Capabilities

A small pile of snow in a high mountain meadow, and a cow in the background. The Grangeville Smokejumpers provide the fire management community with a wide range of personnel and equipment. Best known for the rapid delivery to initial attack fires, Grangeville jumpers can also support the extended attack of fires, fire for resource benefit, and prescribed-fire efforts with overhead and crewmembers. Personnel can be delivered either aerially or through conventional mobilization procedures. The Grangeville Smokejumper program includes qualified individuals in all of the indicated Incident Command System (ICS) positions:

Type 3, 4, and 5 Incident Commander
Division Supervisor
Air Tactical Group Supervisor
Strike Team and Task Force Leader
Field Observer
Fire Effects Monitor
Type II Burn Boss
Single Resource Boss (Crew, Engine, Dozer, Felling, Firing)
Single Resource Faller (Faller C)
Helicopter Crewmember
Firefighter Type I

Aircraft and Para-cargo Capabilities:

Smokejumpers exit an aircraft over a thick forest canopy. The Grangeville Smokejumpers’ De Havilland Twin Otter allows the Smokejumper program to support fire management operations across the Nez Perce-Clearwater fire management zone and throughout adjacent management units. With a range of 375 nautical miles, a 3,000 pound payload, and the ability to utilize small backcountry airstrips, the Grangeville Air Center (GAC) Otter can deliver and retrieve personnel and equipment quickly to remote locations. Incident commanders can route para-cargo requests through local dispatchers and para-cargo ground procedures are explained in the Incident Response Pocket Guide. The following items are pre-positioned at Grangeville Air Center (GAC) and configured for rapid response to any incident:

Mark III pump kits
Cabin protection kits
Hoses and fittings
Food and water
Sleeping bags
Gas (mixed or unmixed)
Powersaws and/or crosscut saws

Diverse Resource Management Skills

A person wearing safety gear climbes a tall tree in a forest. The technical nature and geographical range of the Smokejumper mission allows GAC personnel to develop specialized skills pertinent to a wide range of resource management operations. The smokejumpers can provide individuals possessing expertise in the following areas:

Tree Climbing (Gaff and arborist techniques)
Crosscut saw operation and maintenance
Technical Tree Falling
Blasting
Timber marking
Trail construction and maintenance
Search and Rescue
Resource Management Planning and writing
National Wildfire Coordinating Group course instructors