Smokejumper Volume 2: More Stories
Smokejumper Volume 2: More Stories
by “Swede” Troedsson
6” x 9”, 120 pages, softcover
ISBN: 978-1-59152-353-6
$18.95
Swede’s adventures include a summer as a fire lookout, deployment as a U.S. Marine to Korea, and stints as a smokejumper, ski patroller, ambulance EMT, and timber forester. He also worked in wildland fire suppression, aviation management, hunting, assisting Montana Game Wardens, and backcountry rescue.
As recounted in Volume I, during the course of his employment as a Forester with the Northern Pacific Railroad and with the U.S. Forest Service, Swede broke a leg smokejumping, fell through the ice in the Swan River, dodged falling trees during a wind shear event, on two occasions almost got burned up, and lost a pickup truck in a fire entrapment.
This second volume relates experiences not included in the first volume, with the exception of a section that offers more details about the backcountry rescue of Hank Williams Jr.
About the Author
“Swede” Troedsson was born and raised in the East. His early years in the Boy Scouts developed his love of the outdoors. Following high school, his first job with the USDA Forest Service began his love affair with Montana and the West.
Summer seasonal work with the Forest Service was interrupted by two years active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps. This service included a deployment to Korea.
Smokejumping while attending Montana State University (now called The University of Montana) introduced him to the diversity of the West and the excitement that comes with challenges presented in the outdoors.
After graduating from college with a degree in forestry, his employment as a forester eventually led him to Southwest Montana. The last thirty-one years of his career were spent on the Beaverhead National Forest. His main duties were preparing and administering timber sales. Other duties “as assigned” were coordinating motorized travel restrictions among nine public land and road management agencies, managing aviation resources, and being dispatched to wildland fire incidents from Florida to Alaska.
His volunteer work on the National Ski Patrol would lead him into volunteer emergency medical services (EMS), teaching emergency medical technicians, participating in volunteer ambulance work, and performing backcountry rescue. His certification as a private pilot, as well as his experience managing aviation resources in the Forest Service, enhanced his skills in EMS and backcountry rescue.
His love of hunting, fishing, canoeing, camping, and volunteer work with game wardens led him to other adventures.
Besides volunteer work, he found time to help his wife raise three children, introduce them to the outdoor recreational opportunities, and send them off to college. Following his retirement from the Forest Service, he was recruited by the University of Montana—Western to teach a course in Map, Compass, & GPS. It would be a satisfying seventeen-year experience.
He continues to reside in Dillon, Montana.
