The best job in the world
Marshall Roy — June 18, 2009 @ 5:57 pm
Residents of New York City often get so caught up in our town’s glittery chaos that we forget there are apices of excitement in other places… like Idaho.
In Idaho there lives a man named Jeff Hughes. Jeff is a smokejumper, which aside from being the only job title to rival “ninja,” requires that he routinely jump out of airplanes. Into fire.
The last daredevil-hero of any note was Vin Diesel in xXx, but unlike Vin, Jeff doesn’t have CGI or Asia Argento by his side. He’s got a chainsaw, a heroic will, and nerves like a safecracker. Read more below about the newest member of our Band of Brothers!
I am one of eighty Boise smokejumpers and my job is to parachute into steep and rugged terrain to suppress wildfires. We jump fires from spruce stands in Alaska to high desert in Nevada to heavy timber in California. A typical load of smokejumpers consists of eight firefighters and enough gear and food to support firefighting operations for three days. We either fight fire with Pulaskis and chainsaws or can transition to overhead teams to manage complex wildfires.
Once on the ground, smokejumpers dig a line around the fire, denying fuel to the flames. Some fires last a day and some fires last twenty, in which case you’ll find us working, sleeping, and eating in the dirt. Once the fire is out, we pack up our gear: chainsaws, parachutes, firepacks, jumpsuits, etc., for the demobilization. Occasionally we get picked up by helicopter but sometimes have to pack that 120 pounds of gear out to the nearest road, which can be two or ten miles away.
It’s the best job in the world.
Thanks,
Jeff Hughes
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Jeff – you are a great american! A guy who puts his butt in the way of scorching hot flames deserves to have pants showcase said butt. Any chance we can get a fire proof style maid up for the dance floor under the flames at the Rain in vegas??
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you are in a bar, hot girl asks the guy next to you, “what do you do?”
He busts out “smoke jumper” (or race car driver, fighter pilot, or ninja).
What you got? Just walk away, you can’t win.
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I’ll bet they never considered making Bonobos out of Nomex.
At any rate, Pulaskis sounds like a great name for a pair of pants.
And thanks for everything you do, Jeff. Yours is an honorable and worthy career.
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I totally saw a Lifetime movie about smokejumpers… and I can’t decide if it’s awesome I already knew what a smokejumper was, or if it’s really, really pathetic I’m knowledgeable because of Lifetime…
Regardless, Jeff is a rockstar. Kudos!
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