As you know, many of the Federal Wildland Firefighter workforce is seasonal. Most of a Hotshot crew is seasonal as well. Last year our guys made over 1000 hours overtime in a 6 month fire season. There is only 1040 regular hours in a 6 month season (40 hour week).
That pays for a lot of semester hours. He's doing the smart thing. The money is good but every single older career hotshot I know has, or is needing, a knee surgery or has bulging discs. And, let's not even talk about the cancer from sucking in smoke for years. We've had too many cases recently in the past couple years.
For some, the excitement and adrenaline is too great to stop doing it though. The views are amazing and I get to see some of the most beautiful country. Last June we flew in to near the top of a mountain next to Mt. Whitney and spent 10 days working a fire right at the snow line.
I did some ride along's with a city (structural) department when I got out of the military and was pursuing my Fire Science associates. What a drag! Medical aides galore! No fires. Going into Wildland Fire was the only option after experiencing that.
