Young Men and Fire. Seventy years ago this week: August 5, 1949, the Mann Gulch fire.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

I just picked up a second paperback copy of Young Men and Fire from a Little Free Library on Saturday, so this has been on my mind.

Miss Montana flyover marks 70th anniversary of Mann Gulch tragedy #mtfires

Link to tweet

Mann Gulch fire



Investigators stand on the steep, now barren, north slope of Mann Gulch.

The Mann Gulch fire was a wildfire reported on August 5, 1949 in a gulch located along the upper Missouri River in the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness (then known as the Gates of the Mountains Wild Area), Helena National Forest, in the U.S. state of Montana. A team of 15 smokejumpers parachuted into the area on the afternoon of August 5, 1949 to fight the fire, rendezvousing with a former smokejumper who was employed as a fire guard at the nearby campground. As the team approached the fire to begin fighting it, unexpected high winds caused the fire to suddenly expand, cutting off the men's route and forcing them back uphill. During the next few minutes, a "blow-up" of the fire covered 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) in ten minutes, claiming the lives of 13 firefighters, including 12 of the smokejumpers. Only three of the smokejumpers survived. The fire would continue for five more days before being controlled.

The United States Forest Service drew lessons from the tragedy of the Mann Gulch fire by designing new training techniques and safety measures that developed how the agency approached wildfire suppression. The agency also increased emphasis on fire research and the science of fire behavior.

University of Chicago English professor and author Norman Maclean (1902–1990) researched the fire and its behavior for his book, Young Men and Fire (1992) which was published after his death. Maclean, who worked northwestern Montana in logging camps and for the forest service in his youth, recounted the events of the fire and ensuing tragedy and undertook a detailed investigation of the fire's causes. Young Men and Fire won the National Book Critics Circle Award for non-fiction in 1992. The 1952 film, Red Skies of Montana starring actor Richard Widmark and directed by Joseph M. Newman was loosely based on the events of the Mann Gulch fire.

The location of the Mann Gulch fire was included as a historical district on the United States National Register of Historic Places on May 19, 1999.
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Findings

Casualties
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The C-47/DC-3, registration number NC24320, was the only smokejumper plane available at Hale Field, near the current location of Sentinel High School, on August 5, 1949, when the call came in seeking 25 smokejumpers to fight a blaze in a hard-to-reach area of the Helena National Forest. The C-47/DC-3 could only hold 16 jumpers and their equipment. Even though more help was needed, fire bosses decided not to wait for a second plane, and instead sent No. NC24320 out on its own. NC24320 flew with Johnson Flying Service from Hale Field in Missoula, Montana and was used to drop Smokejumpers as well as for other operations for which Johnson Flying Service held contracts.

The C-47/DC-3 that carried the smokejumpers that day was later placed on exhibit in Missoula at the Museum of Mountain Flying. The aircraft was restored as a memorial to the Smokejumpers and the Fire Guard that lost their lives at Mann Gulch on August 5, 1949. It was made airworthy and flown to France in 2019 as part of the D-Day 75th anniversary commemorations with a flight to Normandy. On August 5th, 2019 The Miss Montana flew back over Mann Gulch on the 70th Anniversary of the fire and dropped wreaths for the 13 brave men lost.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Lessons learned from the Mann Gulch tragedy

Lessons learned from the Mann Gulch tragedy

TOM KUGLIN [e-mail] 58 min ago

The tragedy that unfolded on Aug. 5, 1949 in a remote gulch north of Helena stands as the smokejumpers’ deadliest day. ... Mann Gulch still sits today much like it did 70 years ago, isolated between the Missouri River and wildlands of the Big Belt Mountains. No roads provide motorized access. Trails from roads range from 7 to 18 miles by foot or horseback through a mix of steep canyons and ridgetops. And water travel means finding a boat to transport people and supplies.

In August of that year nearby fires at York and in Cave Gulch demanded nearly all the resources the local area could muster. So when the call came in for a small wildfire burning in the remote stretches of Mann Gulch, it is little wonder the request went to Missoula for the smokejumpers to respond.

Mann Gulch today
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The crew in 1949 made the jump successfully into Mann Gulch, assembled gear and began to make their way to the Missouri River with the plan to work back onto the fire. The river would give them an important escape if things turned bad. ... But before they could make the river, spot fires cut them off and shifting winds brought a racing inferno up the gulch. Crew foreman Wag Dodge ordered them to drop their gear and run. Only two, Robert Sallee and Walter Rumsey, would make the ridge to safety while Dodge succeeded in burning out a small area of grass and lying face down with his coat over his head as the fire burned around him.

Hike to the top
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Memorials lay scattered across the far hillside for the 12 smokejumpers -- Stanley Reba, Silas Thompson, Joseph Sylvia, Robert Bennett, Newton Thompson, Leonard Piper, Eldon Diettert, Marvin Sherman, David Navon, Philip McVey, Henry Thol and William Hellman -- along with Meriwether guard James Harrison, a former smokejumper who came to assist.

While the loss of life rocked the Forest Service, the tragedy brought important changes to the way fires are fought and studied, Avey said. ... The crew worked together little before their jump into Mann Gulch, Avey said. Training now focuses heavily on crew cohesion, leadership and communication when on a wildfire. ... Dodge’s use of a burnout fire, while it must have seemed radical at the time, especially to the crew who continued to run despite his pleas to join him, is now fundamental to training, he said. Firefighters learn early on the phrase “one foot in the black,” giving them a critical escape path into already burned areas.
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Reporter Tom Kuglin can be reached at 447-4076 @IR_TomKuglin

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. There's a video of the Miss Montana flyover in this thread:

Beloved vintage DC-3, the Miss Montana, to fly to the Bahamas carrying donations.

That is fascinating!

What a colorful history the DC-3 has. From WWII to wild land fire fighting. Miss Montana flew spoke jumpers into Mann Gulch 70 years ago. 13 of those fire fighters died on that fateful mission. She flew over Mann Gulch on the anniversary of that mission and dropped 13 wreaths on the site.