If you haven't watched the video, I hope that you take 25 minutes and do so now. I certainly learned a lot about the life of a hotshot crew by watching this video. More importantly, I feel like I learned about what it means to be a Geronimo Hotshot thanks to having this peak at their 2014 season. the video was shot using a Go Pro Camera, thanks to Mario Dia.
A few minutes at the start of the video is spent showing the recruitment, focusing on at least some of the fitness and agility tests that Geronimo Hotshots must pass. Footage was shown of the following tests, I suspect that there are other fitness tests that were not shown
- running 1.5 miles in under 10 minutes 35 seconds,
- 40 situps in one minute,
- pull ups, the number is based on body weight, and
- 25 pushups in one minute,
- handlines,
- chain saw operations,
- line preparation,
- (tree) falling operations,
- ignition operations (with a drip torch),
- the lookout,
- hot spotting, cold trail, and mop-up operations,
- hiking into and out of the fire,
- air operations (at 13:15) shot from the ground including a couple of scenes where a couple of the crew are cheering a drop,
- single resource firing boss, and
- single resource crew boss (leading other crews into fires)
You will also learn about some of the instruction and teaching that the Geronimo Hotshots do. The all important role of the wilderness medic on the crew is discussed along with how the crew medevacs an injured crew member.
Included near the end of the video is a nice tribute to fallen wildland firefighters. The video ends with an introduction to each of the Geronimo Hotshots.
The beauty of this video for me was twofold: (1) an educational video where I learned about some of the specific tasks that the Geronimo Hotshot crew does, and by extension other Hotshot crews, and (2) getting to know the 2014 Geronimo Hotshot crew as a crew, seeing them working together on wildfires.
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