Mccall Smokejumpers Ready For Fire Season

Forest Service smokejumpers are training as the 1995 fire season slowly begins to speed up.

The base is home to about 80 smokejumpers, eight of whom are new this year to jumping out of airplanes. The rookies are about to finish up a rigorous four-week training program, preparing them for the important task of catching and extinguishing small fires.

Rookies must have five or six years of firefighting experience to be a smokejumper candidate.