Introduction
Being on an Interagency Hotshot Crew is brutally tough. These teams, twenty in a pack, ride in a small truck called a “Box.” It is tightly cramped with gear and firefighters, and it is also the very core of their operation. The Box delivers these teams as close as they can to a wildfire, then they load up with heavy gear and tools (often fifty to seventy pounds worth), and walk to the fire—typically miles over horrendous terrain to even reach the firefight. Once there, the battle against the fire is a hand-waged war that allows few breaks and even less sleep.
For five to seven months every summer, they battle fire with only very rare days off. Their pay is unimpressive (off season many make the ends meet working as bartenders or ski patrol at winter resorts), but their drive
