Wildland Firefighting Pros and Cons, is it the Right Fit for You?!

if you're thinking about wildland firefighting as a career today's video we're going to talk all about the pros and the cons of wildland firefighting so let's go ahead and get right on into the video [Music] hey guys welcome back to my channel i'm ronnie ocampo this video is inspired by renee i'll leave her information here she found me on instagram so thank you renee um she said she was looking into wildland firefighting but wasn't sure about it and so i was like there has to be other people out there who are like i want to do firefighting while then firefighting but i'm not sure so i thought let's do a pros and cons video i reached out to the firefighting community on facebook and asked them hey what are your pros and cons because i could easily give you my pros and cons however i felt like i was very biased because i had an amazing experience i did five seasons with the bureau of land management right out of high school through my college years and so i absolutely loved it i have to say right off the bat the pros list it was so much bigger than the cons list there were so many people who even said there are no con you have to take this video with a grain of salt right because one person's pro could be another person's con so this video is meant to be fun let me go ahead and get things kicked off with the pros list in no particular order whatsoever so a lot of people have said that the brotherhood slash sisterhood slash camaraderie is the greatest part of all that firefighting and i think that's so true you have a common goal everyone has a goal we know who we're feeding and that is the fire and you get to do it in some of the funnest coolest ways ever depending on what your job is you're going to jump out of a helicopter you get a dig line you need to cut down trees you get to put fire on the ground you get to drive a bulldozer close to the flames like it just depends on what your job is right but there's so many cool bad ass ways you get to extinguish flames and it's just fun it is just so fun it's dirty it's hard work you have someone next to you just working their ass off just as much as you are and it's just the greatest yes there are definitely times where it sucks it sucks but you you do it together and so it doesn't suck as much when you look back on your like man those are some of the best days some of the greatest times of my life but when you're in it at five in the morning hiking your ass up a giant huge hill with all this weight on after you've done that for the past seven days 14 days it's not you don't feel like oh this is the greatest moment of my life just know that like that's normal to be like this suck but when you look back on it you're like i had such a great time that was so wonderful so camaraderie you have the same opponent everyone's working toward towards a common goal you have your crew mate next to you just kicking ass just like you are so it's a good time another thing is just being around the like-minded people we all have a heart we all have a desire a drive to help our community that's that's the whole purpose of a firefighter is to be there for one another to be there for our community and be the hero right like we all kind of have that that complex right like i like being called a hero you love to be the one to help someone in their time of need this job makes you be in the best physical and mental shape that you can be and that just that molds you right like it makes you grow as a person you really get to find out who you are in those moments of the suck and you get to find out what kind of leader you are as well so when other people are in the suck with you and they're struggling and having a hard time and you're doing just like this much better than they are in that moment you can help lift them up you do get to go to some of the most beautiful remote locations in the world so you know some people get to go way up into alaska some people got to go to australia and help out those fires down there so it's just even here in the u.s just to go to the middle of a forest that not very many people are going to go to you're up on a mountaintop all day like you get paid to go to these beautiful gorgeous places let's just talk about the adrenaline for a minute if you are a adrenaline junkie or if you don't know that you are one you will get addicted i'm a girl from a small town in idaho who is not an adrenaline junkie i was very sheltered but i got into firefighting was like you got a little taste right you get that taste and you're like this is so awesome this is amazing and so you get the rush the adrenaline it's just and it's fun right like this is a fun job and it's fulfilling it's so fulfilling and the days are so diverse you have something new every single day you're always learning a new skill you are learning to adapt and overcome on things and that's something i think that we all kind of thrive on we all have we're really good at problem solving you have to be right you have to be on your toes you have to go to problem solving you have to have really good situational awareness you have to pay attention this is a very dangerous job other people's lives could depend on you so you need to be able to think on your toes you need to be able to always be ready and always be prepared for things and i think that's something we thrive on um that's part of the adrenaline rush as well that you get so it's just a fun rush of adrenaline you get to learn new things you're going to be amazing great people and overall it's just a badass job right i think that's something that was the underlying theme of the pros some people wonder throughout their whole lives is my job really making a difference you know as a wildland firefighter your job is making a difference every single day so now we're gonna go ahead and go over the cons list and while isn't as long as the pro list some of them hit pretty heavy some of them are silly like one guy said mre shits and one girl said you have to pee behind a bush or long shower lines if you're lucky enough to get a shower a lack of sleep hard work long hours um things like that which while they're they sound silly they're things like legit things we totally have to deal with but then some of the bigger ones were pay benefits and the toll that it takes on the relationships with your family and friends there's a lot of jobs out there that do way less work than what firefighters do and they get paid way more which is really sad if you're sacrificing to be away from your family to help your community to help people who are losing their homes to help ranchers who need to save their land and their livestock you know like you should be able to get paid really well for that and it's a dangerous job like you could you could die doing this job hopefully not and you know we try to do everything we can to be as safe as possible but it's an inherently dangerous job so we need to have benefits to back those hopefully we can do better in that area and um yeah so last con that someone said was you will grow old and won't be able to do this job anymore there's just so many people who love this job who love what they're doing who love to put in that time that work and while they're sacrificing to be away from their family there's just something about it that is so fulfilling and they absolutely love it and that's why i love this community because i'm one of those members and you just feel like you belong and you're part of the team and so those are the pros and cons that i got from the community so i just want to say thank you again to them for giving me their input so i can share that with you guys like i said i was really i thought that i was being very biased because like i had a really great experience and i love firefighting with all of my heart so if you're thinking about being a wildland firefighter i would 100 percent recommend it you can do it for a season a season or two and see how you feel about it it's not gonna be the end of the world you work for six months and then you have six months off that could be a pro or a con depending how you look at it but there's so many things that you could do and i just highly highly recommend it you're gonna learn so many skills you're gonna be around great people you're gonna learn some leadership skills some discipline some hard work which i think we all could use and you will never not benefit from those qualities so i want to say thank you guys so much and hopefully you guys like this video if so please give it a thumbs up please leave any comments or questions down below and if you guys have any suggestions for future videos please leave them down there as well and i will see you guys in my next video bye guys

Channel: Wildland Fire Fit

Views: 31,281

Keywords: wildland firefighting, wildland fire, firefighting, do it yourself, wranglerstar, best jobs for teenagers, best jobs for college students, fire, wildland, pros and cons, community, fire family, hero, integrity, hard work, discipline, firefighter, firefighter training, firefighter motivation, female firefighters, female firefighter training, education, training, badass, tough, mentally tough, fitness, mentally tough athletes, physcially fit, fit, healthy jobs, brotherhood, sisterhood, cool jobs

Id: o9330dvg40w

Length: 8min 47sec (527 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 17 2021