Not Your Average Firefighter

Lets talk about the hubs. Sooooo many times in the past few years I have been asked what exactly my husband does for a living. Understandably our family and friends are curious as to why he is never around. I always explain to them that he is a Cherokee Hotshot or a Wildland Firefighter for the United States Forest Service. Some of my favorite responses to this explanation are:

• Why doesn't he just work at the fire station?
• How do you deal with him being gone all the time?
• Well that's a great way to start a marriage.
• How will you ever raise children in that environment?
• So he jumps out of planes! 
• What do you do when he is gone?
• Don't you get lonely?

Or the forever infamous...

• A hotshot....WHAT?

The truth is I don't always know the answers to these questions. Chris and I have been married a little over a year and I still don't know how we make a marriage work. Does anyone, anywhere truly know the answer to how a marriage works? Also, I don't know how it will work when we have kids. I don't think their is a book I can read for that. We will just do the best we can do. Sometimes I am outraged by the things people say to me. No one would ever ask a Soldier's wife how she plans to make her marriage work and how in the world she will raise kids with her husband gone all the time. I am in no way comparing what my husband does to the work of a Soldier but what I am saying is that their is a lack of respect for the wildland firefighters and their families. I am proud of my husband. He puts in long hours and a lot of hard work. I hope through this blog my family and friends can begin to understand what my husband does. I hope that other hotshot wives can help me answer these questions that I do not know the answers to. Most of all I hope that we can all, through our unique life experiences, figure this way of life out together.

The very first question that I think needs to be answered is:

• A hotshot....WHAT?

I totally get why most people in East Tennessee do not understand what this word means. Most of the big wildfires happen out west. We do not have a lot of wildland firefighters in this area. So here we go...

This is how wikipedia describes my husband:

 

 "In the United States, an interagency hotshot crew (IHC), or simply hotshot crew, is a Type 1^{[1][nb 1]} handcrew of 20 firefighters specially trained in wildfire suppression tactics.^[4] Hotshot crews are considered an elite group among wildland firefighters, due to their extensive training, high physical fitness standards, and ability to undertake difficult, dangerous, and stressful assignments.^[5] They often respond to large, high-priority fires and are trained and equipped to work in remote areas for extended periods of time with little logistical support.
As an interagency resource, hotshot crews can be requested to respond to wildland fire incidents in any jurisdiction. As of 2009, there are 107 IHCs in operation in the United States, organized by diverse agencies such as the United States Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, as well as state, county, and city governments."

 

You see...my husband is in an elite group of individuals. Impressive, I know. He didn't just walk into the Cherokee Hotshot office and walk out with a job. He put in a lot of training. We were apart for nearly a year while he participated in the Wildland Fire Apprenticeship Program in California.  Did I already say I was proud of him? He loves his job and I love that he has a passion for what he does.

 

This is what I already know...Being a hotshot is not just a job. It is a way of life. We love our life. We are thankful for our life. The rest we will figure out along the way.

 

                                           This one belongs to me - Chris in Idaho last fire season

 

                                           Cherokee Hotshots -  Fine bunch of burly men