don't do it myself but have several friends that do it professionally and some that volunteered as students. it's very hard, intense, and incredibly rewarding work for the right kinds of people.
THIS! I was a volunteer firefighter in East Parker County for about six years. Everything from MVAs to Residential Fires to S&R to BIG Wildfires. All in all, it was one of the most rewarding periods of my life!
I did an 8-week stint in the Bighorn Basin area of Wyoming in summer of 1970. It was grueling work, once "fire season" got going. I couldn't get jump certified (too young at 16) so they made us drive shitty old Chevy pickups into the fire zones and hump gear. I signed up hoping to be a Smoke Jumper, they waited until I got there to tell me no way. The job paid $3.75/hour, which was pretty good $$ for a 16-y.o. kid in those days.
