Fewer fall class extensions sought by UM firefighters

The week before school started, senior Tara Gillespie was wearing a bright yellow fire-resistant jacket and a hard hat with reflectors as she sweated to put out a forest fire in Lincoln.

Today, Gillespie is in jeans and a long-sleeve shirt, sweating over her homework in class.

The transition from the fire line back to campus life isn’t always an easy one.

“I always struggle with driving when I come back,” Gillespie said with a laugh, reflecting on her first week back.

Many student firefighters choose to take optional three-week extensions for fall semester that allow them to stay on fires without having their classes dropped, although missed class work must still be made up.

But with few fires this season, firefighters are coming back on time.

Last year, 77 student firefighters over the summer filed extensions at UM. This year, it was about half that at 39 students, UM Registrar Dave Micus said.

Montana State University only had 14 extensions filed this summer, roughly half as many as were filed the previous school year, MSU Registrar Charles Nelson said.

An obvious reason for the decline boils down to fewer big fires.

More than one million acres burned in the Northern Rockies region last year, according to data from the Northern Rockies Coordination Center. This year that number was just more than 100,000 acres.

But fire season isn’t over yet.

Carl Seielstad, assistant professor in the Department of Forest Management, said that because a majority of his students are firefighters, he won’t start his wild land fire use class until October.

“The traditional calendar we’re on is not very good for students suited in fire,” Seielstad said.

The extension has been especially beneficial for students who want to be involved with firefighting as a career, but it can often set them back a couple of weeks trying to catch up, he said.

“Basically, you are firefighting one day, and a day or two later you are in the classroom,” Seielstad said. “It’s an awkward transition. It’s like two different worlds.”

Anna Lahde, co-chair of the Student Firefighter Association, a UM club aimed at bringing together firefighters of all majors, had a similar take.

“It’s hard when you have that much physical activity,” she said. “Then you get back in the classroom and have to sit and listen.”

Recent UM graduate Josh Berg has been fighting forest fires for the past eight seasons and described his first days back on campus as a “culture shock.”

It’s the same story for Nate Rott, a senior who worked as an engine boss this summer.

“I was so flustered my first day back,” he said, “but I was definitely ready to get back.”

carmen.george@umontana.edu