Firestorm Wildland Fire Suppression, Inc.

Helping Local Youth Find a Purpose

Jim Wills is undoubtedly a man with a vision. He is the founder of Chico, CA’s Firestorm Wildland Fire Suppression, Inc., a private fire company contracted to serve federal and state agencies. Never one to fit in with the “norm,” Jim imagined a way for him to be independent, employ some of the aimless youth he saw around Redding, and continue with his passion for fighting fires. After working with the Forest Service for 16 years, he gathered his first organized fire crew in conjunction with Shasta College. In 1996, he incorporated Firestorm. Since then, thousands of youth have found a purpose through Firestorm, including all of Jim’s sons.

Jim and his wife, Liz, recruited one young man at a high school AA meeting. They hired him and “raised him” alongside their young company. He has now gone on to be a successful superintendent on an agency hotshot crew. This story is common with many neglected youths applying for a job after “raising themselves” on the street.

Rehabilitation and second chances are foundational goals at Firestorm. The people who might not be “hirable” with the Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management are given a chance at Firestorm. The company invests thousands of dollars in training and safety gear before an employee even steps foot on the job. Once on the job, they gain skill sets and leadership qualities that stay with them for life. Young people in Firestorm are also getting opportunities to see the country. Prescribed burning takes crews annually to Nebraska. Hurricane Sandy and the Columbia Shuttle disaster provided months of employment and the chance to see new places. With these acquired skills, confidence, and experience, many go on to earn top dollar wages at state and federal agencies.

Jess Wills, Jim’s oldest son, is Firestorm’s president and runs the company with his wife, Leah. The two shine when it comes to business and staying organized. Good thing, because the new fire culture requires a lot of paperwork compared to Jim’s glory days on the fire line. The ongoing joke then was “safety never got anything done,” but now, without strict safety guidelines, you won’t be allowed to get anything done. In Jim’s time, the guys would work through most injuries while chasing fire all night and putting in 24-hour days. They had to hustle to keep the fires small.

Now, with policies that many times include pulling firefighters off the hill at dark, a fire that might have been caught at 20 acres, with 1,000 labor hours, can easily turn into a two-week-long out-of-control fire requiring 100,000 labor hours. The fire culture has changed, and Firestorm has evolved with it. Jess does everything possible to reduce the amount of risk his employees face. He has already had terrifying calls; after vehicle rollovers and once when his guys were flown off the hill after getting hit by boulders. He was thankful when these employees walked out of the hospital.

Firestorm is part of the private industry which makes up a third of the nation’s wildland resources. There are 150 members in the National Wildfire Suppression Association, representing thousands of resources available to assist federal, state, and local agencies. These numbers don’t include the private contractors who supply food, showers, toilets, tents, and laundry facilities. In many states 85 percent of the personnel on any given fire is private, and they are all there to assist the state and federal agencies.

Aside from supporting the agencies, private contractors are a benefit to taxpayers. When not under hire these contractors are not charging the government. At the end of the season, they continue with other successful businesses such as logging, prescribed fire, mastication work, and urban interface. Theirs is a common goal to continue cleaning forests, helping to prevent destructive wildfires.

Jess Wills explains, “Our forests are facing the effects of 100-year-old problems which can’t be fixed overnight. The fight to prevent wildfires is looking more positive than it has in years. People seem to be on the same page with wanting to get in there, thin and clean up the forests and hopefully prevent another Camp Fire. With the passage of the Farm Bill, environmental policies are streamlined and the process to get in and start projects is expedited. This is a win-win for everyone involved and for our forests.”

On average Firestorm puts in half a million labor hours and drives a million miles in a season. They are employing around 300 with 80-100 full-time workers. The trickle-down into the local economy is huge. The millions of dollars in payroll that Firestorm is paying out is getting spent locally by the Firestorm families. Firestorm currently has 100 vehicles that were either bought or rented locally. During a busy season, like 2018, they are spending $50,000 on tires and $300,000 in fuel. This is just a small example of how their money goes back into the local economies.

Firestorm employees also suffered locally with the Carr and Camp Fires last summer. Thirty-two Firestorm employees lost homes in the Camp Fire. These employees had literally just fallen into bed after an already very busy season, with many days spent away from their families, only to be awakened with evacuation orders. About 100 Firestorm personnel worked on the Camp Fire. Crews worked to suppress the fire and also with the Butte County Sheriff’s office during the search and rescue effort—sifting through debris and assisting in the search for the missing.

Every year, Jess and Leah rent the Lariat Bowl in Red Bluff to provide food and entertainment for their fire families. That’s because each crew truly becomes family over the course of a season, and last year the bonds were stronger than ever. Each year, the five hand crews compete over who’s Number 1 and, to show crew pride, one crew proudly dons their ugly Christmas sweaters.

The legacy of hard work and family, first kindled by Jim, is still burning strong, and Jim loves to light fires—prescribed of course! His wild years chasing fire in the mountains show up these days in aches and pains. But even with a knee replacement and a recently blocked artery, Jim can still haul up a mountain faster than anyone, whether it be on foot or a bike. Last May I watched Jim complete a 100-mile long gravel-grinding bike ride, no sweat, and no excuses. It’s true that “they don’t make them like they used to,” but the Wills family will keep doing their best to raise generations of courageous, hardworking youth.

And for all the young people looking for a purpose, Jim advises, “Follow your dreams, stay focused and do the next right thing. Good things will come.”