Forest firefighters, also known as wildland firefighters, work in crews
to fight blazes in remote parts of the country. They try to catch fires when
they're small, but sometimes the weather works against them. If the weather
is hot, dry and windy, even small fires can flare up into infernos.
Firefighters work with heavy equipment, like hand tools, chainsaws, pumps
and hoses. Sometimes the work stretches over long periods of time. Both weather
and the local terrain play an important role in how fires are fought. Heavy
winds can turn a small fire into a towering blaze in a flash. Steep terrain
means a lot of legwork and it can be challenging to put the fires out.
There are specialties within the field of fire suppression: aviation, smoke
jumping and rappelling, incident management, and the hot-shot crews -- tightly
organized teams of 20 who deal with large-scale fires.
The risk of death or injury is very real. Strong winds and falling trees
and branches are always a hazard. Wearing protective gear is part of the job
and physical fitness is a priority.
Forest firefighters must pass a physical fitness test in order to work.
Requirements vary from place to place. Depending on where you live, the fitness
requirements may involve tests of aerobic fitness, muscular strength and endurance.
For example, a shuttle run, weightlifting and running with a pump-hose without
stopping or placing the pump on the ground.
"You've got to be motivated to keep in good shape," says Debra Owen, a
fire boss. Owen had a rude awakening one year when she nearly failed a new
fitness test. Says the dedicated weightlifter and soccer player: "I'm never
going to get into that position again."
Along with the need for physical fitness, you should also be able to work
well in a team environment. "You learn to handle pressure and you learn to
deal with people and accept the different quirks that they have," says Kole
Berriochoa, a 20-year veteran of the hot-shot crews that fight the big fires
in the United States. In other words, there's little room on a fire line for
petty backbiting: get the job done.
Those interested in this career should have a strong interest in the outdoors,
says Brian Eldredge, a training specialist at the Great Basin Training Center
in Boise (covering southern Idaho, Utah and Nevada).
"Most people who end up in the Forest Service do so out of an interest
in what goes on in a fire, and in wildlife in particular," he says. That could
mean anything from a background in farming to experience camping and hiking
in the wilderness.
Most of the work is done during the fire season, which typically stretches
from late April to early October. Some forest firefighters may have other
jobs during the rest of the year.
"The payback is the adventure," says Eldredge. "We can last a long time
operating on adrenaline, or the memory of it."
Those with more education and good skills may get a full-time job with
government forest agencies. There's work to do in the winter too, such as
management plans, conducting prescribed burns, equipment maintenance and paperwork.
Right now, the future of wildland firefighting is going through a shift.
The field is now turning away from the old Smokey the Bear approach where
every fire is viewed as the villain. Instead, fire is being viewed from an
ecological standpoint. That is, sometimes wildfire is an agent that keeps
forests healthy.
"Smokey the Bear has done such a good job that we're in danger of building
up too much fuel. The ecosystem depends on fire," Eldredge explains. "These
large destructive fires we've been seeing in recent years are partially due
to keeping fire out of places where fire was a natural part of the ecosystem."
Berriochoa agrees. "You need fire to come in and clean up the undergrowth
and dead limbs. It's more like a forest bath and it gets rid of the weak trees."