Devil's Canyon Veterans Crew
About Us
Vision
Develop and maintain a cohesive, highly skilled hand crew focused on safety, hard work, and building leaders in fire.
Mission
Provide a professional twenty-person hand crew that will operate safely and effectively in all fire suppression, fuels, and all risk work locally and nationally. Devil’s Canyon will offer meaningful work and career paths for our nation’s veterans to become leaders in fire and resource management. We strive to continually develop and increase our skills and capabilities to better meet the complex and fluid demands of wild land fire operations.
Crew Duties
To operate and perform in often austere conditions, Devil's Canyon places priority on developing an extremely cohesive team. We expect the best out of each member and rely on collective focus and input to achieve mission objectives. It is critical that we trust one another and understand that team safety and success it the top priority for all. Under this model each member has a specific role to play. The result is safe mission completion, team development, and individual development.
Crew Station/Facilities
Devil's Canyon is stationed in Worland WY. The crew office and workspace are housed at the Wind River Bighorn Basin District office. We have barracks facility located approximately a half mile from the district office available for our crew members. The barracks were built in 2021 and include individual rooms, communal living area, kitchen, and laundry machines.
Training
Crew and individual development are critical to the operation of the crew. We open each season with a two-week field trip in which we focus on team development and training. Throughout the year we seek out any opportunity to provide additional course training, and operational training assignments as able.
Daily Operations
We respond to incidents throughout the western U.S. and occasionally Alaska or other regions. As such environmental conditions vary greatly. Heat, cold, all sorts of precipitation, smoke, dust, and insects are all common. We will typically stay in the field as close to our work as possible. Usually sleeping on the ground, and subsisting on a combination of meals we prepare, MRE's, or food provided by incident logistics. Employment begins mid-May and runs until early October.
Job Announcements
Vacancies are posted on USAJobs.gov typically open mid-November through mid-December. Visit the BLM Fire Jobs Portal for additional information.
Crew-specific Hiring
When applying for positions in USA Jobs select duty location of Worland, WY.
Hiring or Outreach Events
Contact Superintendent
Grif Cochran
307-347-5258
gcochran@blm.gov
What does the crew do for physical fitness?
Physical fitness is critical to our safety and success in the field. We take physical fitness training seriously, and expect crew members to arrive at a high level of fitness. Our training program includes hiking, running, calisthenics, and stretching. We seek to build and maintain cardiovascular endurance, strength, and flexibility. The crew will PT together daily. Each crew member is expected to strive to achieve, and maintain crew standards in order to meet the operational demands of the job.
Crew History
Devil's Canyon Veterans Crew was founded in 2016 as part of an expansion of the BLM Vet Crew program. Since 2016 the crew has focused on providing job opportunities for military veterans, and developing the program to provide a highly productive and dependable crew both regionally and nationally.
Crew Contacts
Grif Cochran ( Superintendent)
cell 307-921-8356
office 307-347-5258
gcochran@blm.gov
