WannabeFireFaller
ArboristSite Lurker
Username probably gives it away.
After working on a fire hand crew for a couple seasons I took a pretty serious interest in felling as a career. It'll probably be another couple years before I'm able to hop into that field as I'm also interested in becoming a better climber and pursuing that first, but from the bit of research I did into the field I've been starting to wonder where exactly ballers get their initial experience from.
After contacting a few logging outfits and looking into various other career options for hazard tree mitigation it seems as if most companies only contract or hire already decently experienced fallers instead of training within the company. I hear a lot in logging that it's also largely a family or close friend oriented type of career field as well where "outsiders" have a pretty small chance of finding pure falling positions.
Probably not something I'll have to be seriously concerned about for a little while and I'm still holding out for the chance that I just haven't contacted the right companies in the field or asked around enough. But when the time comes I'd like to know what avenues I have open to me I guess. I've heard carrying fuel for or shadowing loggers is one way to get experience so I'm thinking maybe that will be the way I'll have to break into the field once I finally make my way back out west.
I've taken an art of felling timber class in Oregon and plan to do a couple more in the future but after looking into the requirements for fallers who work on wildfires this doesn't seem like something I can afford to overestimate my skills in. Nor does it seem like there's many other ways to get experience other than actually being a faller with a logging outfit for some time or maybe finding one of those California crews that do fire breaks or cleanup.
Just looking for any and all advice I can get. I don't think there's been any job I've enjoyed as much as climbing or dropping trees. Thanks!
After working on a fire hand crew for a couple seasons I took a pretty serious interest in felling as a career. It'll probably be another couple years before I'm able to hop into that field as I'm also interested in becoming a better climber and pursuing that first, but from the bit of research I did into the field I've been starting to wonder where exactly ballers get their initial experience from.
After contacting a few logging outfits and looking into various other career options for hazard tree mitigation it seems as if most companies only contract or hire already decently experienced fallers instead of training within the company. I hear a lot in logging that it's also largely a family or close friend oriented type of career field as well where "outsiders" have a pretty small chance of finding pure falling positions.
Probably not something I'll have to be seriously concerned about for a little while and I'm still holding out for the chance that I just haven't contacted the right companies in the field or asked around enough. But when the time comes I'd like to know what avenues I have open to me I guess. I've heard carrying fuel for or shadowing loggers is one way to get experience so I'm thinking maybe that will be the way I'll have to break into the field once I finally make my way back out west.
I've taken an art of felling timber class in Oregon and plan to do a couple more in the future but after looking into the requirements for fallers who work on wildfires this doesn't seem like something I can afford to overestimate my skills in. Nor does it seem like there's many other ways to get experience other than actually being a faller with a logging outfit for some time or maybe finding one of those California crews that do fire breaks or cleanup.
Just looking for any and all advice I can get. I don't think there's been any job I've enjoyed as much as climbing or dropping trees. Thanks!