Despite all of today’s technology, wildfires are still ultimately controlled and extinguished by firefighters digging in the dirt. Just like war, battles are won by the boots on the ground. The general goal of fighting wildfires is to keep 90% of the fires to less than 10 acres. Helicopters have become a very visible and important tool to quickly deliver firefighters to the scene. However, in certain circumstances, it is more effective and efficient to deliver them by parachute.

Known as smokejumpers, these firefighters parachute into remote areas where there are small fires, often started by lightning, to keep them from growing larger. AirMed&Rescue spoke with smokejumpers from the US Forest Service (USFS), the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Alaska, and the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) in British Columbia, Canada. The BCWS operates the only smokejumper program in Canada, which is known as parattack.

Training and equipment

The selection and initial training of all three services are very similar. As a matter of fact, every fire season can find them working side by side in each other’s response areas across international and organizational boundaries through mutual aid agreements. Interoperability is highly stressed in the smokejumper community in the USA and Canada.

“Candidates must have at least one season of wildland firefighting experience to be considered for training,” explained Mitch Hokanson, the Forest Service smokejumper base manager in Redding, California. “We don’t train them how to fight fires – they are expected to know that coming into the program. Many candidates have several years of experience.” The same holds true for the BLM and BCWS.

The initial training of smokejumpers is similar across all three services as well, and takes five to six weeks. Physical fitness and conditioning is highly emphasized, and training is based on the techniques and procedures of US military paratroopers. It begins with classroom training on all the equipment they will use and the techniques of parachuting. The students then move on to using simulators to learn how to safely exit from the aircraft door and how to land on the ground using the parachute landing fall to minimize injuries. They also use devices to simulate a parachute descent, including zip-line devices to simulate emergency procedures during a descent. Another skill taught is how to rappel out of trees in which they might land.

Finally, the students perform actual drops into smaller and smaller landing zones (LZs). Each person jumps with a radio and receives direction from the instructors on the ground watching them. They practice doing turns and learn how to maneuver their chute. Every jump is videotaped from exit to landing and reviewed with the students.

Each jumper wears a heavily padded Kevlar suit and a helmet with a cage-like face plate to protect them in case they hit or land in a tree

Each jumper wears a heavily padded Kevlar suit and a helmet with a cage-like face plate to protect them in case they hit or land in a tree. In addition, some agencies wear several pieces of motorcycle protective gear under the suit. A leg pocket contains 150ft (45 meters) of rope that can be attached to the parachute harness so the jumper can lower themselves to the ground if they get hung up in a tree. A backpack with basic firefighting, communications, and survival gear is suspended from the parachute harness and hangs between the legs of the jumper as they descend. All of this gear weighs about 85lb.

The number of smokejumpers assigned to a base can vary from 25 to 80 jumpers, depending on the authorized crewing level for each base. The USFS operates seven smokejumper bases in the western USA. The BLM operates two bases, one in Alaska and one in Idaho. The BCWS has smokejumpers at two bases. Nationally, there are about 400 smokejumpers between the BLM and the USFS.

“Smokejumpers are divided into different jobs depending on experience and training,” stated Hokanson. “Each person begins as a basic smokejumper. Then you have squad leaders, who are more senior jumpers who have been jumping for a few fire seasons. The next level are called spotters. They have to complete several certification classes and then are trained in-house to be a jumpmaster. They select LZs, evaluate the winds over an LZ by dropping paper streamers, communicate with the pilot, as well as assist with navigating to the fire. They also select the jump point and brief the smokejumpers who will be exiting the aircraft. After the jumpers are away, the spotter is responsible for hooking up the cargo and dropping it to the jumpers on the ground. It takes about 12–18 months to become a qualified spotter.”

Aircraft and parachutes

The USFS uses several different aircraft as jump ships. It owns 10 ex-military Short C-23 Sherpa aircraft, which hold two pilots, two spotters and 10 jumpers, as well as the cargo needed to support them. Dornier 228s are also used, which are provided by a contractor and can carry seven jumpers, two spotters, and a single pilot.

“We use two different contract aircraft as jump ships,” commented Greg Jones, a smokejumper Command Spotter with the BCWS. “We have a Basler DC-3, which has been converted to turboprop engines, and a DHC Twin Otter. We love the DC-3 as a smokejumper platform. It has good speed, range, and payload. We can carry as many as 13 jumpers plus a lot of equipment. It allows us a great amount of flexibility to staff large numbers on one incident or staff multiple incidents on the same flight. While the Twin Otter is much smaller, it allows us to get into tighter mountainous areas and smaller air strips to pick up the jumpers once their mission is finished.”

“We use two types of aircraft as jump ships in Alaska: the DHC Dash 8-100 and the CASA 212,” stated William Kramer, Chief of the BLM smokejumpers in Alaska. “We operate two of each type. The Dash 8 has been an important addition to our capabilities. The speed and range are significantly higher than any other option we examined. It is a pressurized aircraft that can cruise at 260kts with a payload of 7,500lb with at least a four-hour fuel supply. Our standard load is 12 jumpers with a good load of paracargo. All of our jump ships are contractor owned and operated.”

The major difference between the American and Canadian smokejumper programs is the type of parachute each uses. The USFS and BLM use a square canopy parachute called a ram-air chute. The jumpers exit the aircraft 3,000ft (900 meters) above the ground. The ram-air chutes allow operation in higher wind conditions, up to 25kts (45km/h), and the jumper is able to maneuver it more easily if the wind speed or direction changes. It can be flared for very soft landings, similar to flying an airplane.

The major difference between the American and Canadian smokejumper programs is the type of parachute each uses

“The BCWS use round parachutes,” explained Jones. “We like the simplicity and reliability of the round chutes and they are easier to train on. In addition, with a drop altitude of 1,500ft (450 meters) above the ground, we can jump below the level of the smoke. Plus, we have lots of very tall timber so the more vertical descent of the round chutes is beneficial as opposed to the gliding horizontal descent of the ram-air chutes.”

In addition, all jumpers, regardless of the type of main chute, carry a reserve chute. This can be deployed manually in case the main chute malfunctions. There is also a device attached to the reserve that will automatically deploy it at a certain altitude if the main chute is not deployed. This is in case the jumper becomes incapacitated after exiting the aircraft.

Cargo and technology

Once the jumpers are on the ground, their cargo is parachuted to them. This includes food, water, sleeping bags, firefighting hand tools, chain saws and fuel. The Alaska BLM and BCWS also drop pumps and hoses due to the plentiful streams and lakes in their response areas. There are enough supplies to last two or three days before they need a resupply drop. The maximum time a team of smokejumpers are allowed to be on a fire for any of the agencies is 14 days. A minimum of two to three jumpers are deployed on every fire, depending on the agency, with more added if needed.

There are enough supplies to last two or three days before they need a resupply drop

Communications can be a challenge for smokejumpers. All jumpers carry a handheld radio and also jump with satellite phones and Garmin inReach satellite messenger devices. Some agencies have also begun to acquire and deploy Starlink satellite internet devices for larger, more complex fires.

Uncrewed aerial systems (UASs) are starting to be used by smokejumper programs. Alaska BLM has begun to use UAS systems intermittently. Several of their jumpers are qualified operators. They have mainly been used as reconnaissance tools for finding water sources and looking at fire behavior. The BCWS does not currently use UAS vehicles but, according to Jones, it is something they are looking into and are in the early research stages of. The USFS is not currently using UAS vehicles in its program.

Covering ground

Once they are done with a fire, the jumpers will often walk out with all their gear to the nearest dirt road and be picked up. They may be picked up by a helicopter but may have to cut down trees to make an LZ. In more remote areas of British Columbia and Alaska, boats may be hired to pick up the jumpers and take them to the nearest air strip where a jump plane can land.

“Smokejumpers have several advantages over helitack in Alaska,” said Kramer. “The speed, range, and payload capabilities of our jump aircraft allow us to range far and wide over Alaska. The BLM in Alaska covers a vast area of 70 million acres (284,000km²). This includes fire responses to the Aleutian Islands all the way out to Little Diomede, which is only a few miles from Russian territory. This also makes smokejumpers more cost-efficient than the large amount of helicopters and helitack crews that would be needed to cover the same area.”

Smokejumpers have several advantages over helitack in Alaska. The speed, range, and payload capabilities of our jump aircraft allow us to range far and wide over Alaska

The demand for smokejumpers every fire season all over the USA exceeds the number that both the BLM and Forest Service operate. So, almost every year, smokejumpers shift around the country based on need. Smokejumpers are a valuable tool that have been around since the 1940s. They are a key weapon for fighting fires in remote, rugged terrain. Most people don’t hear about the fires they respond to because they keep them small. That is the way they like it.