‘A privilege’: As wildfire season ramps up, the Redmond Smokejumpers are prepped and ready
Kelsey Merison
REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Central Oregon is home to one of seven US Forest Service bases in the country—where smokejumpers convene and set out to be the first line of defense against wildfires.
A smokejumper mid-air. Credit: BLM
KTVZ News took a trip to the Redmond Air Base and got a behind-the-scenes look at what a day in the life of a Redmond Smokejumper entails.
Redmond Smokejumper hanging up a parachute
“Very few people get to go where we go and experience it the way we do,” Josh Cantrell, a smokejumper and the base manager, told KTVZ News.
Josh Cantrell
Cantrell has been a smokejumper for nearly 30 years.
“There are different things that trigger different memories. (One of my favorite memories) could be jumping an August fire in Warm Springs and being surrounded by huckleberries next to a lake. It could be the first fire that I jumped ever out of Silver City, New Mexico. We jumped at about 37 acres (burned). And by the time we were done with it, it was about 37,000 acres. So we didn’t catch that one, but it’s a memorable fire in that sense,” said Cantrell. “My career is really littered with those, just that experience of who’s been here before?”
He detailed what the unique job requires.
“I don’t know that there’s a typical day in the life of a smokejumper. I think that you show up in the morning, you say ‘Here’ when your name is called, but you can end up really anywhere in the Western United States by day’s end,” Cantrell said. “Because we have airplanes, we can cover a great distance…Even days after a lightning event or a cell that moves through, we can still staff those fires long after the storms have moved through. So really, it’s unpredictable.”
Smokejumpers exiting a plane. Credit: USDA Forest Service
While jumping out of planes to fight fires is one of the main aspects, a lot more goes in to the position than one might realize.
The crew sews all of their own gear, pack and load up their cargo, and when the alarm sounds—they hop into a plane to be the first line of defense against a wildfire.
Smokejumper gear ready for action
“We’re no different than any of the public that we’re here working for. Just as a public employee, we work at the privilege of the public and are happy to provide that resource and do what we do. Somebody selected us to do this, and I think we consider that a privilege to continue to do it,” Cantrell said. “What makes you want to become a smokejumper? Well, I’d say, like most other smokejumpers here or firefighters, it started as a summer job that was rewarding, entertaining, fulfilling. And that’s what you end up doing while you’re figuring out what you’re going to do. And then you get to my age.”
A special privilege—protecting our communities and land.
“I think that everybody here has that same sense of public service and is happy to do this,” said Cantrell. “I mean, for most firefighters, it is. It’s a bit of an adventure to go around wherever in the Western United States and sleep in the dirt, sleep on a hillside, go put a fire out.”
To learn more about the Redmond Smokejumpers, click here.