chasingfire.com - A Blog…

Yay! I’m officially moved in to my new apartment in Missoula as of today, and things are looking pretty good. There’s a lot of sorting to be done, as I don’t have a whole lot of space and a lot of stuff, but it’s all good.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately (dangerous I know) about my future in wildland fire. The more I think about it, I’m tempted to just have fun the next few seasons, check off the last two things on my fire “to-do” list (work on a rappel crew, and spend a season in Alaska), and use the skills I’ll have developed in GIS/Mapping to get a “real” job that would hopefully start out at a GS-9 or so. That’s really tempting considering the insane amount of competition for fire aviation jobs right now. I’d be lucky to get a GS-6 job when I finish grad school if I stay in fire. Not only that, but I know way too many people who have put in their time, and retired as GS-9’s. I’m really not into spending the next 20 years of my life working my way up the ladder in excruciatingly slow fashion. It seems to me that if I want to keep working in aviation with the federal agencies (especially in Montana and Idaho), I have little choice but to work at the lower levels until I am massively over-qualified for the next-level position, and then I’ll get to move up.

So, I’m thinking that I’ll give myself 3 more seasons (including ‘08) so that I’ll have worked a full decade in fire. If I haven’t found a permanent fire job that blows my socks off by then I’ll start looking for a GIS/Mapping job with the feds. I’d really like to be a GS-9 by the time I’m 35, and that’s very unlikely to happen if I stay in fire and aviation.

No matter what, I’m probably going to stay active in fire. Even if I get a GIS job in the future, I’ll hopefully be able to go out a few times each summer and manage some CWN helicopters on large fires, and maybe even be a helibase manager or air support guy. So… Time will tell I guess. It’ll be a fun few years until then, no matter what.

So this week I’ve spent getting ready for work to start on Tuesday the 27th. Last week I was in Belgrade, MT for a helicopter manager class. That was fun, and will help me on my way to being whatever it is I want to be when I grow up. Seriously though, I enjoyed the class, and am glad to be moving forward with my fire-aviation career. I got to know my fellow managers who are working at Missoula this year, and it seems like they’re a good bunch. Working for the state will be different, as they have their own way of doing things that is not quite like I’m used to with the federal agencies.

It looks like it will be a fun summer, with plenty of opportunity for experience and fun.

I’m pretty excited to be spending a summer in Missoula. The past 6 or so summers have found me working in some pretty remote locations (45 minutes to the grocery store anyone?), and while I liked that a lot, it will be nice to have some civilization around. I’m looking forward to being able to catch a movie after work, or maybe even go to a ballgame or float the river.

I also got official word that I’ve been accepted to grad school for Geography, and that the project I was hoping for in Forestry didn’t get funded. So, things are lined up pretty well for the next few months, and I’m pretty happy with that.

Now for brief update. I ended up accepting a seasonal position with the Montana DNRC on their helicopter crew (see pic above…) in Missoula instead of going up to the Flathead NF. The DNRC will be sending me to a helicopter manager class, and I’ll get to work on that this summer, which was something I wasn’t going to get to do with the Hungry Horse crew. I’ll also be able to stay in one place for a while as I should be starting grad school in the fall.

I ended up having some funding issues with the Forestry masters degree (my project didn’t get funded…), so I’m switching over to an MA program in Geography with a Cartography and GIS emphasis. That should be fun, and I’ll try to finish my History BA at the same time.