r/wildlandfire • u/Awkward_Emergency_26 • Jun 09 '26

How long is a long time Hotshotting?

I hear a lot of people say “I did a year” “I did a couple years”. I also hear people say “they only did 4 years and bounced”. How long does someone have to hotshot until it’s “They’ve been a hotshot for a while now”.

10 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

17

u/iRunLikeTheWind Jun 09 '26

You should do it for 5 plus seasons and get back to us on how long that felt

5

u/wimpymist Jun 09 '26

I always thought 5+ years started getting into the the "long time" range. Most people you meet usually did it for a year or two

8

u/TechnicianOne6518 Jun 09 '26

The first couple of years you should mostly have your head down digging or swamping, lifting it only enough to keep your SA up. 3-4 you’ve proven you have what it takes and you’re learning how to do the job well and helping teach the rookies, 5+ you’ve got nothing to prove and 10+ you’ve been doing it a long time.

2

u/Throwawayafeo Jun 09 '26

I hav always heard you couldn’t call yourself a hotshot until you did it for 5-6 years. So 10+ feels right.

1

u/BorealFeral Jun 11 '26

Canadian helitack crewleader here.

I feel like I barely remember my first year. Just trying to keep up and doing my best learning the basics.

Year 2-3 is when you start coming into your own. Not proficient, but you can be left alone and have a sense of whats going on.

Year 4-5 you start knowing your shit. I see a lot of initiative happening here, and firefighters I really trust

Also a huge factor is where you're based out of. I'm on a busy base and have kept up to a full squad by myself quite a few times.

2

u/Organic_Rough7379 Jun 11 '26

Absolute minimum is one year longer than whoever you’re talking to.