Smokejumper
The Smokejumpers (German: Feuerspringer ) are an elite fire department of the United States Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the USA . In addition to the USA, Russia , the Awialessoochrana and Canada , the parattack crews of the British Columbia Wildfire Service , also have fire jumpers.
General
98% of all forest fires in the US are triggered by thunderstorms. The US Forest Service has more than 10,000 firefighters available to fight these fires, but only a small number of them are smoke jumpers. The forest areas that cannot be reached by vehicles or can only be reached by walking for days are their main area of application. For this purpose, the emergency services are flown to the deployment sites by plane, where they then jump off with their equipment, which can weigh up to 50 kg. Depending on the size of the fire, teams of 2 to 20 smoke jumpers are deployed. They fight the fires by creating aisles that are cleared to the bare ground so that they no longer feed the fires. Depending on the size of the fire, the aisles must be of different widths. In the case of fires that potentially reach up into the treetops, creating such an aisle can take 1 to 2 days. On the rare occasion that there is a lake or stream near the fire, pumps and other equipment can also be requested.
A few years ago, the age limit for Smokejumpers was increased from 40 to 57 years, with the older ones more likely to take over the management of operations at the locations.
history
The U.S. Forest Service's smokejumper program began in 1939. The Smokejumpers were first used on July 12, 1940 in the Nez Percé National Forest , Idaho .
The US secret service CIA succeeded in recruiting Smokejumpers for secret missions abroad between 1951 and 1975, especially during the time of the Vietnam War. National Smokejumper Magazine published a list of 96 names of men who worked for the CIA in 2015.
Since 1939, 35 smoke jumpers have been killed in missions, 32 while on the ground and 3 while jumping. One of the biggest misfortunes among smoke jumpers is the Mann Gulch Fire in the Helena National Forest, Montana . On August 5, 1949, 15 men jumped out to fight the fire, including 14 smoke jumpers. Fanned by strong winds, the fire spread explosively, and within a very short time 1,200 hectares were on fire. The emergency services had to withdraw over a steep slope. Of the 15 people who jumped, 13 were killed, 12 of them were smoke jumpers. A memorial for the victims was erected at the site of the accident. Thirteen crosses commemorate the victims in the places where their bodies were found. The memorial has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Mann Gulch Wildfire Historic District (No. 99000596) as of May 19, 1999 . Under the influence of the incident, the film The Fire Jumpers of Montana with Richard Widmark in the lead role (directed by Joseph M. Newman ) was made in 1952 .
Personnel strength and bases
The smoke jumpers currently (as of 2015) comprise a total of 450 emergency services in nine locations. The Bureau of Land Management has two locations in Fairbanks ( Alaska ) with 66 smoke jumpers and in Boise ( Idaho ) with 84 smoke jumpers. The other seven locations are maintained by the US Forest Service in Winthrop (Washington) , with 28 Smokejumpers, Grangeville (Idaho) , with 29 Smokejumpers, McCall (Idaho) , with 63 Smokejumpers, Remond (Oregon) , with 44 Smokejumpers, West Yellowstone ( Montana ), with 28 smoke jumpers, Missoula (Montana), with 65 smoke jumpers and Redding (California) , with 44 smoke jumpers.
equipment
education
The 5-week training as a smoke jumper includes not only fighting fires without water, but also parachuting. In the 5 weeks before the exam, at least 20 jumps must be completed. Even after training, a smoke jumper has to do a parachute jump every 14 days, either in action or on the training facility. In addition, there is the training "Navigating in the forest", since the missions are usually in heavily forested areas. In most years, only half of the applicants have completed their training.
Fitness test
The Bureau of Land Management has developed a special test for itself before training to become a smoke jumper. It consists of a run of 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) in 9:30 minutes or 4.8 kilometers (3 miles) in 22:30 minutes. After that ten have pull-ups (pull-ups), 60 crunches (sit-ups) and 35 push-ups (push-ups) are made in one piece each. This is followed by a run of 4.8 kilometers in 90 minutes over flat terrain. The second run is done at 50 kg (110 pounds). A break of a maximum of 5 minutes may be taken between the exercises. Those who fail the test will be excluded from the training.
Books
- Feuerspringer , by Nicholas Evans , published by Bertelsmann in 2002
- Young Men and Fire , by Norman Maclean
- Jumping Fire , by Murry A. Taylor
- Just a Few Jumper Stories , by Rod Dow
swell
- Website Smokejumper
- Fire service magazine issue 5/2017