The mission

Smokejumpers are specialized wildland firefighters trained to jump out of airplanes so they can get to fires quickly before they have a chance to grow larger. Smokejumpers parachute into rough terrain carrying all their needed firefighting gear with them, landing in small jumpspots deep in the backcountry.

Once on the ground, smokejumpers work long shifts, often ranging from 16 - 24+ hours, to suppress the fire by digging handline and cutting nearby dead trees and vegetation using crosscut saws and chainsaws. Wildland fire fighting is rigorous work and jumpers have the additional stress of the jump itself as well as packing out whatever gear is necessary to fight the fire when the job is done, sometimes carrying 115+ pounds for many miles.

The West Yellowstone Smokejumper Base (WYS) is one of nine permanent smokejumper bases, located two miles north of Yellowstone National Park, 90 miles south of Bozeman, MT and at the intersection of the vast mountain ranges of Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. The base was established in 1951 at the old airport just west of town before moving to its present location in 1965. The base employs approximately thirty smokejumpers, and has one plane: a Dornier-228 that specializes in rapid response at high altitudes.

The primary response area of the West Yellowstone Smokejumper base includes some of America’s most treasured natural areas. Along with Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, the West Yellowstone Smokejumpers are responsible for fire suppression in remote areas on the Custer Gallatin, Shoshone, Beaverhead-Deerlodge, Targhee, Helena-Lewis & Clark, and Bridger-Teton National Forests. However, smokejumpers are a national resource and can be dispatched anywhere in the country to respond to wildfires and other natural disasters.