Forest Service Seeks Female Firefighters
'Boot Camp' Held Over Four Days to Graduate On-Call Help
Los Padres National Forest, which covers roughly 1.9 million acres across mid-California, is looking to train a handful of women as wildland firefighters as part of its diversity outreach. The four-day “boot camp” over two weekends — January 31-February 1 and February 7-8 — will teach the basics of fire organization and firefighting techniques, equipment, and safety, with the goal of graduating on-call wildland firefighters. Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and able to do “arduous” work.
The main duty stations for the short-term, non-permanent jobs are expected to be in Los Padres, but the work, sometimes physically demanding, dangerous, and stressful, can take place anywhere in the Pacific Southwest, depending on fire season conditions. Other aspects of the job cited by forest officials can be 16-hour days, work that lasts two weeks without a break, and short notice of wildland fire response assignments that require hiking, carrying heavy equipment, and using handtools. More information is available here or by contacting Forest Civil Rights Officer Sarah Majdiak at (805) 680-4559 or lpfdiversitybootcamp@gmail.com.
