Hotshots:
Hotshots work the hottest parts of the biggest fires. Descended from the CCC crews of the 1930s, the 65 hotshot crews in the US are the primary hand crews fighting forest fires. They range from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Asheville, North Carolina, but most of them are in the western continental US--almost half of them in California.

Hotshot crews on the web:
Diamond Mountain (CA) Hotshots;Midnight Sun and Chena (AK) Hotshots;Pike (CO) Hotshots;Sawtooth (ID) Hotshots;
Stories about hotshots:
Bighorn/Wyoming Hotshotsand the Globe (AZ) Hotshots from Wildland Firefighter Magazine; a story about the Tahoe (CA) Hotshots; a Hotshot Photo Journal.

Engine crews:
In the flat sagebrush desert of the Intermountain West, or the fast-burning, road-streaked chapparal of Southern California, the engine is the fire fighting tool of choice. Ranging from 3/4 ton trucks with 150 gallons to "heavies" carrying up to 3000 gallons, the fire engine is customized to meet the fire fighters' needs. Compared to structural fire engines, wildland fire trucks are smaller, often 4-WD, and can "pump and roll"--deliver water while moving. Engine work can be fast an furious , doing the initial attack on a going brush fire, or very slow, while mopping up or waiting for a fire.

Helitack/heli-rappellers:
The helicopter-borne crews perform initial attack in much of America's wilderness. Rappellers are let down from heights of 50 to 150 feet above the ground. Helitack crews find a suitable landing spot from which they attack the fire. On large fires, helitack crews perform a support mission, ferrying crews and supplies to their destinations.

Helitack crews on the web: Alberta Helitack (unofficial site); Monument (CO) Helitack
For more information, visit: International Helicopter Firefighters Association

Smokejumpers:
Smokejumpers parachute to small wilderness fires that are not otherwise accessible. They also manage paracargo operations, and occasionally serve as supervisors on larger fires or form into hand crews.

For more information, visit: Robert Hubble's Smokejumper Page, Dan McComb's Photo Journal