It is argued that smokejumper operations are expensive to maintain and not always
necessary. The cost of putting airplanes and helicopters in the sky for working on small fires that
could potentially burn themselves out naturally is a concern. However, forest fire personnel
believe it is a risk worth taking. They use both airplanes and helicopters to employ
smokejumpers. The two methods are different in that airplanes are able to search wide areas from
their high viewpoint in the sky, while helicopters hover over a specific area and allow
smokejumpers to “fast rope” to the ground quickly and with great precision. Both airplanes and
helicopters are able to drop smokejumpers in areas that would be impossible to reach with trucks
or on foot. Advocates of smokejumping believe that, due to their ability to make an aggressive
frontline attack on fires in remote areas, smokejumpers are the most effective wildland
firefighting method employed in the U.S. today.