Smoke Jumpers

a buddy from school does it. not as fun as it sounds. i know another guy thats a lumberjack. makes a lot more money and alot of companies dont op in the winter.
 
in missoula montana they have a smokejumper base and shit goes off there. definitely intense. my dad did the hotshots in college, basically they heli you into a fire, you do work, they heli you out. said it was sick because all the pilots were just out of 'nam and could fly anywhere
 
the chance of you getting the job is 0, you need years of wild land firefighting before they would ever consider you.
 
ya pretty much. you need time as a normal wildland firefighter, on a hotshot crew and then you need to train in jumping, etc. good goal, just requires some work
 
yea. im pretty sure its tress years. then you have to have all the task books signed off. (that takes a long time) but IF you get the job. you dont get that much work cause theres alot of jumpers. and not many uses. the day of the jumper is leaving. its innefficient. and super expensive. it costs a fire 500 bones to just get the jumper out of the door. plus, rappeling onto a fire is the way to go ive heard. but. lets say you get the job. your high on the list to gettin on a fire. well. a district will only order jumpers if the fire is virtually inacessable and out of control. and its not as extreme as you would think. they basically jump near the fire, take note of the fuel type and hike to the nearest ridge and watch the fires behavior until either it dies down, or it grows and you need to order an engine or hand crew, etc. i have 2 years on an engine crew and have looked into it. its not as "extreme as you would think" but they are really extreme people. tough and strong and not afraid of work
 
Type I handcrews (hotshots, smoke jumpers, heli tack) allow for 1-2 entry level jobs a season. But other than that. you need years of experience. I'm going to hotshots next season and its going to be tough for me and I have 4 years on an engine crew (engine boss, crew boss, firing boss)

needless to say you need a lot of experience on fire behavior
 
I get the magazine The Economist and there was this one guy in the obituaries who was a smokejumper. They told the story of his life, it was badass.Here it is, I found it: http://www.economist.com/obituary/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14959537

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Thanks bro, I'll bump this thread if I do.

I'm taking a firefighting class next semester and i'm also switching my major to forestry to become a forester technician.
 
what school? you dont need a degree to be a forest tech. and for anything in the forest service you need a masters or phd. PM me if you need any info on what its like. I'm a senior at Oregon State which is the best forestry school in the world and...there are no jobs out there in forestry. fire..yes. people are making $100K+ a season in california ( that state is going bankrupt) . but forestry is going down the shitter. thank you people for buying plastic shit instead of a renewable natural resource.
 
I have friends who have done it up here in Canada, and I'll likely be doing it this summer or next. The physical tests up here are much more strenuous, but if you pass apparently it's extremely rewarding. The first year firefighters have to take an $800 training course, but if you get hired, you pay it off in the first two days of work.
I plan on doing it, as I really enjoy the thought of a challenge, and I think it would be a great experience!
 
BTW I'm talking about HotShot-ing, not smokejumping... I dont know anybody who's smokejumped before
 
Without any experience in the field your odds of getting in are nil. They want people with 4-5+ years fire experience, military experience or fire experience with a degree in some kind of forestry. Being a current forest service employee doesn't hurt either and recommendations from people on the inside go a long way.

That being said smoke jumpers are cool but alot of them are entitled dicks. Hotshots (20 person elite crews) are way more bad ass in physical terms and generally much more friendly.
https://www.avuecentral.com/ is where the forest service accepts applications for fire jobs and ect.

If anyone is applying submit your apps and call the office you want to work for every week. It shows your interest. We often keep a tally of how many many times people call in.
 
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