A fire breaks out in the middle of the forest. No fire trucks can get there. Who will put it out?
Learning Objective: Students will listen to and discuss a nonfiction feature.
Courtesy of Naomi Mills
Naomi Mills
Naomi Mills looks out the window of a small plane. She sees a huge fire burning in the forest below. She knows she has a big job ahead of her.
Naomi is a smokejumper. She is going to help put out the forest fire. She will have to jump from the plane to do it.
The plane door opens. The wind blows against her face. Naomi is ready. She pushes herself out of the plane.
Bureau of Land Management Boise Smokejumpers
Whoosh! She is falling through the air.
But she is calm. She counts for five seconds: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Now she pulls the cord to open her parachute. The parachute opens above her. It slows down her fall.
Naomi drifts down to the ground.
Getting to the Fire
David Ryder/Reuters
There are nine other smokejumpers on the team. They land one after the other. They are not close to the fire yet. They will need to get closer to put it out.
First, they take off their parachutes. They don’t need them anymore.
Carrie Bilbao/BLM
The tools come down.
But they do need important tools, like axes and saws. Boxes of tools have been tossed from the plane. They float to the ground with mini parachutes.
Now the smokejumpers have what they need. They hike to the edge of the fire.
Making the Fire Line
Smoke fills the air. Naomi sees flames on trees. She and her team must put them out. First, they need to make sure the flames won’t spread to other trees.
Naomi’s team starts to make a line that the fire can’t jump across. This is called a fire line.
Kate Francis
(Left) Smokejumpers dig a fire line. The fire can’t spread past it. (Right) They work to put out the fire!
They cut down a line of trees. They clear away the branches and remove plants. Finally, they dig into the dirt to make the fire line deeper.
It takes hours. But now there is nothing along that line that can easily catch fire. The fire can’t spread!
Brave Smokejumpers
Courtesy of Naomi Mills
The fire is out.
(Left) Naomi
The trees on the other side of the fire line are still burning. Naomi and the other brave smokejumpers need to cut them down. This is the most dangerous part of their job.
They use chainsaws to cut the burning trees. The saws are loud. Brum-brum-brrrrrr!
Crash! The trees fall.
All the trees that were burning are down. Now Naomi and the team crawl on their hands and knees. They mix anything that is still burning or hot with dirt. That puts the last of the fire out.
Naomi and the other jumpers keep feeling the ground. At last, it’s cold. The flames are gone.
They did it! They stopped the fire!
They are covered in ash and dirt. They are sweaty and tired. But the forest is saved, thanks to brave Naomi and her team.
David Ryder/Reuters
There are nine other smokejumpers on the team. They land one after the other. They are not close to the fire yet. They will need to get closer to put it out.
First, they take off their parachutes. They don’t need them anymore.
