Seasonal Wildland Firefighters
The term seasonal wildland firefighter can mean a few different things. Let’s dive in and see some options for seasonal firefighters.
Federal and State Hand Crews and Engine Crews offer seasonal positions at many locations. These crews typically work a “season” which can last around 6 months on average. These are considered full-time seasonals.
District and Municipal Fire Departments may have seasonal on-call reserves for wildland engines and water tenders, medic teams, REMS teams or a few also have hand crews.
Private Contractors in Wildland Fire fill many roles on wildland fires. There are contract hand crews, type 3 and type 6 engines, medical teams, ambulances,heavy equipment such as bull dozers and masticators.
Incident Management Teams get called out to fires. They have on-call positions for many team management positions.
Fire Camp Support Staff have staff ranging from finance, logistics, food, medical, showers, restrooms and handwash stations that all need to be managed.
Seasonal Firefighter Positions
Seasonal positions are available for all types of positions on the fireline. Below are the most common jobs that you’ll find seasonal wildland firefighters.
Wildland Fire Engines
Wildland Fire Engines have different capacities for different jobs. Type 6 engines are the smallest of the group and can get deep into forest service roads to support handcrews on the fireline. Type 3 Engines can work along maintained roads and offer more water and pumping power than type 4/5 and 5 engines. Some type 3 engines will come with a UTV and Chase Truck offering extra manpower and capabilities. Sometimes called a MOD.
Wildland Fire Handcrews
(Type 2, Type 2IA, and Type 1, HOTSHOTS)
Handcrews are 20-25 man crews that have sawyers, swampers, diggers and scrapers. They build fireline, plan and execute firing operations. They work deeper into hard to reach areas. They can be federal, state, city, district or contract crews. Crews travel all over the country.
Wildland Fire Medics
Seasonal medics can work in UTVs, Ambulances, REMs teams and medical units at incident command posts(Fire Camps). Medic teams will usually have 2 members.