Hundreds of men volunteered for smoke jumping , showing their willingness to take great personal risks . When fire was detected by a lookout , smoke jumpers was flown directly to the site and dropped by parachute to quickly contain and extinguish the fire . From base camps scattered through the forests of Montana , Idaho and Oregon , the men was flown as many as 200 miles to fire sites , carrying firefighting tools and a two @-@ day supply of K @-@ rations . For larger fires , additional men , supplies and food was airdropped to expand the effort . Up to 240 CPS men served in this specialized program . One of the smokejumping schools was at Camp Paxson in Montana .