Effective firefighter recruitment?

USFS recruitment

The U.S. Forest Service’s “USFS Fire-California” (@R5_Fire_News) Twitter account distributed this photo Tuesday, with the following text:

Picture yourself in a wildland fire career w/ the U.S. Forest Service fs.usda.gov/detail/r5/fire… #jobs #hiring

My first reaction? I could not picture myself in a photo like that. It reminds me of the photos you see at the Awkward Family Photos website.

I am certainly not criticizing the firefighters in the photo. I’m sure they are not responsible for how it turned out.

HERE is a photo of an engine crew where the firefighters look more comfortable, natural, and not quite so artificially posed.

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Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.

10 thoughts on “Effective firefighter recruitment?”

  1. I seriously doubt ANY of the people in the photo had any say in how the photo was set up. While it’s fun to poke at them, it’s probably not accurate.

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    1. Gordie, I don’t think anyone is saying the people in the photo “had any say in how the photo was set up”. The fun is being poked at 1) the photographer, and 2) the person who decided to use the photo in a recruitment drive.

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  2. There’s a lot of honesty in this picture. The battalion chief in front is mad because she was going to get caught up on paperwork. The engine boss knows just how far over the fuel budget this trip down the hill has put them. The new guy at the back is smiling because he just knows he is assigned to the best engine on the forest. They are all standing in front of a “widland engine” the size of the Bismarck because it carries more structure gear than wildfire stuff.

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      1. Then she really ought to know how much fuel was wasted doing this photo shoot. A brief review of pictures posted for the #KingFire would give you a whole list of better recruiting photos.

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    1. We still have not moved past the concept that fighting wildfires is “the moral equivalent of war.” At least in the USFS R-5.

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  3. “Picture yourself wearing a dress shirt, standing around awkwardly with others on a tarmac” would be a better caption.

    C’mon – with ALL the fires California had this year, they couldn’t get a real picture? California had some serious conflagrations and to promote your industry with a two minute photo shoot is lame.

    …and the guy third from the right…did he not get the “hands in front” message?

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  4. I agree with you Bill. Not a very good picture for recruiting.

    Way back in my sophomore year in college I took a outstanding class in Natural Resources Public Relations and a similar photo was used as an example of how not to do it.

    Who ever who organized this recruitment effort was either inexperienced or lazy, perhaps both.

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  5. Only troubled Region 5 could have come up with this

    Somehow this is going to correct ALLLL those AFU hiring SNAFU’s??

    Thank God, they did not embarrass that Guard King Air 200 with this photo

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