Age for wildland firefighters

[countycrew]

**Are there any states that allow 16 or 17 year olds to work in the Forestry department fighting fire?***
Also if waivers are signed does that, or would that help? In my state, they can't work for the Forest Service fighting fires, however as Jr. Firemen they can fight wildland fires as long as they respond with station. Moreover I have seen 16 year olds working side by side with FS firefighters on a line when the Dept. of Forestry has been called in. SO WHAT'S THE DEAL???

[SWIDFCWINS]

Sounds like you are upset with something that you saw in your area?

As far as I know, the age for employment in any career government fire service is a minimum of 18 years of age. However, a local jurisdiction may allow for a younger starting age.

RMW

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DFCWINS

[Bj]

the minimum age for working as a seasonal firefighter for the California Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection is 18yrs old

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don't tell someone how to do something, tell them what to do and they will suprise you with their ingenuity

[Dalmatian90]

I'm not sure of their current status, but as recently as the late 80s, the Connecticut Dept. of Environmental Protection maintained trained fire crews at several High Schools in the state and also at UConn. The students were allowed to leave class when needed, which was usually on very large fires.

Unfortunately, I think these have gone away as the state forestry capabilities in general have continued a precipitous decline...one of these years, there will be a bad fire season again. It's not going to be pretty.