Any serious firefighter that wants to justify the huge commitment that one must make to be a serious firefighter has three choices in MN.

1. Work "2 days to 2 months" for the MN DNR and pray that the local area will actually send your name on to MIFC for dispatch to out of state fire duty as an AD at low pay.
2. Quit the DNR work entirely and get a decent paying job with a private contractor at fair market wages. and
3. Apply for and accept any Federal firefighting job one can get.

Additionally more than a few area supervisors have in the past unilaterally decided to not pass on "their" smokechasers names to MIFC for inclusion in the national availability list because they felt that they might be needed if "it got a little drier" locally. This was fundamentally unfair to those smokechasers who were dutifully calling in each week to put their name on the national availability list and without their knowledge being kept in a state of unpaid standby. They had made arrangements to be available for out of state duty, forgoing other opportunities, and mistakenly trusted the integrity of their superiors to be fair and honest by passing on their names as agreed.Those that attempted to get out of state fire duty by applying to Federal agencies were reprimanded.

Until recently MN DNR area supervisors were not informing MN smokechasers of the lack of benefits including unemployment compensation even though it was spelled out in their fire business management manual as one of their first duties to a potential smokechaser. I don't think that any of these folk felt that they were horrible for neglecting their duty to be fair and honest with their smokechasers...but I think if the shoe were on the other foot they would have felt profoundly different.

I know from personal experience that DNR Area supervisors treat "their" smokechasers very differently from area to area. There appears to be little oversight or standardization in MN as to how "smokechasers" are treated and as a result most serious firefighters either migrate to areas in MN that treat their firefighters decently or leave the state entirely. Like most DNR foresters I don't think you mistreat your smokechasers intentionally....but I do suspect you take them for granted. Heres a good test. Do you respect them enough to stand up to your area supervisor if one is getting screwed by the DNR or would you be too fearful to do so? They risk their lives for you. Would you risk your job for them?

I do think that your assessment of what MN smokechasers do in the off season was correct ten years ago. However, the profile of MN smokechasers has changed dramatically in the last decade. For example a huge percentage of MN firefighters are students nowadays. More and more are college grads. And very few serious firefighters do it just for "a little adrenaline" or "just happen" to be available to fight fire. Smokechasers arrange their lives so they can be available to fight fire and it irks me whenever I hear this type of statement. I know that many DNR employees believe that smokechasers don't have anything better to do but that belief is not only generally baseless but extremely insulting to smokechasers in its' implications.

I must admit that you appear to more serious about training your smokechasers than most MN DNR managers are...and I applaud that. But I have to wonder how you are able to"send people to as much training as they can stand" since most areas reply to requests for more training from smokechasers that "there are no class slots available this year for non employees". Many smokechasers don't care if the DNR pays for their training...they just want the training! Yet most area offices seemed to be unaware of or unwilling to pass on the fact that there were low cost classes available other than the DNR sponsored training classes this year. Did you know about these classes?

I must also applaud you for "wishing well" those smokechasers that "jump ship" in search of better fire opportunities. Many foresters and managers are not so cheerful when they invest the time and money to train firefighters for other fire employers. I suppose that they hate to lose these valuable assets and end up with a progressively less experienced and less effective fire fighting force each year when it would be a fairly simple matter to retain the majority of MN trained firefighters in MN. Personally I feel it is a huge waste of tax dollars to constantly train green recruits only to have them leave as soon as they possibly can. You should also be aware that beside the full time forestry employees that are firefighters and the "augmenting" force of smokechasers there are 45 seasonal firefighter positions that were created as a result of some productive meetings between the MN DNR and the Minnesota Wildland Firefighters Association several years ago in an effort to ensure that MN is not completely stripped or experienced firefighters. This program could easily be expended to encourage experienced MN firefighters to remain in or return to MN for much less than the cost of "importing" firefighters from other states whenever we have a fire that goes over 500 acres.

For a brief shining moment a few years ago it looked as if MN would be able to field a rapid response force of smokechasers for not only fire, but tornado, flood, and search and rescue emergencies as well. Those capabilities are nearly gone now...and it appears that MN might have lost its' ability to cope with a bad fire season on its' own as well. What do you think happened? I don't think we can blame that on "Deer Season"!

I am genuinely sorry if you felt that I was calling all MN DNR employees "horrible" or if you mistakenly took it personally. That was not my intention. Nor are my "diatribes" merely venting my frustration with the complacency inefficiency of the MN DNR. I am honestly and severely concerned for Minnesota's forests and wildlands and the MN citizens that live and work in them. These folks expect the MN DNR to protect them from uncontrolled wildfires and it no longer can. I am even more concerned for those casual firefighters who with only a year or two of experience find themselves responsible for the safety and advanced training of a force of firefighters which has a higher and higher percentage of green recruits each year.

"Horrible",
I am sure you did not intend to argue that MN smokechasers are NOT treated horribly, that Minnesota's fire suppression capability is NOT fast disappearing, or that some serious ass kicking is NOT needed at the highest levels of the MN DNR, as I see no attempt to do so in your post. If your intention was only to argue that YOU are not "One of those "horrible" Minnesota DNR guys" I hope you still feel better after reading my reply. I would of course prefer that you did something more constructive than simply distance yourself from "those horrible Minnesota DNR guys" and contact me to see if there is something more positive that you can do to help rebuild Minnesota's fast disappearing ability to protect its' forests and citizens from the effects of uncontrolled wildfires.

Dana Linscott
Vice Chairperson
Minnesota Wildland Firefighters' Association
linscott@rea-alp.com

PS Hey sec,

If you want training in MN contact me. We list alternative training opportunities that are presented by the Minnesota Wildland Firefighters' Association and others in our newsletter. You should be able to get affordable training through us. And we don't limit it to MN firefighters or MWFA members.

I don't understand why the MN DNR area offices don't refer smokechasers to us when they come begging for training. They must know about the alternatives to agency sponsored classes since they send their full time folks to many of them. It just does not make sense to me since when firefighters are willing to pay for their own training the MN DNR saves money.

Oh yeah
I forgot.
In MN ambitious firefighters LEAVE!