VIDEO: Imagine hanging upside down, ready to drop hundreds of feet, hoping your efforts can stop a devastating blaze and keep people safe.
For veteran US Forest Service rappel crews that's what summer means. But what about the rookies who try it for the first time? For specialized wildland firefighters, "commuting" means traveling across the country, a flight into the backcountry, and "dropping in" to real "remote work." A few weeks ago we showed you how the veterans were training for the first time at Bass Creek in the Bitterroot. But we were curious what it was like for the rookies, so the USFS invited us back for a closer look, and to learn rappel crews want experience first, courage and caution -- yes, but smarts too.