Smokejumpers

When these words are written, the planet is coming out of its hottest month on record. One hundred and twenty miles north, the Lake Fire rages in Santa Barbara County hills. Residents and wildlife are escaping to avoid fast-moving brush fires enhanced by the summer winds.

This battle between ourselves and fire is an unavoidable circumstance of humanity’s growth, at least to the present. Our response to this battle requires a certain bravery from a select few willing to risk their lives to preserve the world around them. For the US Forest Service, which manages 193 million acres of national forest and grassland, proper preparation is found in smokejumpers. 

Since 1939, smokejumpers have been employed to enforce an “aggressive, initial attack” on wildfires, according to the US Forest Service, parachuting out of fixed-wing planes into rural territory that is otherwise unreachable on the ground. Nicknamed “Keepers of the Flame,” they work arguably the most demanding and dangerous job within the US Forest Service.