Medical preparedness advocate Dr. Joseph Alton shared tips on how people can prepare their families and their homes for fire weather. August 12, 2023.
Firefighters have plenty of ways to battle the spread of flames, but some first responders have a different approach to wildfire response.
A smokejumper is a unique type of wildland firefighter that’s trained to reach remote fires by parachuting from about 3,000 feet to attack a designated area, typically without road or trail access, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
This type of response allows firefighters to arrive hours before anyone could hike or drive to a location to extinguish the flames.
These first responders receive intensive training in parachuting, aircraft safety and firefighting tactics, along with specialized skills such as tree climbing, aerial cargo delivery, chainsaw use, parachute equipment manufacturing and prescribed burning.
Smokejumpers apart of the U.S. Wildland Fire Service, jump out of a plane from 3,000 feet to land in a designated zone to help combat the spread of a wildfire.
Footage shared by the U.S. Wildland Fire Service shows smokejumpers leap from a plane, strapped with equipment, into rugged desert terrain where a wildfire rages in the distance.
Large plumes of smoke can be seen rising high into the sky as wrist responders parachute into the region.
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Smokejumpers must undergo intensive training in parachuting, aircraft safety, firefighting tactics, tree climbing, aerial cargo delivery, chainsaw use, parachute equipment manufacturing and prescribed burning.
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Smokejumper Larry Wilson exits a DC-3TP airplane during training jumps near McCall, Idaho, while preparing for the 2008 fire season.
(Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service) -
CONDON, MT – JUNE 15: A rookie Smoke Jumper parachutes into Lake Lindbergh as part of Smoke Jumper training June 15, 2007 in Condon, Montana. Rookie Smoke Jumpers must finish a required five-week training in which they will do 15 paracute jumps into various terrains, including trees, open areas and lakes. Once finished with the training, the Smoke Jumpers will become part of an elite group that parachutes into remote wilderness areas to create fire lines during large wild fires.
(Justin Sullivan) -
The 555th Airborne Battalion Paratrooper Unit served as smokejumpers to combat the Japanese Balloon bomb threat in the U.S.
(National Fire Interagency Fire Center)
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the smokejumping program began in 1939 as an experiment, but was fully established in 1943, proving to provide outstanding service across the nation.
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Notably, the 555th Airborne Battalion Paratrooper unit served as smokejumpers to combat the Japanese balloon bomb offensive during World War II, when Japan launched close to 9,000 balloons during a five-month period to be carried by high-altitude winds into the U.S. carrying anti-personnel and incendiary bombs.
