Washington Post article about six wildland firefighters

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Fairview Fire, Sept. 7, 2022
Fairview Fire southeast of Hemet, CA, Sept. 7, 2022. By Ryan Grothe.

The Washington Post has published an interesting article about wildland fire. It was written by Amanda Monthei who had several seasons experience on hotshot crews. In recent years she has been busy writing about wildfire and climate adaptation for national publications.

In this case Amanda tells us about six former and current wildland firefighters from federal, tribal and private crews.

The excerpt below from the long article is about Jordin Schramm, a former rappeller and now an assistant engine captain for the US Forest Service in Oregon. The full article is here (subscription).

…Schramm knows a lot of women who work in the field, including four others who worked with her on her helirappel crew before she left to take a position as an assistant engine captain for the 2022 fire season. But as she nears 11 years of working in fire, there is one experience that she has found very few people can relate to: wanting to have children and stay on the line as a woman.

“I want kids, but I really don’t want to get out of fire,” Schramm said, suggesting that in wildland fire, that decision can feel like one or the other. “But it’s not one of those things where I’m going to stay in fire and have kids and be like, ‘I’ll show everybody.’ I want to stay and keep my qualifications because this is what I really like to do. But I’m not so naive to think that plan won’t change.”

[…]

“There’s nothing to complain about, but at the same time, maybe your expectations of your life have to change a little. And it’s hard to talk about this kind of stuff because there are only a couple of women who I know that are trying to stay in fire and have been able to make it work [with a family], while all my other female friends are like, ‘I don’t want kids.’ So I’m, like, ‘Okay, I can’t talk to you about this.’ Nobody ever really talks about this, which is understandable, because a lot of women [in fire] don’t want kids or don’t have kids. But at the same time, there’s a very small percentage of us that would like to have kids. And not having anybody to talk to in that situation is really difficult.”

 

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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.

17 thoughts on “Washington Post article about six wildland firefighters”

  1. I was a field going single parent in the FS, and my experience was terrible- I lived in a small town with limited daycare options yet was magically expected to find somewhere to put my kid so I could work weekends-because “that’s what I signed up for”. Any parent who wants to be a present parent needs to think long and hard about what’s really important in the long game…and it’s definitely not the FS.

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  2. As a woman with children who has been a federal firefighter for over 20 years, I can speak with some experience here. Can you have children and do this job? Yes. Will it be hard? Terribly hard. But you can do it. You will give up a lot and you will never be THE BEST at firefighting or at parenting. Because (this is the part that I didn’t get early on) you can’t have it all. I feel like that is the big myth that a lot of women are faced with. Either way you have to give something up. And the part that sucks is that men get to do both and exceed because they typically have a woman doing the childcare. Now I don’t mean to belabor this point, but it is what it is.
    My husband was in fire too (retired now) and between the two of us we basically took turns. I built skills in Logs while he was doing IC/DO. I continued to work on quals by going on assignments several times a year. Was it worth it? Eh, hard to say. Would I do it again? Probably not.

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  3. You want to be a half-assed Mother AND half-assed firefighter? Have kids at the wrong time with the wrong person. If you are want to have kids after your time as a seasonal or young firefighter or before attaining a job as an ADFMO, Fuels Battalion, or the like then that is bad timing.
    If you want to just have children and don’t WANT or HAVEN’T found the right man then you are going about this all wrong.
    “Family” has been a construct since time immemorial. Up until, like, just now it was a given that it takes two and that the bond between the two must be stronger than the bond between parent and child. In the past, infant mortality was high. If you wanted three kids you had to get pregnant seven times. The mother and father was the nucleus. What has changed? Women participating in the workforce, wage growth, medicine, culture, all good things. Women, and men, in pedestrian jobs can pull it off but they face fewer challenges. Key is to not put ‘child’ above marrige.
    “Fire is a Family”. Ever hear that? It is true. Imagine how much juggling you would have to do if you had two families you HAD to split your time with.Key is to not put ‘Fire Family’ above the most important family. Rules to live by. Work/ Life Balance isn’t 50% family and 50% work. Family weighs much, much more.
    Now, I didn’t read the WaPo article but in the excerpts it talks about this female looking for counsel from female co-workers. Nowhere does it mention she sought counsel with her husband. Does she have one? A boyfriend? Big mistake if you want to have a baby with a boyfriend and not be married to him moreso. Will this be in vitro? Going it alone, maybe? Oh, damn.
    The problem I see here is that society has mostly lost a grasp on the concept of what family is. It starts with two loving parents. When that is in place anything is possible. Study success.

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    1. JP, I’ve read your comment multiple times and I’m sorry, but I just disagree with you. “Half-assed mother”, “wrong time” the “wrong/right person”? What are you talking about? Why are you judging women so harshly? Maybe this is why it’s so hard for women to talk about this, because everyone judges us. If we get married, if we don’t get married, if we have children, if we don’t have children, we are judged. JP, why does it matter if she is married, has a boyfriend, went thru the heartache of invitro?…that’s none of your business! Look, I wish I was married, had kids, but that didn’t happen for me, but I shouldn’t be judged and it shouldn’t effect my job or how much I am paid. Every man and woman has a different story and they shouldn’t be judged by someone so narrow-minded as you. The definition of family is much broader than a man and a woman. Wake up JP and stop judging women so harshly.

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  4. I wrestle with this quite a bit as a new father and a member of a handcrew getting over 1,000 hrs of ot every year. The only way I can figure of making it work is by working out a way to go on every other assignment or something like that. I simply do not want to miss my kids growing up while on the side of some hillside on a fire that’s essentially done. So getting to a point where I’m only getting 500 hrs of ot and can still pay the bills is the goal…what a bummer. I love this job but I don’t know if I can continue to do it.
    I cannot imagine being the one who birthed my kids and trying to remain in fire…I honestly do not know how that would work well for the kids or parents. Hard enough as a father…a mother leaving to go dig line or whatever on some dumb hillside missing out on their kids growing up? Probably not the right line of work.

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    1. I’d recommend walking away ASAP. As a new father with growing doubts about if you can make it work, from experience, it’s only going to get worse. The longer you stay, the harder it is to leave, and the more your going to resent your decision. Walking away for your family, while you still enjoy the job will leave you and your family in a much better spot. Cal-Fire has recognized the problems and are compensating their work force with competitive wages and benefits for time missed with loved ones, USFS and BLM continue to miss the mark..It takes a unique situation to make this career path work for people with families.

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      1. I appreciate what our firefighters do and know they work long hours in very tough conditions, inhaling smoke and often putting their lives on the line. I admire their courage but also know they are torn between a job they love and raising a family which, to me, is the most important job a parent has. What a painful choice to make! But, at the end of their days, I believe they will be glad that they made a choice for being with their family. And their family will,be appreciative of that, too.

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  5. My wife and I met doing fire. We new once we started having kids both of us could not do fire. My wife had 12 years in and she
    does not regrets leaving. She misses fire but would never trade being a Mom for two kiddos. Every situation is different for everyone and you have to find what works best for your family situation. Agree with Jay, much more satisfaction going to my kids sporting events than bangin 16’s on some fire in Division Siberia! Being a firefighter can be tough, being a mother and wife, tougher, doing both, kiddos to you.
    decided to resign and has never looked back. She definitely misses fire but would never tr

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  6. It’s an issue in the natural resource world as well, not just strictly fire. Our management expects us to “flex” our time without 1.5 rate to do evening and weekend programming… Well, daycares don’t “flex,” my wife’s work schedule doesn’t “flex,” nor the rest of our personal life for that matter. Jay is absolutely right, the employer will take advantage of each employee, in many cases for personal gain. It’s petty to say the least, and contributes directly to the class warfare we’re seeing in America today.

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  7. She’s absolutely correct. I can’t speak for how women feel but can say, even as a dude, a father to be exact, it’s reeeeeeally f_______g hard to have kids in fire. My wife is a professional with a career and I am a 20+ year Forestry Technician. We have two young children and, as much as I like my job, I LOVE my kids and family. I have to put up boundaries and say “no” a lot or the FS will squeeze every last bit out of you that they can if you LET them. Sometimes you have to be vehement in defending your boundaries because you will invariably have people that just keep pressing for their own ambitions…at your expense. Rx fire planned…oh, you’re not sure when yet? Yeh, sorry, when you have kids life doesn’t work in “windows”. Oh, they need a DIVS on that fire? Sorry, my kiddo has a soccer game and that is much more important to them and me. Taking assignments is no longer a black and white issue. Yeh, maybe it’s raining on the home unit but that doesn’t mean I can go AV and take an assignment. It also doesn’t mean you can take advantage of that fact and expect me to cover for you all summer so you can “bang 16’s”.

    Also, your mortality becomes a much bigger part of your consciousness. Do I really want to go breath smoke and potentially rob my kids in the future by dying early of cancer…because the Forest needs more Rx acres on their spreadsheet? Nope.

    The fact is, I have 8 more summers with my kids, if I’m lucky, before they’re grown up and no longer interested in hanging with their “lame dad”. I will not compromise on my precious time with them and I will not listen to anyone try to convince or guilt me into helping them meet “target”.

    I have kids, I’m a proud dad and husband and I will never apologize for it. If you have kids you DO have to make a choice to throttle your career, but it’s not a bad thing! Pull back the throttles and be a part of your kids lives. Say no, defend your boundaries like a rabid badger. You will rub people wrong. People will whine about you “not being a team player”. It stings at first but then you get over it as you watch your kids smile with pure happiness simply because you’re there.

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    1. The module of 1 concept during the pandemic totally stuck a fork in it for me. USFS management position that fire and agency mission are more important than family. They ask for sacrifice, but they never give anything in return.. Over the course of my career this job has given me much and taken away much, but from my family’s perspective the job has been an overwhelming net negative. In the eyes of my peers, I’m a good fire line leader…at home I’m a mediocre father and husband…Even though I try to make up for extended absences, my wife shoulders 70% of the home burden, I have routinely missed important events in my families life….These are not the 1940’s where it was normal to have a father gone for extended periods of time.. At the end of the day 15.5’s with Hazard pay is not worth our family struggling through our absence.

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  8. I know I haven’t commented in awhile. But I wanted to have kids, but when I was pregnant I was attacked by 3 Forest Service Firefighters and I lost my baby. My advice to those women who are firefighters who want to have kids, have them early. Don’t wait, because there will come a time where you can’t have children. But be aware in some regions you can be fire for being pregnant.

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