If you’ve ever wanted a job that will push you to the absolute limit, the BC Wildfire Service might have an opening for you.
The provincial wildfire agency is hiring smokejumpers – front-line firefighters who parachute into remote fire zones, where they work unsupported sometimes for weeks at a time.
“It’s certainly not for everyone, but for people who like it, I think most of us would tell you we love it and there’s nothing like it,” Greg Jones, a veteran BC Wildfire Service smokejumper with nine seasons under his belt, told Global News.
The BC Wildfire Service employs about 70 smokejumpers every season, operating out of bases in Fort St. John and Mackenzie.
Using airplanes, the service can get crews deep into remote areas of B.C.’s vast wildlands that may not be accessible by road or helicopter.
“They’re cost-effective and they can carry a lot of gear, weight and firefighters — the trade-off obviously is that we can’t land in the wilderness or remote areas, which is where the parachuting comes in.”
“We can centrally locate experienced firefighters and still respond quickly, basically anywhere in the province within two hours,” Jones said.
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All of B.C.’s smokejumpers have at least one year of previous wildfire-fighting experience, though for many the job is their first time jumping out of a plane.
The province hires five to 15 new jumpers every year, who undergo five weeks of parachute training in the spring before being assigned to a crew.
Jones is quick to note the job qualifications are rather selective.
Beyond the jumping aspect, candidates must be extremely fit and be willing to spend days or weeks in the backcountry carrying their own gear, sometimes over mountains.
Jones says a crew deploys with more than 2,700 kilograms of gear and is equipped to be totally self-sufficient for 48 hours.
“It is incredible, it is a lot of fun. The jumping ends up being very little of it – it’s about a 90-second jump typically, and then you can be up on a fire for up to 14 days,” he said.
“We’re looking for people who have a good understanding of their motives for why they want to do it, folks with an understanding that it is a service job and it does demand a lot of you, and people who are really comfortable in the bush and the wilderness and comfortable being pushed.”
While there are specific risks associated with jumping from an aircraft, and more from working alone in a remote area, Jones noted that all firefighting jobs come with a certain level of danger. He said the service works hard to mitigate those dangers through training and competent personnel.
There’s also no bonus pay for leaping out of an aircraft.
Jones said smokejumpers make the same wage as other firefighters, so applicants have to want the job on its own merits.
“It is certainly exhilarating.”
“It is also, at the end of the day, a job,” he said.
“The people it attracts are here because they want the challenge and they want the extra opportunity to kind of give back.”
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