Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1942-10-30
FIRE FIGHTING
METHODS CHANGE
USE OF PARACHUTE HAS PROVED
BOON TO CONSERVATION
OF FORESTS

Training at the Seeley lake ranger
station, GO miles northeast of Mis-
soula, this summer were 80 Of the
most highly specialized troops in the
army of United States forest service
firefighters-the parachute squadron
men who were saving the country
thousands of dollars and many more
thousands of acres OF forest each year.
These fighters, like the crack para
chute troops OF the United States
army, are all young men-more than
half are students at Montana State
university. And, like the troops who are
armed with rifles and machine guns.
these men also were armed, with axes
and shovels, and trained to quickly
and efficiently exterminate their
enemy-the forest fire.
Perhaps it cannot be said that the
parachute fire fighter made possible
the parachute trooper, but 1t Is true
that experimentation by the forest
service, the development of special
chutes and equipment laid the ground
work upon which the parachute troops
are built.
Before 1899, a parachute jumper
steered clear Of rough or wooden ter
rain-tried to land on the easiest place
possible. But the smoke chaser or
trooper cannot land in the best place
every time-he must pick the most
strategic spot, whether it Is rocky
hillside or grove of lodgepole pine.
Well Protected
He must be well protected with the
right kind of clothing, he must know
how to land and he should be equipped
to get safely to the ground no matter
how tangled he gets in his shroud
lines or how high the tree in which
he lights.
Until this year, since the country has
been at war and labor has become
scarce, only top smokechasers, ex-
perienced firefighters, were taken in
the parachute squadron. During the
summer, however, the largest group OF
"chutists" in the short history Of the
organization was recruited, many OF
whom had no previous experience in
firefiehting. Most of them were STU
dents at the university in Missoula-
bows from the forestry school who
needed the training and the money
other fellows who just liked the idea
of parachutes.
First they took a stiff physical eX-
animation to make sure they we're
safe in starting such rigorous oc-
cupation. Those who passed were taken
to the camp and given severe pro-
gram of ground training.
Early each morning they got an hour
of calisthenics, exercises to strengthen
neck and leg muscles. jumping ana
tumblinp exercises to teach them 10
fall without being hurt.
They learned the methods OF IRE
fighting and the principles OF fire
control so they could handle blaze
once they had arrived on the scene.
The first Jumps were made OIL
specially constructed platform, equip
ned with a door frame and step mo-
deled after that used on the airplanes
used for jumping 'chutists. With full
equipment they hop from this step,
fall approximately eight feet and then
are brought to dead stop IN mld-alr
by special device hooked through
the straps of their chutes. The shock
is practically the same as the open
ing shock of the parachute In an
actual jump.
with full equipment, the fighters
climb up on l0-foot platform and
lump to the ground. The fall Is ap-
proximately the same as in the chute
landing. They learn to fall with the
center Of gravity forward so that they
tumble easily to the ground rather
than attempting to stand up. It's hard,
bruising work, but a necessary part OF
their training.
Before they make their actual Jumps
they are given instruction in technique
in letting themselves down out OF
trees. For this purpose they carry 30
feet of rope as part of their equip
ment. Speed is essential and the boys
learn to let themselves out of the
tallest trees in four or five minutes
often faster.
Dressed in full uniform, these smoke
chasers are more deliberately equipped
and weighted down than was ever any
iron-clad Sir Galahad of the King
Arthur days
Canvas Suit
Their armor consists of a heavy,
two-piece canvas suit with protective
braces for ankles, abdomen and back;
a heavy pair of shoes and gloves and
a football helmet with an iron screen
to protect the face from branches and
rocks.
Each man carries two parachutes,
a back pack and an emergency chest
pack; so feet of rope; a claspknlfe to
cut themselves loose in emergencies,
and a portable radio with which to
radio back to the plane once they have
safely landed. Usually one man in each
unit dropped carries the radio. Ra-
lions and equipment are dropped from
the plane on special 'chutes.
After five or six days of preliminary
training, they are taken up 1000 feet
in a Travelair or Ford trimotor trans
port plane from the johnson Flying
service in Missoula for their first jump.
Officials are careful to pick quiet
day and use an open field for the land
ing on this first jump. After they
make a jump or two successfully In
an open field they are started on tim
Der jumps.
Ideas on jumping are exchanged
freely between the forest service and
the army. Half of the problem of
jumping was solved, forest service men
say, when the army developed the