COLORADO—Aug. 18, 2013, is etched into Boxelder Job Corps hand crew Captain Kevin Argueta Ayala’s memory. On that day he knew he was destined to be a professional wildland firefighter. He was a student at Boxelder Job Corps Center and a newly qualified type 2 firefighter. He was out on his first 14-day fire assignment as a “filler” with the Black Hills National Forest Northern Hills Ranger District North Zone crew 8 on a fire in the high deserts of Idaho.

After a day of crosscutting logs to clear trails, his crew hiked back, and he had his first taste of the thrill and camaraderie of a fire camp. Informed of a rain forecast of 5%, he set up his tent and bunked down for the night. After a night spent battling strong wings, hail, snow and an overturned tent, he rose in the morning only to encounter the gaze of a fellow firefighter, wrapped in a sodden, snow-covered sleeping bag to protect him from the elements. “We locked eyes and he smiled and said, ‘That’s some 5% chance of rain we had last night, wasn’t it,’” said Ayala. “I was so hungry at that point. But I was in a tent and dry and I figured if he was still smiling after probably no sleep, I needed to change my attitude and just enjoy the moment.”

Like many before him, Ayala became addicted to the life of fighting wildland fire. Now, at age 27, he’s paying it forward to a new generation of students, exemplifying the compassion, work ethic, self-discipline and team management skills that he observed in his own Job Corps firefighting instructors.

Growing up in San Pedro Usulután, El Salvador, with few career options, firefighting is not a career Ayala envisioned for himself. He wanted to teach math, but his financial circumstances did not allow him to pursue his interest. “I grew up with very little. I worked and attended school at the same time,” said Ayala. “My plan was to become a rancher because I grew up working the land harvesting beans, cotton, coffee beans and all types of fruit.” Ayala did have a deep appreciation for nature and cultural conservation and hoped one day to be in a place where he could help protect natural areas and archeological sites.

However, Ayala’s mother Maria Christensen did have a vision for her son’s life—one shaped by an education that opened up career opportunities. She left him under the care of her parents, obtained a U.S. work permit, and moved to the United states in 1999 to forge a better life for her family. Because her work permit would be invalidated if she left the country to visit, it wasn’t until he could legally immigrate at 17 that Ayala saw his mother again. He arrived in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 2011 to join his mother—seeing and touching her for the first time in nearly 12 years.

Learning English was challenging. He had earned a high school diploma in El Salvador, but decided he wanted a diploma from an American school and figured that Job Corps was the fastest track to one. Kevin enrolled at Boxelder Job Corps in July 2012 and it was there he caught the fire bug. He graduated as a journeyman electrician in October 2013 and immediately enrolled in Schenck Job Corps Wildland Management Fire Program, where he graduated in April 2014.

Ayala worked as a GS-3 seasonal on the Bearlodge Ranger District, Black Hills National Forest, for a year but, because he was not a citizen, he was ineligible for a career federal position. For the next three years he worked for the state of South Dakota’s Bear Mountain Hand Crew before moving to the Lone Peak Interagency Hot Shot Crew in Utah. With citizenship papers in hand, Ayala finally landed back on the Black Hills National Forest in 2019 working as a forestry technician squad leader before his promotion to captain in March 2021.

It’s a great feeling for Ayala to now teach at the place where he was once a student. “Training the students is a rewarding thing and I connect with the students very well on all levels,” said Ayala. “It can be stressful, but I have the skills as a leader to maintain a professional working relationship with my students as a friend, a leader and a supervisor.”

As a Boxelder graduate, Ayala knows he has the support of center leadership and his mentor, Assistant Fire Management Officer Robert Cota, who is on hand for advice. “My life in the U.S. has been impacted tremendously by Mr. Cota,” said Ayala. “I could tell immediately that he was someone I should listen to because of the passion and respect he has for his job and I was right—he provided me the opportunity of a lifetime.”

The Boxelder Job Corps Crew 15 recently deployed to its first fire since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is staffed with Job Corps graduates who serve as crew leadership as well as current Job Corps students. Ayala is now acting as a catalyst to his team in the same way that Cota was for him.

“The world is populated by unsung heroes like Assistant Fire Management Officer Robert Cota and Crew Captain Kevin Argueta Ayala. They never receive the recognition they deserve,” said Boxelder Crew 15 lead firefighter and Job Corps graduate Simon Austin. “They silently make the world go round—not out of expectation for compensation or fame, but out of a steadfast dedication, passion, and commitment for what they do and for the greater good of the world.”

Ayala thinks he has a pretty sweet job. He’s fulfilled his dream of helping protect nature, has a good time doing it, and as a bonus, he gets paid. He wants to continue his work with the Job Corps fire program for the foreseeable future, helping it develop into an even more mature program.

“I want to expand my knowledge and skills as a fire line leader and supervisor,” he said. “I’d like to qualify as a task force leader, Incident Commander 4, and further up the line and become even better placed to support the fire programs at Forest Service Civilian Conservation Centers. For now, Ayala is happy in the place he’s found himself—a place he can call home. He lives his life by a similar sentiment: “Don’t live life somewhere other than today.”