Trial by Fire

As a Firefighter for Region 5 for five years (1985-1990), this film was of interest to me as I have known female smoke jumpers.

After watching this film I saw only a few similarities to the reality of the job. 1. she was a female 2. they jump out of planes near fire inaccessible by foot. 3. there was fire

Apart from that most of the film was total rubbish The job is tremendously hard and no skinny woman like that would have been given a second look no matter how many members of family had been in the forest service. No how no way.

A smoke jumper would never EVER jump with winds that high, nor would an experienced firefighter try to run uphill from a fire, they ALL know it's pointless. And as for Brooke Burns climbing under a burning log well we were all crying with laughter as it was so unbelievably wrong.

To those of you who are firefighters who review this movie, don't you think we already understand that it isn't realistic?? It's called poetic license, and it's done all the time. I don't mean any disrespect to your profession and I greatly appreciate the expertise that it takes to do your job, but can't we just appreciate it for what it is, an entertaining movie??? I'm a nurse and a former scientist, but I don't bag all the movies where I see inconsistencies with reality, I just take it that the producers haven't had the years of education it takes to fully understand the job, and enjoy the film. Give the movie a break. If you take it for what it is, it's quite enjoyable.

I am a pilot and believe airplanes were made to be flown and not jumped out of. That said, I salute those that are smokejumpers. I salute those that fight forest fires. As an American from Indiana, I never knew how severe such devastation could be until living in Salmon Arm, BC when in 1998 we were evacuated because of one. The first in Canadian history for mass evacuation.

Since then there have been may fires that have caught national attention.

So what if the plot was weak? So what if the woman had skinny legs? Sorry but I do not believe in that BS. If she can do the job, I'll root for her.

Oh by the way, when I was in Vietnam, the best man for the job in many cases was someone that wasn't all brawn.

And finally, having lived and traveled across British Columbia, it was great seeing the old places again.

This is one of those B movies that you find yourself stuck into on a Sunday afternoon when you're hungover. It actually wasn't that horrible; lots of hunky firemen, moderately bad special effects, just the right amount of cheese and Brooke Burns (who I may have just developed a girl crush on.) She looks amazing here and isn't afraid to get dirty, obviously doing most of the training scenes herself -I do remember from her Baywatch days that she was a triathlete in real life, not that I watched Baywatch or anything.

Brooke plays Kristin, a woman who joins the fire department to follow in her father's footsteps. When her Captain perishes in a fire Kristen is unfairly forced to take the blame and in the aftermath of that tragedy makes it her mission to become the first female ever to be accepted into the elite ranks of the Missoula Smokejumpers.

We follow her through the grueling, four week training program, struggles with the other members of the team and watch her steely determination as she learns to jump out of planes, into the flames and save the day. 07.11

I am also a region 5 firefighter and all I can say about this movie is it is awful. Not only does it not represent what it takes to be a wildland firefighter but it also does makes the entire profession look like a macho fest with no rules, guidelines or knowledge. I wonder if this writer/director/crew did any research before doing this film. Rookie camp is 6-8 weeks, the physical requirements are not even the same as they are in real life. It takes much more years of experience to be a smokejumper and much more smarts than any of these actors portrayed. That simple information can be found on any smokejumper site. Truth-be-told I am embarrassed I even rented this film as a firefighter but I just wanted to see how realistic it was and I was right. If you watch this film please know that being a smokejumper takes much more work than this and being a wildland firefighter is a much more grueling profession that takes far more knowledge than these actors portrayed.