Anybody a wildland firefighter or work with the FS during fire season?

AbiH

Active member
I'm looking into becoming a vendor for the FS for fire season in the US, and don't know really where to start... I'm considering trying to get a handful of handwashing stations to try to get a government contract.

Does anyone know anything about how all of that works? Or potentially know of a resource that I can look to for information?

There's only so much that google and the FS website can tell me, I need an insiders scoop.
 
My girlfriend is woodland firefighter out here in Colorado and works for the NPS tracking elk. She's currently back home for another week and a half but remind me and I'll put you two in contact. She got a lot of help when she was trying to get into it so loves helping others out as well.

**This post was edited on Feb 18th 2022 at 2:34:42am
 
Being a contract vendor for fire is super lucrative. You will need to get in contact with a regional office, get approval to be a vendor, then have to wait til a fire happens.

It’s a crapshoot when it comes to how much money you will make because your betting on the fire season in a Region.

It could be a raging fire season in AZ but Idaho is wet. You need to have big inventory to get multiple Reigon contracts and you need to babysit the stations or hire someone to stay there.

Im sure there are tons of people the last two years who have talked about all the money they have made because fire personnel ordered handwashing stations an over abundance.

But I feel it’s gonna go back to normal which is like hand wash station at the chow line and one outside a bathroom.

It’s a big who you know game especially in some regions vs others.

Don’t forget your gonna have to insurance on all your stations, vehicles, follow contract specifications, ect.

My advice is if you know someone who does it, work for them a season then if you like it or don’t mind it buy in.

There is lots of retirees that do it but don’t like after buying hand washing stations/blue rooms.

Honestly I would say blue rooms would be a way more guaranteed to make money.

If your younger I would say actually firefighting is way more fun than doing contract work. Save that stuff for when your body is old and decrepit.

Right now is a really good time to get into the fire world as it’s hard to find people to do the hard work.
 
Here is the Forest service contract contact page for fire stuff. Go down to the logistics stuff and dig around.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/fire/contracting

Like I said it’s a who you know game so your gonna have to make phone calls.

Just keep in mind that the contract officers are all about helping people get on approved vendor list but can’t actually guarantee you work.
 
Thanks for all of the info! What is a Blue Room?

14400051:50Kal said:
Being a contract vendor for fire is super lucrative. You will need to get in contact with a regional office, get approval to be a vendor, then have to wait til a fire happens.

It’s a crapshoot when it comes to how much money you will make because your betting on the fire season in a Region.

It could be a raging fire season in AZ but Idaho is wet. You need to have big inventory to get multiple Reigon contracts and you need to babysit the stations or hire someone to stay there.

Im sure there are tons of people the last two years who have talked about all the money they have made because fire personnel ordered handwashing stations an over abundance.

But I feel it’s gonna go back to normal which is like hand wash station at the chow line and one outside a bathroom.

It’s a big who you know game especially in some regions vs others.

Don’t forget your gonna have to insurance on all your stations, vehicles, follow contract specifications, ect.

My advice is if you know someone who does it, work for them a season then if you like it or don’t mind it buy in.

There is lots of retirees that do it but don’t like after buying hand washing stations/blue rooms.

Honestly I would say blue rooms would be a way more guaranteed to make money.

If your younger I would say actually firefighting is way more fun than doing contract work. Save that stuff for when your body is old and decrepit.

Right now is a really good time to get into the fire world as it’s hard to find people to do the hard work.
 
14399986:OldManAtABasin said:
My girlfriend is woodland firefighter out here in Colorado and works for the NPS tracking elk. She's currently back home for another week and a half but remind me and I'll put you two in contact. She got a lot of help when she was trying to get into it so loves helping others out as well.

**This post was edited on Feb 18th 2022 at 2:34:42am

I completely misread this post at 2:30 in the morning.
 
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