I'm a volunteer firefighter, and at a recent drill a spokes person from the division of wild life safety came in to talk to my department about forest fires since this is the time of year we tend to get them. Anyways, he showed us a whole power point presentation that included several clips of aerial firefighters. I just recently attained a private pilot license, and am wasting no time trying to get the commercial and instrument ratings.

I asked him about what it takes to get hired to fly, because they apparently have a full time crew. He said you need 1,000 hours because you need a commercial rating and no one can get a commercial rating with less then 1,000 hours. I didn't want to call the guy an idiot for saying that, but obviously he was a little clueless as to what he was saying. And of course you need a commercial rating, any time your going to be paid you need one.

Has anyone ever experienced this line of work or know what kind of experience it takes to land that job? Thanks