Smokejumpers are specially trained wildland firefighters who provide an initial attack response on remote wildfires. They are inserted at the site of the fire by parachute. This allows firefighters to access remote fires in their early stages without needing to hike long distances carrying equipment and supplies. Traditional terrestrial crews can use only what they can carry and often require hours and days to reach fire on foot. The benefits of smokejumping include the speed at which firefighters can reach a burn site, the broad range of fires a single crew can reach by aircraft, and the larger equipment payloads that can be delivered to a fire compared to pedestrian crews.
US Forest Service smokejumpers, based in Deming, New Mexico, 1948
Smokejumper equipment on display, West Yellowstone, Montana.
Wildfire suppression is a range of firefighting tactics used to suppress wildfires. Firefighting efforts depend on many factors such as the available fuel, the local atmospheric conditions, the features of the terrain, and the size of the wildfire. Because of this wildfire suppression in wild land areas usually requires different techniques, equipment, and training from the more familiar structure fire fighting found in populated areas. Working in conjunction with specially designed aerial firefighting aircraft, fire engines, tools, firefighting foams, fire retardants, and using various firefighting techniques, wildfire-trained crews work to suppress flames, construct fire lines, and extinguish flames and areas of heat in order to protect resources and natural wilderness. Wildfire suppression also addresses the issues of the wildland–urban interface, where populated areas border with wild land areas.
A wildfire suppression operation in Washington, United States in 2002. Methods here include fire retardant drops and the bulldozing of firebreaks.
Lava flow on the coastal plain of Kīlauea, on the island of Hawaii, generated this wildfire.
Fire retardant dispersed aerially onto brush adjoining a firebreak to contain the Tumbleweed Fire in California, in July 2021
A helicopter dips its bucket into a pool before dropping the water on a wildfire close to Naples, Italy.