The Best (and Worst) Boots for Wildland Firefighting
Firefighters kicking up their boots on a travel day home
Boots are a hot topic.
Many discussions and debates happen on the fireline about logger style vs mountaineering style and which brand makes the best in terms of quality and longevity. I've tried multiple brands over the years and some have been great and some have been awful. There's lots of great options. It all comes down to personal preference, so read reviews, try some on in stores if you can, and break them in before you start work.
What to look for in a boot
A lot of boots feature a lug sole and heel. The heel lessens foot and lower-leg strain when hiking in steep terrain, but many boot brands are coming out with mountaineer-style, flat-soled boots or lower stacked heels that also meet NFPA standards. It’s personal preference which style you like better. Mountaineer-style boots tend to be lighter than traditional logger-style lug soled boots, but don’t hike as well in steep and varied terrain.
Make sure it says it meets protective clothing and equipment for wildland firefighting in accordance with NFPA 1977. This means that it fits the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) guidelines on what is acceptable on the fireline:
“Personnel assigned to wildland fires must wear a minimum of 8-inch high (measured from the bottom of the heel to the top of the boot), lace-type exterior leather work boots with Vibram-type, melt-resistant soles.”
If you buy from an established wildland boot brand this is a given, but if you are looking at brands that also make general work boots, this is what defines it as fire-specific in terms of standing up to heat and abuse. Steel toe boots are not fireline approved.
NOTE: Firefighters are starting to wear boots made for long distance hunting or backpacking that aren’t NFPA 1977 certified. I include a few of these boots in my recommended brand section because they are so popular with firefighters. They are generally very comfortable and great for hiking with weight, but keep in mind they aren’t rated to hold up in intense or sustained heat.
This means the soles might delaminate or warp more easily. I’ve also read reviews that the boot manufactures won’t always honor warranties because the boots are being used for firefighting, not the intended purpose they were advertised for. I own a pair and love them, but for real deal firefighting I will always choose my logger-style boots.
Price
Prices will range from $250-$750+ depending on brand, if it’s custom-made, and if it’s rebuildable. Stitching around the bottom edge of the sole to keep the upper attached to the sole and/or screws going up from the sole into the boot are signs that it’s not just glued together.
NOTE: Every three years (if you work on a federal wildland crew), you get a $500 boot stipend. It’s a reimbursement on your paycheck, and there are lots of little rules about receipts, when you can buy them, and what all the stipend covers, so make sure and talk to your supervisor when you’re starting your first fire job so that you follow the rules and get reimbursed.
Try on and test them out
As you’re trying them on in store, wear the socks you’ll be working in, go outside, jump off things, walk up and down inclines, move side to side up and down stairs, etc to feel where they may rub and give you blisters. All boots have a break in period, but some will feel better than others out of the box.
Try lacing them tighter or looser on the foot and ankle to see what feels the best and gives you the most ankle support. Everyone’s feet are different and you may to have to lace one boot differently from the other. My right boot and my left look different when laced, it took lots of trail and error, but they were so much more comfortable once I figured out what works for me.
My old lacing set up. Looks weird, feels better skipping the eyelets over my instep, but I got lots of ash and embers in the wide part
How to break in your new boots
WEAR THEM! A LOT. Around the house, out and about, and then work up to hiking in them over varied terrain. This will break them in gently and mold them to your feet. It will also let you know what areas pose problems in terms of hot spots so you know before you have to hike long distances in them. I use duct tape on areas of my feet that get hot spots and that works for me to prevent blisters. Moleskin always rolls up and falls off in my experience, but it works for other people.
What I wear
JK BOOTS
My current JK Boots. They are comfortable and my daily driver, but not exactly what I ordered
I’ve had two pairs of custom JK Boots. My first pair were custom 10” full smooth Fire Inlander boots with Vibram soles, brass hardware, standard 4” heel lift and regular lace pattern (not lace to toe) I bought in 2019.
The quality and comfort were the best I’d found in a logger style boot. They were easy to break in and the leather was super soft and molded to my foot and leg.
Other boots I’d worn eventually curled up into elf shoes and got hard and crusty (and nearly impossible to shove your foot into in the morning) if the leather got wet and then dried out quickly. These are conditions that happen all the time on the fireline especially during mop up or digging hotline, so I was really happy with the quality of the leather and how they held up to abuse.
The custom build process was pretty easy. I traced my feet and took measurements per their instructions. JK Boots are made in the USA and their custom, rebuildable wildland boots go for $750+, and non-custom boots are $599.
Because of how I had to lace them to prevent boot bite on the top of my insteps, they would catch hot ash and embers easily and I had several holes burned in them that I sewed shut, shoe glued and duct taped. Eventually the holes would open up again and I’d get dirt and debris in my boots by the end of a fire shift. So I was excited to get a new custom pair when my next boot stipend came up.
Unfortunately, my second pair of custom Fire Inlanders didn’t meet my expectations. I wanted to correct the ash collection issue and get them to lace tighter across the top of my foot, so I went to Boise, Idaho, to get fit by one of their representatives in February 2024. In May I received a pair that were huge and after speaking to customer service, I found out that despite paying $750 for custom boots including an extra $100 for custom uppers, the representative in Boise didn’t send in my custom fit sheet, instead he equated my foot to a standard size JK Boots made to fill my order.
After a lot of back and forth with customer service (a 30+ email saga if anyone ever wants the nitty gritty) I finally received my still not quite right boots in late July. I kept them because my old boots were literally being held together with duct tape and I was tired of dealing with the whole situation.
After more than a full year of fighting fire in them they’ve seen a lot of steep miles. They’re supportive and the leather still seems like high quality, but they are slightly too big in the toe box and give me weird hot spots I didn’t have previously and I still have the same boot bite and lacing issues I did with my first pair.
If you can get boots that fit you I think JK Boots are high quality, but I can’t necessarily recommend them anymore because of my personal experience and five other people I know had the same issue in 2024 where they ordered custom boots that didn’t fit, sent them back, and eventually received an ok pair after 4-6 months. Also as of 2025 they no longer make all women’s sizes. The smallest size they make custom or otherwise is a men’s 5.5 (women’s 7.5) which is too big for me.
My first pair of JK Boots. They were very comfortable and held up well until the wide spots caught too many embers and I had to hold them together with duct tape.
ZAMBERLAN
I searched for a mountaineer-style boot I could wear around the station and for off-season prescribed burning where I was hiking around in the mud and snow. It was REALLY hard to find a women’s boot that were tall enough. There’s tons of rad mountaineer style leather boots for guys in the 8-10 inch tall range, but very few for women.
I’m really happy with my women-secific Outfitter GTX ($490). They are insulated, super comfortable, 9” tall and true to size. They’ve held up well after a year scouting/burning in sloppy, unpredictable spring and fall conditions. I don’t think the glued-on rubber toe cap will survive heavy use and heat so I won’t be using them during peak fire season, but they have their place in my boot rotation.
The wildland specific Extinguisher II have mixed reviews and are a mash-up style of logger/mountaineer, but are well priced at $400. Reviewers say it’s comfortable out of the box, but not well suited to side hilling or bouldery terrain. One of my coworkers wears men’s Outfitter hunting boots which also cost $490, and likes them a lot for comfort and general firefighting, but they started to delaminate around the toe cap while working in hot fireline conditions.
Brands I have worn and recommend
NICK’S BOOTS
Nick’s Boots are a long standing, go to custom boot company. They offer a killer deal for Red Carded (the official card that lets you work on a fireline) firefighters for semi-custom, rebuildable men’s and women’s sized boots for $520 (a true deal considering custom fire boots will set you back $700+ nowadays).
My fifth season in 2016 I qualified for another government boot stipend so I splurged and got a pair of custom Nick’s HotShots. The custom fitting process was easy to do. You stand on a paper guide and trace your feet and then you measure different parts of your foot. This is how I found out one of my feet is bigger around in the instep than the other. I finally understood why it was so much more comfortable for me to tie my left boot laces in different pattens than my right foot.
However, my boots were rough to break-in. I had some hot spots that wouldn’t go away for a few weeks, and they are bigger overall than my White’s Explorers were. I found myself tripping and bumping my feet on things a lot in the beginning because of the size difference. After they broke in and I got used to their size, they’ve were awesome. I used them for four seasons and was happy overall with the quality.
My Nick’s Hot Shot Contenders (They were overdue for some boot oil and TLC)
WHITE’S BOOTS
White’s Boots are well-liked and a classic choice for many reasons, but many coworker say the quality has gone down since they started outsourcing overseas. Heaps of wildland firefighters use these and they should last a few seasons. They cost $430-725+ depending on the website and build out. All of White’s boots are rebuildable, so you can have new soles put on and keep your boots going for years.
White’s Fire Hybrid boot that is supposed to be easier to break in, be more comfortable with its padded collar and handle any type of terrain. The boots have generally good reviews and are $625.
My second season in 2013 I bought a pair of White’s Hathorn Explorer women-specific boots that I randomly found on sale at a ranch supply store in Montana. They lasted me three seasons and held up pretty well. Over time, the leather dried out (despite trying my best to keep them oiled and cared for) and became really stiff and warped. The soles got really packed down inside from molding to my feet and the lug soles were pretty worn down. I used them as my back up pair that I kept in my volunteer fire locker for when I went on wildfire calls with my station until I moved states in 2019 and threw them out.
White’s Hathorn/Explorer lines are on the cheaper end of wildfire boots (I found them online for around $430+ depending on the website), but overall they held up well enough for a boot that isn’t custom. They are rebuildable, but I didn’t I want to invest in a new sole for them.
CRISPI
I had Crispi’s women's Skarven II hunting boot because there were heaps of great reviews of them preforming well hiking over long distances with weight and I found them for $320 on sale ($370 regular price). They are definitely not NFPA rated, but they are acceptable because they are leather (with a little Gore-Tex), exactly 8 inches, and have a Vibram sole. They are also a little insulated. I sold them after two seasons of light use because they were barely 8” at the heel and dipped lower in the front and I wanted a pair that was taller. They were great boots objectively and very comfortable, but they weren’t quite what I was looking for.
Crispi has a fire specific NFPA rated Anchor-Point boot for $440 and plenty of other well-reviewed men’s and women’s boots non-NFPA rated hunting style insulated and non-insulated boots from $350-510.
Other brands
FRANK’S BOOTS
Frank’s Boots are another made in the USA custom boot company. They offer a huge variety of customization options for fire boots from $380 to $630 as well as multiple handmade in stock wildland fire logger style boots (Fire Commander $599, Type 1 Commander $590, and Ground Pounder $575). The $380 Patriot series offering a “tough boot at great value” is a steal for high quality, handmade boots. Their custom boots come highly recommended by other fire friends and they are my next pick for custom boots when I get another boot stipend because of how deeply customized you can get.
DREW’S BOOTS
Drew’s has been making work boots since 1918. They make a variety of classic logger-style wildland boots that are rebuildable as well as a Fire Hiker for $449 that’s made in Italy and more of a mountaineering style. Boots are priced from $399 to $650 so there are lots of options and it’s rare to find good quality under $500 these days. Plenty of fire friends have worn and recommended them and they make women’s specific boots down to a size 5.
SCARPA
The Fuegos were one of the first mountaineering-style wildland fire boots to come out that I know of. People loved them when they came on the scene because they are lightweight and less clunky than logger-style boots. They cost $440 and they aren’t rebuildable so you may be buying more pairs of boots overall if you stay in fire.
One issue I’ve seen in the past is that the soles are glued so they can easily detach from the upper if you’re working in a really hot area. Scarpa has since improved the boots and they are supposed to hold up longer than the original version by being rated to temperatures around 500 degrees F and be better quality overall.
LA SPORTIVA
The Glacier is also a moutaineering-style boot. It meets NFPA 1977 standards, but has issues with the glued soles delaminating so it’s billed as a project work, fire clean up, and hiking boot, but not a fireline boot since it preforms poorly in high heat situations. Reviews also say they don’t last more than a season. They cost $230-350 depending on the website.
HAIX
The Missoula boots are similar to the Scarpa Fuegos in look and that they are lighter than traditional logger-style boots. They are one of the least expensive boots at $395 (and are frequently on sale for less). A common complaint about this style boot is that the eyelets break easily and they are really hot and don’t breathe well, but HAIX claims on their website that these are more breathable than comparable wildland mountaineering-style boots. I’ve heard very mixed reviews on these unfortunately.
DANNER
This brand has made work boots for decades and have branched out into wildland fire boots recently, notably their Tactical Firefighter. It looks like a mash-up between a classic logger and mountaineering-style boot and costs $400, which is also on the less expensive side. They also make a traditional logger style, the Flashpoint II which costs $460.
KENNETREK
The Wildland Fire is a tall leather mountaineering/ hunting style boot similar to the Zamberlan boots. They are advertised as super comfortable and durable in brutal conditions and generally have great reviews. These meet NFPA 1977 standards and they have Kelvar stitching and laces and are a reasonable $455.
This list is by no means exhaustive. New brands and products are always coming on the market and quality can vary year to year.
The brand that didn’t work for me
My first season I bought a pair of Georgia’s. They barely lasted three months. They are one of the cheapest pairs of boots you can get (mine were $140 back in 2012). By the third month the soles were peeling away from the uppers and I had to repair them with lots of tiny screws and shoe glue to keep them going through fire season. My last day, I promptly threw them away.
I’ve heard similar stories with Red Wing boots. They hold up for a season or two if you’re not hiking much. It’s up to you if you want to invest the money in good boots that will last lots of fire seasons or if you’re not sure you’ll want to do fire for more than a season you can gamble on a lesser quality work boot.
One last thing! How to take care of your boots
Get a boot oil that you don’t mind getting down and dirty with. There are tons of options, but this is my favorite because it’s not tacky when it dries and soaks in really well. It’s not a fun or clean process, but it’s the best way I’ve found to keep my boot leather in good shape by conditioning and sealing it throughout fire season. I wait until they’ve dried out if they are wet or have mud on them and then use an old toothbrush to brush all the dried crud off and then I use the applicator to paint on the oil. If you’re using a more common boot conditioner use a rag to rub the boot grease in. Make sure to get every bit of leather, around the eyelets, and down the tongue. If I’m being honest, I don’t do this as much as I should, but once a month or whenever they are looking really dried out is a good standard. Some people do it after every two-week roll.
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