Bill Moody: Not jumping but still hopping

Interview by Marcy Stamper 

Bill Moody spent more than three decades as a smokejumper and held the national record for greatest number of jumps for much of his career. Although he officially retired 20 years ago, he still works a full schedule on fires, consults on firefighting technology, and is compiling his memories in his second book about his work.

How did you end up becoming a smokejumper? Did you know about it as a kid and always want to do it?

I heard about it as a kid, particularly after I saw Red Skies of Montana, which is a movie about the 1949 fire where 13 jumpers were burned. When I was in high school I got a job at the Forest Service and met some jumpers on a fire in 1956, so in Christmas vacation of our senior year, a friend and I drove over here and interviewed. We were accepted and started jumping two weeks after I graduated from high school, just after I turned 18.

The tragedy depicted in that movie didn’t scare you off?

No, it looked like a very exciting occupation and, at that time, just a way to finance my way through college. I got a degree in teaching and actually taught six years in the Wenatchee school system, continuing being a smokejumper in the summer. In June 1969 I quit teaching and moved up here and took a permanent job with the smokejumpers. Three years later I was selected to be base manager.

Did you ever pilot?

No. I do other non-jump work – I supervise all the aircraft, and that’s something I still do. It’s called an air tactical group supervisor. You do the air-traffic control and establish priorities for the mission.

Do you find it exhilarating after all these years?

It is. Even though I’m not jumping, I’m working with a lot of high-energy folks and a lot of aircraft and a lot of stakes, so it’s still kind of an adrenalin rush. It’s a pretty interesting and exciting operation.

Does the jumping itself ever become routine?

It never got routine for me. Each jump is different. Kind of a heightened anticipation – it’s probably something you want to maintain to be focused, much like an athletic event.

Was it scary at first?

Oh, yeah, particularly at first, until you really gain confidence in the job. There’s a physical aspect and there’s certainly a psychological aspect, when you’re jumping in adverse conditions, terrain. You’re exiting at 85 or 100 miles per hour and you’re jumping usually 12 to 15 hundred feet above the intended landing spot. Not only steep terrain, but also wind conditions, particularly following lightning storms. Just the limitations on visibility, so you can see the obstacles on the ground. Then there’s the vegetation – jumping in a meadow free of rocks, or a rocky area. Are you jumping in short timber or are you jumping on west side Cascade timber that’s 200 feet tall? All those things become part of your assessment before you jump. You have to be able to exit the aircraft at the right spot and go into a predetermined landing area near the fire. You have to be able to maneuver the parachute and get to the ground safely. You’re trying to keep your head together as you do this. Then conditions oftentimes are changing. So it’s a pretty high-focus operation.

It sounds very stressful.

Very stressful. There are rest requirements, but a lot of times you’re flying between six to eight hours. You definitely get fatigued. You’re not as efficient, mentally as sharp, particularly if it’s day after day. 

It must be hard to balance that with wanting to be your best and keep everybody safe.

You try to compensate. You might go back and repeat the procedure to verify; manage your fatigue as best you can, so when you are off, you’re getting good sleep.

In some of the specialty aviation, there’s been a shortage since the late ’70s, so there’s a heavy dependence on retirees like myself. It’s something we enjoy doing, but it’s not particularly good for the agency. 

Have you done other firefighting as a volunteer?

No, just the work with the Forest Service. Right now I’m involved with a project to convert a Boeing 747 into a firefighting air tanker. We’re anticipating it’ll be available for this fire season.

Teaching seems like a rather different career path.

Teaching really paid off. I’ve had opportunities to teach at Forest Service training centers, and we did six tours training Mongolian firefighters, and also in the Soviet Union.

What was that like?

In the Soviet Union, that was still during the Cold War, in ’76, I went over there with a smokejumper expert, just kind of sharing techniques and equipment with the Russians, who had a very large and successful program. The Forest Service was trying to change parachutes and this Soviet parachute seemed superior to ours. I made jumps with the Soviets, and theirs was a better system. Part of it was a free-fall system where you exit the aircraft and fall four to five seconds before you pull the ripcord. 

With the Mongolians, it was quite an experience. These people were basically unemployed, living in a very fire-prone area. My wife was there working with the community on fire-prevention efforts, training the children in the schools. 

Do you feel people here have a good understanding of the role of fire?

I think overall, they do, but of course as soon as the valley gets inundated with smoke, either a prescribed fire or wildfire, it tends to bring out a lot of critical remarks about how it’s being managed. But people have a pretty good understanding, because it’s part of the valley culture. 

Did the policy of fire suppression create more problems?

It certainly did, and I guess as jumpers we were a part of that problem, because a lot of that philosophy was to take immediate action and suppress all fires. Had we let them go, in some cases they might have cleaned up a lot of the vegetation and needles and downed trees, which years later would probably result in less volatile and devastating fires. 

There were individuals who understood that, the Native Americans understood that, but it wasn’t widely accepted by a lot of the forest agencies. There was quite a strong political debate in the late 1800s, early 1900s, as to the role of fire. It wasn’t really until 1968 that there was a strong enough voice – that came out of the National Park Service – about not taking aggressive action in all cases. In some cases you have to be responsive and take immediate aggressive initial attack, particularly in the urban interface, but there’s also the role of understory fires that we burn at the right times of the year.

You mean prescribed burning?

Prescribed fire has a role, but it’s also a very difficult thing to do. So all of what we should be doing, we’re precluded from doing due to environmental restrictions, the time of the year and availability of workforce.

I did have one accident, in 1978.

I wondered about that – what were the circumstances?

I hit a very bad downdraft and dropped out of the sky and hit a rock with my femur and shattered it. I had to have a rod in there for a couple of years. I ended up with an inch-and-a-half bone shortage. A couple of years later, I had the other leg shortened and evened up. I couldn’t jump one year, but I could do everything else. .

What was your total when you held the record?

615, 616, something like that.

And you only had one accident? That’s pretty amazing.

It was a pretty good one. I spent 11 weeks in bed and 13 weeks on crutches. I didn’t have to have a body cast, which they threatened me with. I put in a chin-up bar to exercise. It was hard, but seven months to the day, I was back running – not very smoothly or gracefully, but I was back.

Can you tell me about other aspects of your life?

I’ve been married over 48 years, despite all the time I spent firefighting and away from the family.

I suppose you’ve really seen the valley change.

When I arrived here, that predated the North Cascades Highway. Even going on fires, to get out and get back home, the highway changed the valley. With these economic times I think the Methow is the place to be, with the community and gardening and dependence on one another. I think we’re a lot better off than people in the cities.

What are some of the other things you do?

Alot of cross country skiing. I do hiking and backpacking and a little bit of mountain biking. I’m active in church affairs, and I do some photography – amateur photography, wildflowers, a lot of macro photography, landscapes, seasonal changes.

Another fellow and I wrote a book, Spittin’ in the Wind. In late spring we’re probably doing a second book. This one will be compilations of stories. 

Photo by Marcy Stamper
Bill Moody remains active after 30 years with the smokejumpers.