Alberta Helicopter Teams

[FireMarshall]

Just curious to see if there are any Helicopter Attack team members on here. Specifially rappell team members. I am from out east and thinking about doing one of the helicopter teams for the summer...just looking for some info. Thanks!

[Snider]

I worked a lot with the helitack folks back in the 1990's while I was on Initial Attack crews. One requirement of helitack is weight, I think it was 170lbs or something like that, IA crews had a weight restriction as well, but it was a little heavier as I recall and not as strictly enforced.

I think I was too heavy for helitack by grade 11. I have been away from Alberta for 14 years so I am not sure how they run things anymore. I think the helitack training is still done in Hinton at the Forestry school.

[Birdo]

I am a crewleader on a BC Initial Attack Helitack Crew. I am not Rappel but I might be able to help you out a bit. In BC rap has a 170 pound dressed weight limit as well. That means including boots and hardhat. Normal Helitack is 200lbs dressed.

Pretty much the same job just different means of arriving to the fire. Normal IA flies as close to the fire as we can and hikes in to the fire from there. That could be close or it might mean a couple km hike. Then we have the heli long-line our gear in, we put out the fire, and we fly home. Rappel on the other hand flies right to the fire, slides down a rope, then spends 3 days building a crappy heli-pad in the wrong location while not putting the fire out, until the Fire Centre (the head honcho, dispatch/operations place) gives up and calls in a normal crew to finish their job.

I kid, well sorta. In BC Rap is the media poster child, gets all the budget and attention, but due to limited actual use they don't get much experience, are therefore not very useful, and are generally the laughing stock of the Protection program. At least to those of us who have to come in and clean up their incompetency.

Join rap, get fun, fun, fun rappel training, then spend the rest of the summer going for long distance runs every morning while normal IA crews are out working. Rap is pretty much only called in when there is a fire in a very remote location where another crew can't hike into. On my base we have a saying, "there is no such thing as a rap target." That means that we will do pretty much anything to access a fire because we don't want to have to call rap to come in and have them make them selves look foolish again.

I haven't worked with Alberta rap crews though so they might be different. Why would you want to work in Alberta? BC has much more scenic fires. Well, most of the province does anyway.

Probably not what you were looking for but we never pass up an opportunity to poke fun at rap.

[geoffey]

I am a crewleader on a BC Initial Attack Helitack Crew. I am not Rappel but I might be able to help you out a bit. In BC rap has a 170 pound dressed weight limit as well. That means including boots and hardhat. Normal Helitack is 200lbs dressed.

Pretty much the same job just different means of arriving to the fire. Normal IA flies as close to the fire as we can and hikes in to the fire from there. That could be close or it might mean a couple km hike. Then we have the heli long-line our gear in, we put out the fire, and we fly home. Rappel on the other hand flies right to the fire, slides down a rope, then spends 3 days building a crappy heli-pad in the wrong location while not putting the fire out, until the Fire Centre (the head honcho, dispatch/operations place) gives up and calls in a normal crew to finish their job.

I kid, well sorta. In BC Rap is the media poster child, gets all the budget and attention, but due to limited actual use they don't get much experience, are therefore not very useful, and are generally the laughing stock of the Protection program. At least to those of us who have to come in and clean up their incompetency.

Join rap, get fun, fun, fun rappel training, then spend the rest of the summer going for long distance runs every morning while normal IA crews are out working. Rap is pretty much only called in when there is a fire in a very remote location where another crew can't hike into. On my base we have a saying, "there is no such thing as a rap target." That means that we will do pretty much anything to access a fire because we don't want to have to call rap to come in and have them make them selves look foolish again.

I haven't worked with Alberta rap crews though so they might be different. Why would you want to work in Alberta? BC has much more scenic fires. Well, most of the province does anyway.

Probably not what you were looking for but we never pass up an opportunity to poke fun at rap.


Holy JBird.......bitter much>?? haha j/k ......everyone knows Helitack is where its at...even this ex-parattack-er......most ppl in the BCFS think Rap is a joke.....except for those that do it. glorified heli-pad builders is what we called them....u'll get waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more fire experience on a reaglar Helitack crew

[cdnbacon]

Holy JBird.......bitter much>?? haha j/k ......everyone knows Helitack is where its at...even this ex-parattack-er......most ppl in the BCFS think Rap is a joke.....except for those that do it. glorified heli-pad builders is what we called them....u'll get waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more fire experience on a reaglar Helitack crew

No, no, no, Unit Crew is where it's at. LOL. Yeah we've had the same experience with Rap's pads (two pads,one took three days, we didn't use either). Hopefully the new helipad course will help this.

And FireMarshall if you come to BC for the job stay away from Coastal Helitack. Coastal Unit Crews are good though, we had around 60 fire days this year.

[Ronbo]

Just curious to see if there are any Helicopter Attack team members on here. Specifially rappell team members. I am from out east and thinking about doing one of the helicopter teams for the summer...just looking for some info. Thanks!

I worked on a Helitack crew this summer in northern Alberta. There are a ton of guys working Hac and rap from out east in Alberta. The weight limit is 180lbs for rap soaking wet with a hard-on. This a very strict guideline and most guys are under 180lbs. The weight limit for Hac is 200lbs and some guys are well over 200lbs. It usually depends on how much the rest of the crew weighs. The training is done at Hinton, Alberta and it is a ton of fun. On the last day of training you get to fly into a live fire excercise in the bush. Well, we did anyways.

I worked and trained with rappel guys and most of them are alright. Like someone posted below; Hac does typically get more fire experience, but man it would be fun to rappel into a fire. You can count on one hand how often that actually happens in a season though. If it happens at all that is.

Alberta will be hiring lots of new recruits next fire season. Rappel does not hire as many recruits because there are not as many rap crews as hac. There is a lot of turn over. Many wildland firefighters in Alberta are getting hired in Calgary and Edmonton for structural these days.

Good luck.

[Ronbo]

Just curious to see if there are any Helicopter Attack team members on here. Specifially rappell team members. I am from out east and thinking about doing one of the helicopter teams for the summer...just looking for some info. Thanks!

I worked on a Helitack crew this summer in northern Alberta. There are a ton of guys working Hac and rap from out east in Alberta. The weight limit is 180lbs for rap soaking wet with a hard-on. This a very strict guideline and most guys are under 180lbs. The weight limit for Hac is 200lbs and some guys are well over 200lbs. It usually depends on how much the rest of the crew weighs.

I worked and trained with rappel guys and most of them are alright. Like someone posted below; Hac does typically get more fire experience, but man it would be fun to rappel into a fire. You can count on one hand how often that actually happens in a season though. If it happens at all that is.

Alberta will be hiring lots of new recruits next fire season. Rappel does not hire as many recruits because there are not as many rap crews as hac. There is a lot of turn over. Many wildland firefighters in Alberta are getting hired in Calgary and Edmonton for structural these days.

Good luck.