I had to do a project for one of my classes where I had to explore a career path and research it. I don’t really know what I want to do, to be honest so when it came time to choose, I chose Wildland Firefighting since it was what my buddies have been getting into. After learning about it more, there’s actually a lot of cool you can do in this area of work. You can be part of a remote crew living in the woods, getting supplies flown into you occasionally, and you slowly build up a base. Living in the woods, playing with fire, and building a fort? Sounds like every little boy’s dream.
Helitack Crews are pretty much exactly what it sounds like, they’re responsible for flying the helicopter water bucket. But as well they have ground crews that get flown in by helicopter. You can train to be a smokejumper where you parachute into remote areas, if heavy equipment is more your thing you can be a Dozer Operator. You can work behind the scenes and manage the fuel build-up in the forests, if you like biology you can be a Fire Ecologist, or if you like being the leader you work up to Fire Planners and Fire Analysts.