Catch you on the rebound.
34:30I guess I'm about ready to go fish in here.
34:40You got to just buck it up, bite your lip, rub a little dirt on it, walk it off.
34:48Well, how'd the scavenger hunt go?
34:50I got what I could, so we've got a couple options that we have here.
34:56Oh, yeah.
34:57Some things, but I think this piece here might work.
35:01There's no way in hell we can do this burn without having this fireboat here.
35:06If I can't get water on those trees, they'll catch on fire, which could lead to a much larger fire,
35:12which would involve the whole island.
35:20Oh, look, it's perfect.
35:21All right, well, let's give it a try.
35:23Let's see if our fix fixed.
35:27Here.
35:44Well, I've got good water going to the pump.
35:45It's not sucking in the air.
35:49I think we got a good fix there.
35:51Okay.
35:52Our little band-aid we put on this looks like it's going to hold up for the job.
35:56Should we go tackle that hydrant?
35:58I'll let you guys go on your merry way.
36:01All right, do whatever else you need to do here.
36:04I'm going to just take a peek at the corner.
36:06All right, Sammy, give a holler on the radio if you need us.
36:16Well, here we are.
36:19We got Sammy in the boat, so we'll leave him in there, operate the cannon.
36:23And Dave and I will be on land with our two charge lines that we have hooked up to the
36:27fire hydrant.
36:29So I'll attack from the high side, and Dave will be over on the low side,
36:33where he can make sure that those trees don't go up.
36:37All right, Dave, right there.
36:38I got a good look at the side here.
36:41Sammy should be able to cover the face of the building from where he's at.
36:45Everything else, I think I got covered.
36:47Sammy, we're getting ready to go inside and start this sucker up.
36:50You ready?
36:51Yeah, I'm going to torch off the fire engine.
36:54All right, here we go.
36:56It's always a scramble making sure everything works out,
36:58but as it stands right now, I'm ready to drop the torch on this bugger and watch her light.
37:03Give her a good drizzle, and I'll pitch a flare on her.
37:09Out here, you always have to keep your head on a swivel.
37:11Any number of things can go wrong in a heartbeat.
37:15Dropped about a gallon of diesel on top of it and a flare, and it's go time.
37:25Out here, you always have to keep your head on a swivel.
37:27Any number of times you run a drill and prepare, only fire will tell.
37:40Dropped about a gallon of diesel on top of it and a flare, it's go time.
37:48Get ready on that hose, Sammy.
37:53Get that monitor going, Sam.
38:04The ignition went up about like I thought it would.
38:15But actually, by the time it started getting up into the second floor there,
38:19it did get more fully involved, a little quicker than I thought it would.
38:34Really not sure how this fire is going to act.
38:37It's a really hot fire because the place was built mostly with cedar,
38:40and we're trying to keep most of the heat off those trees.
38:47But, uh, these fires have a mind of their own.
38:51Yeah, time to start stepping back.
38:53It's, uh, it's structural now.
38:57The biggest danger would be the wind kicking up.
39:00It wouldn't take more than one puff of wind to make her jump.
39:03Cause a whole big problem, and boom, half the island's burnt up.
39:11Fire in our environs is a very serious issue.
39:16Anyone who decides to live in a remote area
39:19knows that it's up to them to keep their person safe.
39:25But, uh, even beyond that, it's looking out for your neighbor.
39:29Out here, it's us struggling to prevail in our environs,
39:33not us struggling against each other.
39:36It doesn't come without trials and tribulations.
39:38It doesn't come without a lot of things
39:40being a lot harder to accomplish.
39:43But, uh, at the end of the day, I sleep well.
39:49All right, we're approaching structure collapse on the top,
39:51so everybody keep safe.
39:53Copy that.
39:55Okay, I'll do that.
40:02That's what we wanted.
40:05Come on.
40:06Come on, girl.
40:09Everything looking good out front, Sam?
40:11That looks good to me.
40:14Fortunately, I think our control burn's
40:17going to end up being controlled
40:18just the way we like it.
40:33Well, it went off without a hitch,
40:36and it went up quick, it went up well,
40:38and it came down exactly like we were hoping it to.
40:44My God!
40:47Now you get to see the action, Sammy.
40:50That's pretty damn impressive.
40:52Hey, it got ripping pretty fast there,
40:53a lot faster than I expected.
40:55Snap.
40:57I missed the roof.
40:58I'm looking up, I'm going,
40:58nothing's going to go any minute,
40:59and I turned my head down,
41:01looked up, and there was no roof.
41:04All right, I think we kind of clean up our perimeter.
41:07We can get the fireboat back into the hall
41:09and say good job.
41:11All right.
41:12We'll jump at it.
41:17Out here, we take care of our own.
41:18It's pretty much all extended family.
41:21I've been calling this neck of the woods
41:24my home for better than 20 years.
41:26With any luck, another 20 to come.
41:32The place that embraces you,
41:35grabs you by the heart,
41:38and doesn't let you go.
41:41The struggle for survival is always there.
41:44It doesn't come easy.
41:46But the freedom of living in a place like this in the world
41:49is extremely rare.
41:51We can create our own destinies out here.
41:58Devil's Club tea.
42:01Should we take Daddy some tea?
42:02We're all right.
42:04Here.
42:04Oh, thank you.
42:06I like raising Shipley here.
42:08I like showing her that nothing is impossible.
42:12Being raised with the independence
42:14that you're afforded out here,
42:17I think gives you confidence to conquer anything.
42:21I like these days.
42:22Cold and clear, tea on the porch.
42:25One, two, three.
42:26Hopping babies.
42:30That's what makes this place worth it.
42:37At least we didn't come home empty-handed.
42:39That's right.
42:40And we got a nice, big, dark beaver.
42:43Those dark ones, the ones you want, right?
42:45Yep.
42:46Mary's been a pretty good student
42:48as far as teaching her goes.
42:50You know, whether or not she'll pursue it
42:51is another thing.
42:52But it's a good thing to know, though.
42:54I mean, especially living out here.
42:57When I first moved here,
42:59everybody just took one look at me
43:00and said, you're not going to make it.
43:01Thanks, Curly.
43:04God, he still weighs a ton.
43:07But you know what?
43:08If you want something bad enough,
43:10you can do it and figure it out.
43:20I went around the boat a couple times here
43:23and everything looks pretty good,
43:25as good as it can for a 100-year-old boat.
43:27So I'm happy here.
43:30I think I belong in Alaska.
43:33It's not an easy life.
43:34And I'm old.
43:35Trapper's old.
43:36My cat's old.
43:37But this is my home in Port Protection.
43:39I'm not leaving here.
43:42That's how it is
43:43and that's how it's going to be.
43:46In the pines, in the pines
43:51Where the sun will shine
43:54I will shiver the whole night through