Afton
Nelson County, Virginia
By Jennie T. Williams

Lots of time, because of space, we just can’t do justice to the pictures we get. We have thousands that never make the pages, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t great, to the contrary! Our story on Marina Childs of Afton is one of those very stories! Writer, Jennie Williams tells you all about Marina in the story. Photographer, Hayley Osborne, shows you more pictures here. Just scroll for down!

Above, Marina Childs in our April 2011 issue.

Last October, Marina Childs skipped classes for an entire week. The Virginia Tech senior wasn’t playing hookie, though. And she didn’t spend the week on the beach somewhere improving her tan. But she did get pretty hot.
Marina, an Afton native, spent 12 to 14 hours each day that week out in woods near her Montgomery County house fighting fires.
Yes. Fighting fires.

Marina is the only female firefighter on the Pulaski County Wildland Fire Crew, and has been since this fall after she spent the summer learning about what it takes to fight wildfires and getting all her testing and accreditation out of the way.
“It was fun, I loved it,” said the wildlife major who will graduate this May. “It’s hard work, but I got a little taste for it and now I love and I wanna do it all the time.”

And, as of mid-March, Marina already has at least one job offer to make that dream a reality. She’s looking for jobs out west where the fires are bigger and the season is longer. She plans to work seasonally in a full-time position in the western United States during that fire season which lasts from May through October or November. Then, her ideal would be to come back to Virginia to work with the Pulaski County crew during our own fire season, which comes in two parts (October through November and mid-February through May).
“It’s exciting for me. It’s a very physically demanding job,” said Marina, who exercises a lot to prepare for what she’ll need to be able to do to keep up with her primarily male counterparts. “It’s not going to be an easy job, but from being on the fires here, I think it’ll be really excited.

Marina said she’s a little nervous to go out west and have a “real job,” but she’s also looking forward to it very much. Her parents kind of feel the same way.
“I think it makes my mom a little nervous,” Marina admitted. “Not only is she sending her baby thousands of miles away, I think it’s kind of hard for [my parents] to understand what we’re doing – it’s kind of hard to visualize unless you’ve been there.”
Marina explains to them – and others – that the more you know about the job, the less dangerous it is. She hopes to work in wildfire fighting for a few years (and then maybe eventually become a Hot Shot – someone who fights the hottest parts of the fires) before looking back toward a more traditional job with fish and wildlife services.

Most professionals are only in the heat for 5 to 10 years. “The people that are doing this full-time, that’s all they do. They live and breathe and eat fire. It’s a year-round job even though there aren’t fires every day. It’s definitely something you have to prepare for.”

Good luck out in Montana Marina!