Smokejumper

A smokejumper is a firefighter who is parachuted into a remote area to combat a wildfire, forest fire or similar blaze.

Smokejumpers normally use hand attack tools to attempt to cut a firebreak to contain the spread of a wildfire. Fireline explosives were used on a fire by jumpers for the first time in 1974.

The work is considered exceedingly dangerous, due to the ordinary risk of a parachute jump, the adverse conditions for the jump, and the lack of resources for firefighting and rescue once on the ground in a remote area.

The first fire jumps in the history of smokejumping were made by Rufus Robinson and Earl Cooley at Marten Creek in the Nez Perce Forest, USA on July 12, 1940.