Smokejumper
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A smokejumper is a wildland firefighter that parachutes into a remote area to combat wildfires.
Smokejumpers are most often deployed to fires that are extremely remote. The extra risk and trouble associated with this method is justified by reaching a wildfire shortly after ignition when it is still relatively small. Another argument for delivering wildland firefighters by parachute is the fact that the fixed-wing aircraft that carry smokejumpers are cheaper to operate over long distances, carry more personnel and equipment and have higher top speeds than the helicopters often used for other fire deployments. While remoteness is one reason parachute deployment is used, it adds to the risk inherent in smokejumping as crews are often hours away from help if the wind shifts or someone gets injured. The ordinary risk of a parachute jump, the adverse conditions for the jump, and the lack of resources for firefighting and rescue once on the ground in a remote area gives smokejumping a reputation as exceedingly dangerous work.
Smokejumpers use two types of parachutes: round parachutes (used by the Forest Service), and ram-air type sport parachutes, employed by the Bureau of Land Management. Since they are jumping into remote and often forested locations, they jump wearing heavily padded clothing in order to be prepared for the possibility of landing in a tree.
Once on the ground, smokejumpers normally use hand tools such as pulaskis (a combination ax and mattock), shovels, chainsaws and portable pumps to attack the fire. Often the first action is to attempt to cut a firebreak to contain the spread of a wildfire. Explosives are sometimes used in this role, having been first used on a fire by jumpers in 1974 as a fireline technique.
The first actual fire jumps in the history of smokejumping were made by Rufus Robinson and Earl Cooley at Marten Creek in the Nez Perce National Forest on July 12, 1940. Prior to that there had been experiments with parachuting in Utah in 1934 and in the Soviet Union to test its feasibility for fighting forest fires.
Despite the seemingly dangerous nature of the job, fatalities are rare. The largest disaster involving smokejumper deaths on the job was the Mann Gulch fire blowup of 1949. 13 firefighters died during the blowup, 12 of them jumpers. This disaster directly led to the establishment of modern safety standards used by all wildland firefighters.
In the United States, smokejumper bases currently operate in Missoula, Montana, Fairbanks, Alaska, Boise, Idaho, McCall, Idaho, Winthrop, Washington, Redding, California, West Yellowstone, Montana, Grangeville, Idaho, and Redmond, Oregon. The largest of these bases is in Missoula. Formerly, smokejumper bases have also been located in Cave Junction, Oregon, Bristol, Virginia, and a few other locations. Russia, Canada [1], and Mongolia also have smokejumper programs.
[edit] References
- Cohen, Stan. A Pictorial History of Smokejumping. Pictorial Histories Publishing, 1983. ISBN 0-933126-40-9
- Pyne, Stephen J. Fire In America. University of Washington Press, 1982. ISBN 0-295-97592-X
