History > Smokejumping's Origins

Smokejumping was first proposed by a forester named T.V. Pearson in 1934. That year, Pearson hired professional parachutists to give a demonstration jump outside of Ogden, Utah, but his superiors disagreed. Although backcountry fires had been supplied by paracargo since the late 1920s, the Forest Service was reluctant to commit to dropping men into mountainous terrain. Finally, in November 1939, nine men successfully parachute-jumped into the rough terrain on the forests near Winthrop, Washington.

In 1940, a major of the U.S. Army visited the jumper training camp at Seeley Lake, Montana, and later incorporated Forest Service techniques to establish the U.S. Army Airborne. During World War II the first airborne troops were deployed.

The first fire jump was made by Rufus Robinson and Earl Cooley on July 12, 1940, over Martin Creek on the Nez Perce National Forest. Nine fires were "jumped" that year, and early suppression techniques by smokejumpers saved an estimated $30,000 of timber - three times more than the entire cost of the project.

Twenty-six smokejumpers trained at Ninemile, 20 miles west of Missoula, Montana, in 1941. They were dispatched onto nine fires that year from Missoula, which became the home base for the jumpers because aircraft and pilots supplied by the Johnson Flying Service were located there.

During World War II, the Civilian Public Service (CPS) for Conscientious Objectors provided for the lack of available smokejumper candidates.

Military personnel were also trained at smokejumper bases during the war. In 1943, 25 people from the U.S. Coast Guard, the Canadian Air Observers School and the U.S. Air Force were trained at the Ninemile base.

In 1945, 300 members of the 555th Battalion, all black paratroopers, were trained in timber jumping, and put out fires throughout the West. That year, 14 military para-rescue jumpers were also trained in rough terrain jumping.

Today, the Forest Service employs about 300 smokejumpers at seven bases located at McCall; Missoula; Grangeville; West Yellowstone; Redmond, Oregon; Winthrop Washington; and Redding California. In addition, the BLM employs about 100 smokejumpers stationed at Boise and Alaska.