Recruitment video for DOI wildland firefighters

The Department of Interior has produced a professional quality video aimed toward recruiting military veterans into firefighting jobs in the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It is VERY well done and features interviews with veterans currently working as firefighters, emphasizing the common factors of teamwork and camaraderie found in both the military and wildland firefighting. Like a recruitment effort for any job, it tends to glamorize a bit, but that’s to be expected. It almost makes me want to pick up a Pulaski and build a fireline with my buds somewhere.

Not only is this likely to be effective in filling positions, it could also be helpful to our growing ranks of veterans who are exiting the military and re-entering civilian life.

UPDATE May 12, 2013: As some of the comments point out, a person would have to wonder how many positions the DOI expects to fill with veterans, in this atmosphere of declining budgets and shorter terms of employment for firefighters currently working.

New Mexico passes 3 fire-related bills, will form wildfire crews of veterans

New Mexico will hire and train 40 military veterans to become wildland firefighters, and the Governor recently signed 3 pieces of fire-related legislation. Below is an excerpt from a news release from the Governor’s office:

****

April 1, 2013

ALBUQUERQUE – Governor Susana Martinez today signed into law three bills supporting New Mexico firefighters.

“While the number of human-caused wildfires was down last year, we can’t let our guard down,” said Governor Martinez. “Across New Mexico, we have seen ongoing drought and another dry winter. Conditions are in place for a potentially difficult fire season and I urge all New Mexicans to make themselves responsible for preventing wildfires.”

In 2012, New Mexico experienced its largest wildfire in recorded history, the Whitewater-Baldy Complex, and the state’s most destructive fire, the Little Bear, which burned more than 250 structures near Ruidoso. For this reason, local, state, federal and tribal interagency partners continue to stress wildfire preparedness and prevention.

At today’s news conference at the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park, Governor Martinez also joined a half dozen New Mexico military veterans to announce a new pilot program that will hire and train 40 military veterans as wildland firefighters. These veterans will be placed on four fire crews that will be available for assignment on wildfires statewide. The new program is a collaborative effort between New Mexico State Forestry, the Department of Veteran’s Services, and the New Mexico Workforce Connection.

The governor also signed three pieces of legislation that will support New Mexico’s firefighters and help protect communities:

  • HB 275, increasing volunteer firefighter retirement benefits to $250 per month from the current amount of $200 per month for individuals over the age of 55 with 25 or more years of experience. Benefits increase from $100 per month to $125 per month for individuals over the age of 55 with between 10 and 25 years of experience.
  • HB 615, allowing volunteer firefighters be paid a stipend by a public agency that still allows them to maintain volunteer status.
  • SB 431, which gives counties the authority to contract with individuals as well as municipalities for firefighting services.

 

Veterans being trained as wildland firefighters

 

The CNN video above features veterans being trained by the California Conservation Corps in southern California to be wildland firefighters. The two that are interviewed in the piece were both female and served as a helicopter mechanic and a quartermaster. In the background you can see a Type 3 engine from the Cleveland National Forest, but I could not make out the engine number.

Training for veterans to be become wildland firefighters

The programs that Wildfire Today told you about a year ago that train military veterans to become wildland firefighters appear to be increasing and are now grouped into a new organization called Veterans Fire Corps. Three programs — operating in California, Colorado, and Arizona —  build upon the knowledge, leadership experience, and training that men and women who served in the armed forces already possess, retraining them and refocusing their mission to protect our public lands from the threat of wildfire.

It consists of a three tiered Firefighter Leadership Development Program, providing incrementally more challenging experiences for program participants. It helps veterans transition to civilian life by leveraging their leadership experience to meet pressing conservation needs on public lands while providing job training for future employment in the wildland firefighting field.

Here are some quotes about the program from people that have been involved with the Veterans Fire Corps:

Lew Sovocool, former VFC leader and supervisor:

The work is tough and dirty but is purpose-driven, which I believe is very attractive to veterans. There’s also the excitement and adrenaline rush that pushed us toward the military. There is a sense of national service which all of us are proud to be a part of.

There’s a sense of teamwork and camaraderie that exists in wildland firefighting that is very similar to that which we all experienced in the military.

Ross Schumaker, former VFC leader:

With the combination of all the classes, contacts, and me being a badass, I have landed a job on a fire engine for the upcoming season and plan on making wildland firefighting my career.

We OWE our veterans for their service to our country. The least we can do is to give them training so that they can compete for jobs.

  • More information on programs in California, in partnership with the California Conservation Corps.
  • More information on programs in Colorado and Arizona, in partnership with the Southwest Conservation Corps.
  • More information on programs in Arizona and South Dakota, in partnership with the Student Conservation Association.

 

Thanks go out to Dick

BLM Fire Management Officer supports firefighting training for veterans

SCC fire training
In conjunction with the Southwest Conservation Corps, veterans are getting firefighting and fire mitigation training locally./Photo by Stephen Eginoire

On February 9 we covered a story about a training program for military veterans that is run by the the Southwest Conservation Corps, called the Veterans Green Corps. From what we’ve read, it appears to be an excellent program and a good fit for military personnel returning from war zones.

Today we heard from BLM San Juan Public Lands Fire Management Officer Shawna Legarza who pointed us toward another article about the SCC’s training program, this one specifically in Colorado. Normally, we would not post two similar articles on the same topic, but we thought that not only is this a great program that needs visibility and support, but this second article is very well written and is something that you will appreciate reading. We are posting the entire article below because there appear to be technical issues about viewing it at the Durango Telegraph site.

Four of the trainees from this local program will be working on U.S. Forest Service fire crews this summer.

=====================================

Dressed in forest-green trousers and heavy work boots, a young woman leans against a boulder on a wooded hillside. The sleeve of her yellow work shirt is rolled just to the point of revealing the sharp-edged tattoo gracing her skin. Black sunglasses hide her eyes.

After sidestepping a question two or three times, she looks away toward a stand of scrub oak and says, “I guess I’m doing this because there’s not much that I’ve seen in the normal working world that can compare to where we’ve been or offer the same level of challenge.”

She pauses. “This comes close.”

Sarah Castaneda served with the 82nd Airborne as a combat medic. Now she and the four other Iraq War veterans are training through the combined efforts of the Veterans Green Corps and the Southwest Conservation Corps to do fire mitigation and fight wildland fires. The group is currently finding its legs on the flanks of Animas Mountain, where they are learning the ropes of wildfire mitigation and firefighting techniques.

“It’s been a life-changing experience,” said Mike Bremer who was with the Army Infantry. “At fire camp, the training was incredible, and we’ve had great instructors. Everything has been so thorough.”
Continue reading “BLM Fire Management Officer supports firefighting training for veterans”

Wildfire training for military veterans

Veterans Green Corps
Veterans Green Corps. Photo: Southwest Conservation Corps

The Southwest Conservation Corps is administering a job training program for veterans of the United States Armed Forces. Called the Veterans Green Corps, the 12 to 14 week course helps them to gain experience in natural resource and wildland fire careers. Here is an excerpt from an article at www.good.is:

Military experience sometimes translates poorly onto civilian resumes. Sarah Castinada, a former Army medic, used to jump out of planes into drop zones with the 82nd Airborne. Specialist Tony Lagouranis served as an Army interrogator in Iraq. Lew Sovocool, an officer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, possesses technical skills attractive to employers, but will likely never replicate the level of responsibility he had as a program manager of a $200 million Afghan Army infrastructure program.

Many vets are still dealing with the psychological effects of war—19 percent of all troops returning from Iraq and 11.3 percent coming home from Afghanistan suffer mental health problems—and some VGC corpsmembers claim the time spent outdoors among fellow veterans has helped alleviate anxiety and post traumatic stress. For most though, VGC simply speaks to the sense of valor, unity, and service that first attracted them to the military.

Amy Foss, Southwest Conservation Corps’ Director of Operations, recounts the words she hears repeatedly from these vets, “I’m not broken. I don’t need help. I need job skills.”

The work isn’t easy. For some, cutting firebreaks and sawyering ladder fuels (combustible vegetation like dead trees) is the hardest test of their endurance since basic training. VGC corpsmembers attend chainsaw training, fire behavior, and wildland firefighting courses through local forest partners to earn their “Red Cards.” With this qualification and experience, they can build toward adrenaline-rich positions on hotshot and smokejumper crews suppressing wildfires from land and air. Coupling their certifications from VGC with a veterans’ preference for employment at federal agencies, a future in wildland fire mitigation holds real promise.

Below is a video that features an interview with Sarah Castinada, a former Army medic.

Thanks Judy