Did anyone see the premier of the “Smokejumpers” special on Country Music Television (CMT) last night? As we told you on April 20, CMT spent a lot of time with the Missoula, Montana smokejumpers in 2008 and collected a great deal of video footage. The one-hour program last night may have been the beginning and end of “Smokejumpers”, but there is a chance that it could turn into a full-year of episodes.
I thoroughly enjoyed the program. It had some great video of smokejumpers training, jumping, and being interviewed about their work. The quality and the production values were excellent; very professional, as you would expect from a television network, even without taking into account that it was on a network with “music” in the title.
Often, cameras were attached to the jumpers as they parachuted. We got to see up close and personal views as they glided to the ground, and occasionally crashed through tree branches.
The program was primarily about early fire season training for rookies, with a few interviews of veterans thrown in. The second half focused on a rookie that was doing fine except for the landings, or the “parachute landing fall”, called “PLF” on the show. The editing of the show was leading us to believe that she was going to flunk out, since mostly what was being shown was unsatisfactory PLF’s. But then at the end, there she was in the graduation ceremony, wearing a fire shirt with a tie like the other rookies that passed. I guess they needed to manufacture some drama to make the program as interesting as possible.
Here are some quotes from the show:
I. Love. This. Job. It’s not a job really. It’s a damn good time, to get a paycheck on top of it.
There’s no crying in firefighting.
The program will be a great recruiting tool for smokejumpers. The jumpers they interviewed were constantly saying how much they loved their work. The agencies are going to be inundated with inquiries about how to become a smokejumper.
If you missed the program last night, the full episode is available for viewing on the CMT website. It is about 42 minutes long, with a few short commercials.
Below are more images from the program.
I was on an assignment with Mark, one one the rookies in the show a 2 years ago. Kinda Ironic and small world to see him on T.V.!!!
Great to see how it is done up in Missoula. A little different than down in Redding, but still just as fun.
Rachel Smith, USFS R-5 Smokejumper Rookie year ’00
It’s interesting to see a comment about the program from a jumper. Thanks.
oh to be young and crazy enough to try and do this sort of thing
I liked the show regardless of some of the negative commentary on another website.
It was professionally done and was not as “stale” as many previous shows depicting wildland firefighters. In my honest opinion, it appears that it would appeal to both the general public as well as firefighters for both it’s entertainment value and general info.
Bill, thanks for providing the link to the online version. I don’t have CMT and was happy that someone found a link for viewing.
I was very disapointed with the young ladies comment in saying she deserved to be there knowing that she did not pass her landing technique because she worked her ass off? I have heard of someone who deserved to be there and did not make it becaue of some minor technicalaties so they did not graduate. Then all of the sudden the board discussed it and they decided to give them the wings anyway? I feel they were cheated out of attending a graduation ceremony in which they fully deserved. Why did she make it and not them? Leaves me to wonder if there is some sex discrimination going on. I hope I’m wrong.