Smoke Jumpers: Bringing a Piece of the Past to the Present

Smoke Jumpers are fire fighters that parachute down in extremely remote areas to fight wildfires.  And the oldest parachute loft in the nation is in Southern Oregon, just south of Cave Junction.  

Smoke Jumpers from across the country and local volunteers came out to preserve the loft this week but there's still more work to be done.  To start, the wood was rotting.

But that didn't stop local volunteers from trying to make the building look exactly like it did in the 1950's.  It took all week to finish the outside and the inside still needs some work.

There are still plans to put a new roof on it next summer.

Chuck Sheley, a smoke jumper in the 1960's says that smoke jumping was the greatest job in the world.  He says, "I'm all fired up now to recruit people to come back next year."

In the end, the idea is to turn the loft into a museum and tourist attraction.