It's only mid-July and already the western United States is once again suffering through another hot, dry forest fire season. Newspaper says that presently about 15,000 wild-land firefighters are working to put out forest fires burning in the western United States and Alaska. All have been trained to do their jobs safely and efficiently, and most think they are well-paid to do the hard and sometimes dangerous work. Most firefighters travel to their forest fire work assignments each day by truck, helicopter or simply by walking. A smoke jumper is a special type of forest firefighter, who parachutes from airplanes to work on fires in remote, often mountainous areas.