South Idaho Fire Interagency Fire Dispatch

The mission of the Twin Falls BLM Helitack Crew is to provide land management agencies with a safe, highly skilled and productive aerial firefighting resource. It is our duty to maintain unwavering professionalism and a work ethic that is second to none. We emphatically promote professionalism, work ethic, respect, physical training and conditioning, attitude, team work and versatility.

The helicopter, a Bell 205 A-1++, is on a 100-day contract for each fire season. Seasonal helitack crew members work from mid-May to mid-October, averaging 220 flight hours on 30 fires each year. The 10-person crew consists of 4 full time positions and 6 seasonal positions, with at least 1 year of firefighting experience required to be considered as a crew member.

A standard 8-hour day consists of preparing and positioning your fire gear on the helicopter or chase vehicle, a morning briefing consisting of weather, situation report and safety, training and post-fire discussions, daily projects such as vehicle and facilities maintenance, and a three to eight mile run, along with some weight training, push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, etc.

A typical 8 to 16 hour fire assignment consists of fire line construction with hand tools and a chainsaw, directing helicopter water drops, managing helibase and helispot operations, operational duties such as Incident Commander and Radio Operator, backfiring and burnout operations and lookout.

South Central Idaho Interagency Dispatch Center
213 West F Street
Shoshone, Idaho 83352
208-886-2373

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