This is Tongass Voices, a series from KTOO sharing weekly perspectives from the homelands of the Áak’w Kwáan and beyond.
Mitch Erie is a U.S. Forest Service firefighter based out of Wrangell, but he says the job takes him all over Alaska and the country.
The Forest Service is recruiting more firefighters now. There are 17 open positions in Moose Pass and Anchorage in the Chugach National Forest, and in Juneau in the Tongass National Forest. Applications are open through next Tuesday.
Listen:
Mitch Erie: My name is Mitch Erie. I am currently based in Wrangell as the assistant module leader of the Fire Program.
So this is my eighth year with the Forest Service, my first year working in Alaska. Actually, I did my prior seven years working in Idaho on the Sawtooth National Forest and on the Nez Perce Clearwater. Similar jobs as to what I’ve had now, mostly based on hand crews. And this year, I wanted to try something new, so I went for it and moved up to Alaska, and I’ve been loving it so far.
So the majority of the firefighting I do requires travel to either the interior of Alaska. I didn’t sign it up there at the start of the year on the Kuskokwim River, about two and a half hour flight to the west of Anchorage. And then just this last week, I got back from another assignment, and we were working in Colorado and Idaho.
I’ve had a lot of moments on some pretty hard hikes where you got 50, 60, 70 pounds of equipment and stuff on your back. Where you’re you’re going up a mountain that seems to just never quite want to end, and it’s just false ridge after false ridge, and you’re kind of working your whole way up to and next thing you know, you’re sitting the top with all your new best friends and laughing and smiling and looking out across the landscape, or some shifts that never quite seem to end, and the hours keep just plugging on away and away and away.
I formed some really close bonds with people that I still talk to you on an absolutely everyday basis. I would say, for me personally, probably the best parts can also be some of the most challenging parts.
Living a life on the road can be challenging. Obviously, you’re away for long periods of time, you miss stuff. You miss birthdays. There’s people that I haven’t seen in a few years that I really love to and it’s just challenging with the scheduling.
And as much as I love spending time outdoors, after two weeks outside, you’re pretty ready for a shower and a night in the bed.
I know that I’ve definitely had some of the most awe-inspiring moments of my life in this job and without the opportunities that wild and firefighting has brought me. I mean, just this summer, I went on a flight through the Alaska Range out to our work area on the Kuskokwim River. And I don’t know if I ever would have done that in my life. And we were, we had, I think eight of us smashed into this tiny little airplane, and every single person was glued onto the window like a little kid, just awestruck at what we were flying through. And it just opens a lot of opportunities that you never otherwise see in your life, I feel.
