In the remote areas of Washington state, when a flame starts in the dry season, it can quickly turn into blaze. Eating up dried needles and brittle grasses, it fans out and envelops more fuel, sometimes aided by the wind and beating sun. Time is of essence for wildland firefighters, and Washington’s Helitack crew aims to get the better of the flames by departing by helicopter at the start of a fire within just five minutes. Photographer Jasper Gibson, a wildland firefighter himself, captured the routine of his crew during the summer of 2016 with a pocket-sized camera.

Helitack firefighting in Washington started in 1960s, with fragile-looking helicopters holding just 50 gallons of water to dump on fires. Today’s helicopters drop hundreds of gallons at a time, while firefighters work at the fire’s level on Washington’s prairies and montane forests. Amid flames and gusts of wind, the crew clears brush, digs trenches and directs wildfires to prevent their spread. The on-call nature of the Helitack crew means that firefighters’ bags are always packed and at the ready. Sometimes, as Gibson’s photos show, that can mean a lot of down time. “Forget your life at home, at least for four to five months,” Gibson says. “Your coworkers become your family, your duffle bag becomes your wardrobe and you wake up every morning not knowing where you will be for the next two weeks.”

— Anna V. Smith