Lately I have been reminiscing about my years as a Smokejumper; a separate life compressed into the years 1971 through 1977.\u00a0 I was 19 years old my first season.\u00a0 It was the toughest job I ever had and I loved it.<\/p>\n
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Most will agree that no matter how many seasons, or years, they were \u2018jumpers… it was a lifetime.\u00a0 We worked hard and competed fiercely to earn our wings.\u00a0 There were no new-hires over age 27.\u00a0 Jumpers were restricted from parachuting after age 40.\u00a0 There were no women.\u00a0 The civil rights laws started changing during my tenure.\u00a0 I don\u2019t believe women became jumpers until the early 80\u2018s.<\/p>\n
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The Smokejumpers were the most hard working, dependable \u201cgot your back\u201d people I have ever known. \u00a0All were individualists, mavericks who worked very well by themselves, thank-you.\u00a0 \u00a0Some had a hard time staying out of trouble.\u00a0 As a group, a smokejumper crew\u2019s capacity for work was enormous.\u00a0However, we always worked well as a team.\u00a0 \u201cLead, follow, or get the hell out of the way,\u201d was the mantra.<\/p>\n
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The buddy system was the rule; the minimum number of jumpers dropped on a fire was two.\u00a0 We often went for days on short rations.\u00a0 The fire packs were dropped on cargo chutes after the jumpers were safely on the ground.\u00a0 They contained tools, sleeping bags, and 3 1\/2 days of food for two jumpers.\u00a0 Saws, rescue gear, fuel, drinking water, and other specialized equipment were dropped as needed.\u00a0 Sometimes the cargo chutes failed, landed in the fire, or hung-up in tall trees.\u00a0 Occasionally the fire crept around later and burned the gear.\u00a0 Once in a great while a bear, or thief, got in the food and gear.\u00a0 In hot weather it was not unusual to run out of water.<\/p>\n
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Two man fires were prized.\u00a0 \u201cTwo manners\u201d kept jumpers very busy for several days before the fire was corralled and put out.\u00a0 Often there were streams full of trout on the way home.\u00a0 On large fires, full plane loads of jumpers were dropped to slow the head of the fire and were quickly relieved after a shift or two; as soon as sufficient ground troops were on scene.\u00a0 Dispatchers got nervous when too many jumpers were deployed on large fires.\u00a0 It left the forests vulnerable to lightning fires, where the Smokejumpers were most effective.<\/p>\n
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Jumpers were the happiest in the remote back country with very little \u201coutside\u201d supervision.\u00a0 Few non-jumpers understood waterless firefighting as as we did.\u00a0 Direct attack (working up against the flames) is much safer than indirect; as long as you keep your head up and eyes open.\u00a0 Backfires and burn-outs were the force multipliers that we relied on to catch fast moving fires.\u00a0 We rarely had enough manpower to fight fire conventionally.\u00a0 Our tactics made local fire managers nervous.\u00a0 They were not accustomed to highly capable crews using aggressive techniques that local crews were not trained, or allowed to use.\u00a0 We understood that there was a lot less fire to control the next day if all the available fuel within the fire-line was reduced to fine ash by morning.<\/p>\n
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These days it probably takes approval from Washington, D.C. to start a backfire.<\/p>\n
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Jumpers who were reckless or inattentive washed out during training or their closely supervised first season.<\/p>\n
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Ours was dangerous work; jumper culture was cautious, vigilant, and decisive.\u00a0 If you were not at the top of your game you got instant uncensored feedback.\u00a0 The greatest danger was an inattentive or unaware buddy. \u00a0Things often happened very fast.\u00a0 We were expected to recognize a situation, determine the correct response and act appropriately in a split second.<\/p>\n
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We often did not have radios, they were precious commodities.\u00a0 We were never lost but rarely knew our exact location.\u00a0 With a compass, a rudimentary map and a landmark or two; we never had any trouble finding our way to the rendezvous point.<\/p>\n
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Our mission was to quickly put firefighters on the ground in remote areas beyond the reach of conventional firefighters and put the fire out before it got any bigger. \u00a0We could be on the ground fighting a fire in hours where it would take conventional crews days to arrive on scene. \u00a0Many of the locations we jumped were so remote that we were out of radio range.<\/p>\n
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In Alaska, dispatchers would try to send a plane within radio range to check on us once a day.\u00a0 Sometimes we were out of touch for several days with an injured jumper.\u00a0 Occasionally we made rescue jumps for airplane crashes, logging, or smokejumper accidents.<\/p>\n
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Most of us carried small signal mirrors.\u00a0 If we could see an airplane or lookout we could help them locate us from miles away.\u00a0 We each carried two signal panels in our leg pockets.\u00a0 They were fluorescent orange, about 16 inches wide and 10 feet long.\u00a0 We laid them out on the ground to signal our status and needs to aircraft.\u00a0 An \u201cL\u201d next to your parachute said you were safely on the ground and unhurt.\u00a0 With different symbols we could order food, additional jumpers, medical supplies, and tools.\u00a0 Not all orders were filled.\u00a0 We often had to make do with what little we had.<\/p>\n
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We were careful to ask only for the gear we truly needed before the plane left.\u00a0 Everything dropped out of the plane came out on our backs.\u00a0 The packs ranged from 90 to 150 pounds depending on how much gear was dropped and whether or not someone was injured.<\/p>\n
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Pack-outs ranged from less than a mile to 20 or more miles.\u00a0 Sometimes helicopters were dispatched to pick us up if we were too far out in the boondocks or if we were needed for other fires.\u00a0 Occasionally a packer with a string of horses and mules was dispached to retrieve us from a wilderness area.\u00a0 In Alaska, I have been \u201cde-manned\u201d by seaplane; our beloved Grumman Goose.<\/p>\n
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Once in a while, a fire got away and grew large; rarer still, we had to fall back to a safety zone and let one run.\u00a0 If we didn\u2019t have effective escape routes we burned-out until we had them.<\/p>\n
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A lot of of the other firefighters regarded the jumpers as Prima Donnas.\u00a0 Few of them could keep up with the smokejumpers, or handle the same fire assignments.\u00a0 Most smokejumpers did their best to belie the reputation.<\/p>\n
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We were acutely aware that the end of our days was as near as the next jump or the next fire.\u00a0 There were accidents.\u00a0 Fatalities were rare, but we had more than most other firefighter crews.\u00a0 Aircraft accidents, usually helicopters; firefighting accidents, usually widow-makers.<\/p>\n
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Occasionally a jumper would \u201cburn out\u201d of a tree; i.e. the chute would partially hang-up in the side of a large tree, and collapse.\u00a0 Then the limb holding the jumper and chute could not bear the weight and break, dropping the jumper to the ground.<\/p>\n
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Some of the trees we landed in were well over a hundred feet tall.\u00a0 We had to rappel to the ground and retrieve the chute later.\u00a0 Sometimes a jumper would fall out of a tree while retrieving a hung-up chute.\u00a0 Parachutes malfunctioned; the reserve chutes almost always saved the day.\u00a0 Once in a great while a reserve failed or was deployed too near the ground.<\/p>\n
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Seems like every base had at least one career ending injury every season.\u00a0 Season ending injuries were not infrequent.<\/p>\n
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There were sub-sets of smokejumpers, it was seasonal work.\u00a0 Only a small number at each base worked year round, they were squad leaders and managers. \u00a0 Students worked to pay for their education.\u00a0 A\u00a0 few teachers.\u00a0 Some were ski-bums.\u00a0 Vagabonds travelled the world. \u00a0 A small number of veterans worked for government contractors in war zones; once and a while one of them didn\u2019t come back.\u00a0 Some were ranch hands.\u00a0 Others aspired to be career Foresters or forest Fire Managers.\u00a0 Some became pilots.\u00a0 All left jumping life reluctantly.<\/p>\n
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We hoped we would have the good sense to leave the smokejumpers when it was time.\u00a0 A few hardy souls became career smokejumpers.<\/p>\n
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We have reunions every few years.\u00a0 The larger bases usually sponsor them in rotation.\u00a0 Missoula Montana, McCall Idaho, Boise Idaho, Cave Junction Oregon, Redmond Oregon, Redding California, Winthrop Washington, Grangeville Idaho, Fort Wainwright Alaska, Anchorage Alaska, West Yellowstone Montana, and Silver City New Mexico.\u00a0 Regretfully, I have only attended two.\u00a0 Missoula 1983 and Redding 2000.<\/p>\n
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I eagerly anticipate, yet dread, each new issue of the Smokejumper Magazine.\u00a0 The obituaries have too many surprises.\u00a0 The same is true of the website.\u00a0 Most people who become Smokejumpers work hard, play hard, and don\u2019t waste their days trying to make them longer.<\/p>\n
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When I left the Smokejumpers I became an Administrator.\u00a0 That did not fit well.\u00a0 I moved on to become an FBI Agent.\u00a0 I hope my jumper buddies found new lives that were as rewarding.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lately I have been reminiscing about my years as a Smokejumper; a separate life compressed into the years 1971 through 1977.\u00a0 I was 19 years old my first season.\u00a0 It was the toughest job I ever had and I loved it. Most will agree that no matter how many seasons, or years, they were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/tagesuppe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/tagesuppe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/tagesuppe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tagesuppe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tagesuppe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=270"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/tagesuppe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":280,"href":"http:\/\/tagesuppe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270\/revisions\/280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/tagesuppe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tagesuppe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tagesuppe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}