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Hotshot/Forestry Thread

Anonymous Sat 04 Oct 2025 19:36:17 No.2843345 View View Reply Original Report

Quoted By: >>2843387 >>2843579 >>2843581 >>2844042 >>2846653 >>2848663 >>2848791 >>2848833

Any one have any experience doing this job? What nonsense came with the position? Should I do it?

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 04 Oct 2025 22:56:23 No.2843380 Report

Quoted By:

>>2843355
USAJOBS is a shit show of a website. How long did it take for you to get hired from when you sent in your application? Was pay decent? I'm a 2LT in the Army Reserves and looking for a job since I got laid off. >>2843356
I'm too worried about it uncle sam already has me running around. I did some trail crew stuff a few years ago in New Mexico. Those packs were like 80 pounds

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sat 04 Oct 2025 22:59:04 No.2843382 Report

Quoted By:

>>2843372
how does food work? do crews get cooks hiked in or MRE type bullshit?
any bizarre stories from crew members' behavior? I don't want to be with a bunch of ass wipes.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sat 04 Oct 2025 23:01:21 No.2843383 Report

Quoted By: >>2843384

>>2843355
USAJOBS is a shit show of a website. How long did it take for you to get hired from when you sent in your application? Was pay decent? I'm a 2LT in the Army Reserves and looking for a job since I got laid off. >>2843356
I'm not too worried about it uncle sam already has me running around. I did some trail crew stuff a few years ago in New Mexico. Those packs were like 80 pounds

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 04 Oct 2025 23:02:57 No.2843384 Report

Quoted By: >>2843385

>>2843383
I contacted the company directly, flew 2500 miles with no resume whatsoever and just simply did it.

If you have a pulse, a contractor will hire you.

You'll be fine, just focus on the certs and leadership since you're ex-military.

Many people you'll work with are straight out of highschool until you get to the type 1 crews.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 04 Oct 2025 23:04:54 No.2843385 Report

Quoted By: >>2843386

>>2843384
sweet sounds like onboarding is pretty easy.
yeah economy is fucked i'm just gonna do what makes me happy and go innawoods.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 04 Oct 2025 23:05:43 No.2843386 Report

Quoted By: >>2843572

>>2843385
you're gonna have so much fun bro

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 04 Oct 2025 23:07:09 No.2843387 Report

Quoted By: >>2844042 >>2846650

>>2843345
I did it for a little while. Awesome work for little pay; good for single, young, healthy guys with very few outside commitments. Not a good long-term career. You should try to transition into something else on the federal NatRes side eventually. A few folks I workes with went on to become other various -ologists who kept their red cards and went out for a couple weeks every year. That's the sweet spot imo

I had to stop due to health issues. I miss it every day

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 05 Oct 2025 23:52:41 No.2843572 Report

Quoted By:

>>2843386
Don't fall for this he's trying to trick you

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 06 Oct 2025 01:19:48 No.2843579 Report

Quoted By:

>>2843345
I did helitack in Canada. Best job ever, great people, good summer money. Fought fires around Canada and down in Montana. Was our crew's tree faller towards the end, loved running the saw. Initial attack is so based, I worked hundreds of fires in just a few years.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 06 Oct 2025 01:44:36 No.2843581 Report

Quoted By:

>>2843345
I was in fire from 2012 to 2021 including 8 years on a R6 IHC. It’s great when you’re a young guy. It’s definitely a lot of work and requires some extreme endurance and physical fitness - especially if you want to be on a type 1 module. I was usually middle of the pack in terms of fitness but I could still run a mile and a half in 9-930 minutes.

When I started in fire I was on an engine and desu I have really fond memories of that experience - maybe even more so than being on the hotshot crew. It was a very chill environment and I don’t think I got more than 500 hours of OT in either year when I was on the engine. Obviously that meant I was poor and so I ended up working in timber during the winter instead of getting laid off.

When I went to the hotshot crew, it was completely different; I don’t think I ever got less than 1200 hours of OT. But that meant I felt comfortable enough to get laid off and I ended up traveling a lot which was an awesome experience. But working that much burned me out and 2021 was a brutal year for me and I ended up quitting fire altogether. If I could do it again I probably would have gone back to the engines or rappelled, something that allowed more of a work life balance.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Thu 09 Oct 2025 01:34:14 No.2844042 Report

Quoted By: >>2846650

>>2843345
Go for it. You'll see new places, make great friends, learn valuable lessons and be set financially in the winter months to do whatever you feel.

Been in it since 2019 and will keep at it for another 2-3 years 'til I move on. USFS. Engines & Helitack.

Apply for the feds on USAjobs.gov don't bother with private contractors or state agencies. Do a couple summers on an engine or Type 2 handcrew and move onto a Type 1 handcrew or helitack if aviation appeals to you.

>>2843387
2nd what this guy said. Not a viable long-term career but you won't regret doing it in your 20's if you aren't burdened with any of those outside commitments. It'll set you up to springboard into and succeed wherever life takes you next.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 26 Oct 2025 03:58:37 No.2846650 Report

Quoted By:

>>2843387
>>2844042
DOD fire is the way to go

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 26 Oct 2025 04:38:29 No.2846653 Report

Quoted By: >>2847902 >>2848661

>>2843345
>Should I do it?
No. The Mexicans who mow my lawn get paid more for less work.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 05 Nov 2025 19:21:10 No.2847902 Report

Quoted By: >>2848661

>>2846653
You get paid in sunsets for wildlands.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 11 Nov 2025 16:12:51 No.2848654 Report

Quoted By:

bump for interest

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 11 Nov 2025 17:27:17 No.2848661 Report

Quoted By:

>>2846653
>>2847902
they just got a big raise this year, 21 an hour to start with no experience at gs3

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 11 Nov 2025 17:33:06 No.2848663 Report

Quoted By: >>2848711

>>2843345
It's really unfortunate that forest jannies and hot shots get paid dogshit wages while white collar fake work email job government employees living near DC get to be GS12s.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 11 Nov 2025 20:11:18 No.2848711 Report

Quoted By:

>>2848663
Fire got an up to 30% increase to basepay this year, so they can make decent money once you add up overtime, hazard pay, and the lower living expenses.
Us forest jannies are still fucked though. Fast food would be a lateral move in pay.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Wed 12 Nov 2025 05:16:14 No.2848791 Report

Quoted By:

>>2843345
Its fun and if you work for a contractor and go year round you'll easily clear 6 figures

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 12 Nov 2025 14:36:40 No.2848833 Report

Quoted By: >>2848881 >>2849598 >>2849667 >>2849668

>>2843345
how do u get into this?? i've applied to a lot of job postings, got emails about "interest checks" and now nothing. do i just have to be patient?

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 12 Nov 2025 21:39:21 No.2848881 Report

Quoted By: >>2849036

>>2848833
you need to tell them that your dick is 2 feet long, so they know you're serious

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 13 Nov 2025 16:16:30 No.2849036 Report

Quoted By: >>2849667

>>2848881
i better get paid extra for bringing my own fire hose then.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 16 Nov 2025 14:52:43 No.2849598 Report

Quoted By: >>2849667 >>2849668

>>2848833
It takes a while for offers to come out. After applying for the next year's season in Aug/Sept, I got interest checks for about 3 months after. I didn't get a phone call from the engine captain usually until ~Feb/March. It's normal, but if you don't hear anything by like, April I would start calling some of the stations you got interest checks for and follow up.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 16 Nov 2025 21:24:36 No.2849667 Report

Quoted By: >>2849686

>>2849598
>>2848833
they dont hire until the spring dont even bother right now

they do "interest checks" because youre WAY out of season

find a private contractor that will pay for your red card, ez path

shit like grayback is low bar, id say just dont look like a pussy but hell you probably could look like a pussy, ive seen fat women do this job, it varies widely by crew, there are type 2 crews where every man could make type 1, and then there are thicc latinas in the same uniform on a different crew but its still type 2.

Reputation is big, and the assignments your crew gets are highly dependent on this

If you are type 2 being assigned initial attack work, good job, you have a solid crew

>>2849036
they call it hazard pay

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 16 Nov 2025 21:26:06 No.2849668 Report

Quoted By: >>2849686

>>2849598
>>2848833
>calling stations

I feel delirious when I hear people try to begin this career via government work

Private is by far the easiest path, as easy as getting a job digging ditches.

Also private contractors are wild bastards and their off season work can be totally cool as fuck(my company was doing security in Guatemala LOL WTF)

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 16 Nov 2025 23:41:10 No.2849686 Report

Quoted By: >>2849688

>>2849667
>>2849668
>find a private contractor that will pay for your red card, ez path
>Private is by far the easiest path, as easy as getting a job digging ditches.
Feds pay for you to get your red card, also. Plenty of stations will put you through the basic S130 classes for you to get your basic FFT2 qual during your first couple weeks out there. Private contractors do make more, but the Feds open up more doors for career progression long-term if you wanna stay in the natural resources business. In my offseason I went to do Rx burns in the southeast, northeast, northwoods, Australia, Canada, all sorts of stuff. Or, if there was nothing to burn/keep from burning, I got to detail with USFWS and help the -ologist nerds with their own special projects. There's always ski bum gigs, SAR, and snow ranger autism, too.

Not saying that private contractors aren't a good avenue, but the ceiling is lower from my point of view even if they start at a higher pay rate.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 16 Nov 2025 23:46:30 No.2849688 Report

Quoted By: >>2849689 >>2849691

>>2849686
Bro the thread is full of limp dick fags that are like "i dun knoooo i appwied but nobody respwonded" buncha fucking pussy bitches

private is the way to go because A LOT of those dudes will hire you if you have a pulse

a government job you actually have to be a functional human, not private

these are 4channers and they seem to specifically always find a way to talk about how things are hard, fucking pussies goddamn fuck

government is ONLY GOOD if you are a functional human with a good resume, ALL OTHERS go private, you'll do better, you won't even need a resume, might not even need an application

private outfits often ALSO pay for your training, and sometimes gear

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 16 Nov 2025 23:47:38 No.2849689 Report

Quoted By:

>>2849688
>tl;dr:
if you're a rabid hobo go private, if you're ex-military without a criminal record go government

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 17 Nov 2025 00:00:25 No.2849691 Report

Quoted By: >>2849706

>>2849688
Feds paid for my training and gear, too. All I had to do was show up. They give you a boot voucher every 3 years, too. Or at least the USFS does, I dunno about the other agencies

>without a criminal record go government
Every other smokejumper or rappeller I met had a DUI or some sort of retarded assault case they got in a bar fight. I had three possession charges between two different states when I started.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 17 Nov 2025 02:05:40 No.2849706 Report

Quoted By: >>2849714

>>2849691
Look this is universal for all jobs

>private is ALWAYS easier for entry

Government is the "good version" of the job, anon

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 17 Nov 2025 02:07:40 No.2849707 Report

Quoted By: >>2849852

For the record the choice you are making in life between public and private is the right to be a degenerate more often

Other people call it fun

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 17 Nov 2025 03:56:05 No.2849714 Report

Quoted By: >>2849819

>>2849706
I'm never denied that private is easier to get into
I wanted to clear up the apparent misconception that gov't wildland fire is hard to get into or doesn't provide as much training/gear as the private side when starting off, which is just flat out untrue. They provide plenty

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 17 Nov 2025 19:23:17 No.2849819 Report

Quoted By:

>>2849714
I dont think that misconception existed

If you get a gov job you typically expect an ass wiping and a pension

It *is* harder to land than private

Private you could use a totally fake resume with no references lmao

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 17 Nov 2025 19:51:55 No.2849828 Report

Quoted By: >>2849838 >>2849849

There is an alternative to working directly in fire.
If you get any other kind of job working for federal land management agencies in a local office/station you can then get your red card and go on fire assignments. In forest service and BLM offices especially, this is very common and the offcies plan their workforce around people leaving for fires in the season, and depending on the office you can get up to months worth of assignments.
You get to pick and choose assignments as they come up, work different jobs, and can often extend past the initial 2 week assignment. You get all the good pay and experience and shit without having to only do fire. You can also get to higher pay grades faster and get paid at that rate while on assignment regardless of your actual fire job.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 17 Nov 2025 20:40:56 No.2849838 Report

Quoted By: >>2849849 >>2849888

>>2849828
Decent suggestion, but not viable right now. Feds aren't even hiring non-fire seasonal staff right now or for the foreseeable future. Let alone year round employees.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 17 Nov 2025 22:43:07 No.2849849 Report

Quoted By: >>2849862

>>2849838
>>2849828
This is just me, but it's also a lot of guys on my crew

>private
We're just bums. We live free. We do fire season, do whatever the fuck we want the rest of the year, some of us fuck off and do ski patrol type shit, some of us just trip balls in the desert.

It's really quite the life for the free spirit.

Can't speak for the government guys, I'm sure they live different lives.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 17 Nov 2025 23:00:35 No.2849852 Report

Quoted By:

>>2849707
It's also the pay

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 18 Nov 2025 00:00:47 No.2849862 Report

Quoted By: >>2849866

>>2849849
Govt guys live the same way in the offseason honestly.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 18 Nov 2025 00:40:30 No.2849866 Report

Quoted By:

>>2849862
Then they're just better at paperwork

That's the distinction

I am a get a job by a handshake kinda fella

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 18 Nov 2025 03:17:52 No.2849888 Report

Quoted By: >>2849894

>>2849838
They are hiring regular seasonals, just not as many and mostly the more public positions. NPS seasonals have mostly been on.
And sure right now nothing is open for permanent positions but they have been slowly loosening restrictions bit by bit. i wont be surprised if maintenance and other non science things start flying again in the next year.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 18 Nov 2025 03:48:12 No.2849894 Report

Quoted By:

>>2849888
It might be different in NPS land, but USFS has had a hiring freeze on temp and new permeant seasonals since last Oct. Even non-Fed funded positions for this past summer were hitting road blocks during the current hiring freeze. Had to fill positions by using partner organizations as a work around.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 18 Nov 2025 13:27:36 No.2849933 Report

Quoted By: >>2849936 >>2849942

>bachelors degree for like 90% of nature jobs

Gatekeeping plain and simple

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 18 Nov 2025 14:30:38 No.2849936 Report

Quoted By: >>2849942

>>2849933
Don't forget they want a bachelor's but the pay is $14/h
And then they whine about having no applicants

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 18 Nov 2025 18:24:52 No.2849942 Report

Quoted By: >>2849944 >>2849945

>>2849933
No, you can qualify with a degree OR experience.
>>2849936
The hourly rate isnt the whole story. You often get subsidized housing and can make more going on fires or SARs. Also the problem with many of these jobs is they have too many applicants, not the other way around. Many times I have gotten the email back saying "because enough qualified veterans applied to this position no non-veterans were considered"

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 18 Nov 2025 18:35:14 No.2849944 Report

Quoted By: >>2849967

>>2849942
Wildland firefighting is one of the ONLY government + nature job you can get without a degree

The vast.majority require a stupid ass piece of paper when there are literally millions of 12 year olds with the same outdoor knowledge if not superior to those goddamned nerds

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 18 Nov 2025 18:36:57 No.2849945 Report

Quoted By:

>>2849942
Also with private you wont get that veteran issue

Just whip out your dick and show them its 18 inches long and you're hired

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 18 Nov 2025 19:24:36 No.2849967 Report

Quoted By: >>2849994

>>2849944
Not at all true. Plenty of federal maintenance, trail crew, interp, wilderness, forestry, psar, and other random jobs do not require a degree. Law enforcement also doesnt require a degree but you do have to then go through academy and all.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 18 Nov 2025 23:29:09 No.2849994 Report

Quoted By: >>2850103

>>2849967
okay fine

the nig work does not require a degree

go ahead and try to study a rock or an owl, these fags think you need a piece of paper for that

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 19 Nov 2025 17:18:23 No.2850103 Report

Quoted By: >>2850133

>>2849994
You do
Next slide

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 19 Nov 2025 18:54:02 No.2850133 Report

Quoted By:

>>2850103
You are literally gay

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