A site that calls itself Mother Nature Network has identified what they call “10 great eco-jobs“. Along with the jobs of Soup Salesman, Regulatory Advisor, and Vegan Grocer, they say being a wildland firefighter on a hot shot crew is also a “great eco-job”. Here is an excerpt:
Justin Law, Firefighter, Craig, CO
Call Justin Law the accidental firefighter. During his senior year at the University of Kentucky, he Websurfed onto a site featuring rough-and-tumble forest firefighters in action. “I thought, ‘That’s what I want to do,’” he says. After earning a degree in forestry, Law battled infernos from Kentucky to Arizona before signing on with the Hotshots—the big leagues of wildfire fighting, where he helps preserve endangered animals and their habitats by extinguishing fires in an eco-friendly manner.
During wildfire season—from May until about mid-October—Law is on call around the clock. On two hours’ notice he must be ready to spend up to 16 hours a day felling trees with a chainsaw, clearing brush, and digging trenches. The Hotshots travel hundreds of miles from their home base to places like southern Nevada, where his Colorado-based crew (one of about 90 such crews in America) saved the endangered desert tortoise’s habitat. “I love my job’s unpredictability,” Law says.
Except for the odd day off, Hotshots spend every minute with their crew of 20 men, usually sleeping out under the stars because they’re too tired to pitch a tent. “Most people would give up after a week, but I can’t,” Law says, “We’re saving people’s homes and protecting the ecosystem—that’s what’s important.”
I’m not sure I’d put being a hot shot in the same category with a Soup Salesman, but I have to admit, being on a hot shot crew is a pretty cool job. Not that there’s anything WRONG with being a Soup Salesman!
