Preparation for wildfire season is underway. Alaska Fire Service spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said smokejumpers have been training and will commence practice jumps this week in the Fairbanks North Pole area, something she said will go on despite this year’s hefty snowpack.
“They just land in the snow, and while it may be cold, it offers maybe a little extra cushion.”
Ipsen said the group of AFS smokejumpers includes seasoned veterans as well as some newbies.
”We usually have anywhere form five to 10 rookies every year. And they come on a little bit later. And they’ll go through more intense training before they actually go and do the jumps.”
Ipsen said the goal is to have jumpers ready to go mid-month, noting that they were deployed on their first wildfire of the season last year on April 19th, just a couple days after completing training.
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
