"There's six Cats running and I knew that it was a long time since any of them had food, so I just packed up a bunch of lunches and sent them out," Jones said. "I loaded (Brody) down with water and about nine packed lunches and I guess they've been sharing lunches with other fire crews they meet along the way."

Over the weekend, Jones' response grew, thanks to help from Tammy Jones and Coral Ricketts. Jones said she heard that others managed to send water to crews via a helicopter involved in the firefighting effort.

Jones' lunches also grew to include ham and cheese and peanut butter and jam sandwiches, chips, Snickers candy bars, Gatorade and water. On Monday, she said her husband told her that the firefighters were so far from Homer, that it was impossible to get any food to them during the day.

"So I sent it out with him this morning, a huge backpack with as much as I could get in it," said Jones of the effort that has been paid from her own pocket. "I didn't really have time to ask for donations. I was just trying to do this as fast as possible."

Paul McCartt, Jim Collins, Fred Eddy and a quickly organized group of others also helped make sure firefighters got the fuel they needed to keep working.

"We were hanging out at McDonald's and somebody said a guy was complaining that they weren't getting anything to eat when they came off (the fire), so we made a big pot of chili," McCartt said. "We didn't have cups and spoons and things like that, so I went to Save-U-More and they gave us $100 worth of stuff."

The food was such a hit that hungry crews asked what was for breakfast.

"Chili," McCartt said of leftovers that were equally popular the next morning.

Describing themselves as "old codgers" not interested in getting praise for their efforts, McCartt pointed out donations of numerous businesses and organizations including Captain's Coffee, Don Jose's, the Elks Club, Kachemak Wholesale, McDonald's, Safeway, Subway, Two Sisters and Ulmer's Drug and Hardware. Also pitching in were a long list of individuals including Cindy Collins, Val Eddy, Mike Finney, Dennis and Mary Ellen Holloway and Lynn Beeker. Donations have included food, containers, pots and pans and even a two-burner propane stove on which to cook the meals.

Beginning Sunday evening, Beachcombers Three Restaurant also began feeding firefighting crews. Owner Roxy Banks is under contract with the Alaska Division of Forestry to provide sack lunches and a dinner buffet.

By 8 a.m., Banks delivers sack lunches to feed 125 to the fire hall at McNeil Canyon.

Banks' lunches include a big hoagie sandwich, chips, cookies, a can of juice and some fruit. After the early morning delivery, Banks heads back to Beachcombers Three to start preparing dinner with the help of employees Brittany Schmidt, Teryn Simpson and cook Trevor Beach.

"The firefighters start coming in at 8:30 (p.m.)," Banks said, adding that the line of hungry eaters continues until around midnight. It is 2 a.m. by the time Banks, Schmidt, Simpson and Beach finish washing dinner dishes and getting sandwiches made for the next lunch. That leaves four hours to sleep before starting to work again at 6 a.m.

Anyone else wanting to eat at the restaurant while the firefighting continues needs to reconsider.

"I've closed the restaurant so that I can just cater to these guys, then I'll go back to regular hours," Banks said.

McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben.jackinsky@homernews.com.