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< November December 2003
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Young Guides and Fire

Raft guides are accustomed to having water fights with clients. It made perfect sense, then, for Montana Forest Service officials to put them to work this summer aiming splashes at a more formidable foe: forest fires. With several outfitters laying off guides after the Middle Fork of the Flathead River was closed due to impending flames, officials assembled a new class of firefighter in a barn outside of town, certifying 15 river guides from West Glacier to help fight the fires that threatened to shut down their livelihood.

"They were a little worried that they’d be out of work," says Randy Gayner, owner of Montana Raft Co., which saw a handful of guides take to the flames. "But there was a sense of excitement to go out and see what it was all about."

Trading sandals for boots and paddles for shovels, the guides-turned-firefighters found the work nearly as thrilling as guiding, though maybe not as refreshing. "They put us up on a Type 6 Engine with a 350-gallon water tank," says Aaron Mainer, a 20-year-old guide for Great Northern Whitewater. "And we really did some actual firefighting. It was sort of like rafting because it got your adrenaline going."

To counter the loss of business on the river, the raft companies contracted out not only their raft guides but many of their buses to the Forest Service as well. In all, a reported 550,000 acres burned in Montana through August. And the tally might well have been higher were it not for the guides switching gears. But none of them are about to trade their paddles for Pulaskis full time anytime soon. "It was great to get back to the water," says Mainer. "It was nice to be on the fire, but it’s not as cool as guiding."

—Matt Hansen