Smokejumper

Readers will learn what it takes to succeed as a smokejumper. The book also explains the necessary educational steps, useful character traits, and daily job tasks related to this career, in the framework of the STEAM, Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math, movement. Photos, a glossary, and additional resources are included.

Smokejumper to Global Pilot is an excellent description of an incredible string of events that Lee Gossett started when he was a young teenager hanging around the local airport. Learning to fly by 16, he moved down many paths which included being a smokejumper, a “Kicker” for Air America in Southeast Asia, a crop duster in New Zealand, and a pilot for Air America, Continental Air Services, and eventually for the proprietary replacement for Air America. From “can do” operations and “out of the Box” thinking to the development and adaption of innovative new technology, this book will appeal to a wide range of readers. Simply put, this is a guidebook to creating an adventurous life by never letting an opportunity pass you by.

On a July afternoon in 2012, a bolt of lightning struck a tree in Montana's Lolo National Forest. The tree burst into flames and the fire quickly spread, sending clouds of smoke into the sky. Soon, a small plane appeared overhead. Several smokejumpers dropped out of the plane and parachuted to the ground near the blaze, ready to fight the wildfire. Look inside to find out more about these courageous firefighters and how they use their quick thinking and expert skills to battle wildfires. You'll also go behind the scenes to learn how smokejumpers train for their jobs so that they are ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. Book jacket.

A rare inside look at the thrilling world of smokejumpers, the airborne firefighters who parachute into the most remote and rugged areas of the United States, confronting the growing threat of nature’s blazes. Forest and wildland fires are growing larger, more numerous, and deadlier every year — record drought conditions, decades of forestry mismanagement, and the increasing encroachment of residential housing into the wilderness have combined to create a powder keg that threatens millions of acres and thousands of lives every year. One select group of men and women are part of America's front-line defense: smokejumpers. The smokejumper program operates through both the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Though they are tremendously skilled and only highly experienced and able wildland firefighters are accepted into the training program, being a smokejumper remains an art that can only be learned on the job. Forest fires often behave in unpredictable ways: spreading almost instantaneously, shooting downhill behind a stiff tailwind, or even flowing like a liquid. In this extraordinarily rare memoir by an active-duty jumper, Jason Ramos takes readers into his exhilarating and dangerous world, explores smokejumping’s remarkable history, and explains why their services are more essential than ever before.

This “terrifying, grimly funny” memoir about fighting forest fires in Alaska offers “an affectionate portrait of a fraternity of daredevils” (The New Yorker). A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year Fighting fires since 1965, legendary smokejumper Murry A. Taylor finally hung up his chute after the summer of 2000—the worst fire season in more than fifty years. In Jumping Fire, Taylor recounts in thrilling detail one summer of parachuting out of planes to battle blazes in the vast, rugged wilderness of Alaska, with tales of training, digging fire lines, run-ins with bears, and the heroics of fellow jumpers who fell in the line of duty. This unique memoir, filled with humor, fear, tragedy, joy, and countless stories of man versus nature at its most furious, is a “tale of love and loss, life and death, and sheer hard work, set in an unforgiving and unforgettable landscape” (Publishers Weekly). “Filled with adventure, danger and tragedy.” —The New York Times Book Review “A beautifully crafted, wise yet thrilling book.” —Los Angeles Times

Provides information on the men and women who risk their lives daily by extinguishing wildfires by placing themselves in the heart of the fire.

This is the story of Civilian Public Service smokejumpers, who battled against dangerous winds, searing heat, and devastating fires from 1943 until 1945. Fewer than 300 World War II conscientious objectors served their country in this fashion, operating out of CPS bases in Montana, Idaho, and Oregon. But that small band of men helped to keep alive Forest Service operations in the Pacific Northwest and thus sustained a program to fight potentially crippling fires. When the war ended, CPS smokejumpers, like millions of World War II combat soldiers, were "ushered out" of wartime service. Some, like many returning GIs, encountered difficulties in adjusting to civilian life. Nevertheless, the one-time smokejumpers often went on to make other remarkable contributions to their communities, their nation, and the world.