Wildland firefighters are groundpounders, hotshots, engine crew, helitack, smoke jumpers, airtanker and helicopter pilots and support personnel, dozer operators, water tender operators; and in firecamp, those who keep records and manage ops and planning, logistics and finance, those who oversee safety, critically assess risk at a systems and incident level, provide info to the public, and incident commanders (the “generals”) that have worked their way up through the ranks. They are a diverse, yet united, interagency firefighting force of federal, state & local wildland firefighters, private sector wildland firefighters, and volunteers.
Increasingly these wildland firefighters are called up by the nation to fill ALL RISK roles, dealing with hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, shuttle crashes and potential terrorist attack, in addition to firefighting. As the population grows, many communities are expanding into the fire prone interface. While their specialized training and mission are primarily fighting wildfire, some wildland firefighters fill more traditional structure firefighting roles as they increasingly respond to requests for assistance on vehicle accidents and structure fires.