smokejumper injured

Forest Service smokejumper injured

9 May 2006


REDDING — A smokejumper trainee on a training jump with the USDA ForestService was injured Monday while parachuting into the Trinity Alps Wilderness onthe Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

The smokejumper was airlifted to Mercy Medical Center here where he was treatedfor minor injuries.

This is the first smokejumper training injury at the Northern CaliforniaGeographic Area Coordination Center (ONCC) ten years.

The smokejumper was injured when his parachute caught a tree, the parachutereleased from the tree and the smokejumper fell 40 feet. The smokejumper wasparticipating in a four day training exercise, part of a six week smokejumperprogram, which teaches first year students teambuilding, how to navigate in thewilderness, tree climbing and parachute jumping.

Smokejumpers parachute into remote areas to attack small wildland fires beforethey grow too large. Smokejumpers also assist large firefighting efforts whenfirefighters are needed quickly.

The ONCC is the focal point for coordinating the mobilization of resourcesfor wildland fire and other incidents throughout the geographic area. Located inRedding, Calif. the center also provides intelligence and predictive servicesrelated-products designed to be use by the internal wildland fire community forpurposes of wildland fire and incident management decision-making.


Back

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
WP-Backgrounds Lite by InoPlugs Web Design and Juwelier Schönmann 1010 Wien