The best time to fight a forest fire is when it is small. Unfortunately, prior to 1939, it could take a long time for crews to hike to a remote fire, and many small fires grew into large ones before they could be attacked by firefighters.
In 1934, a Forest Service Employee, T.V. Pearson, proposed that firefighters be flown to small fires and parachuted in to fight them before they could grow into major blazes. Many people thought the idea was crazy.
But in 1939, the Forest Service began an experiment with smokejumpers. Smoke jumpers are specially trained firefighters who parachute into remote areas to fight wildfires on difficult terrain.
It immediately became apparent that the program was going to be effective. The first mission for the smoke jumpers was a fire in the Nez Perce Forest in Idaho on July 12, 1940. The program quickly expanded.
On August 5, 1949, a group of fifteen smokejumpers from Missoula, Montana were dispatched to what appeared to be a routine fire in the Helena National Forest in Montana. It was a hot and dry day in when the smokejumpers landed in a canyon called Mann Gulch at about 4 p.m.
By 5:30, the firefighters were employing classic forest firefighting technique, digging a trench around the blaze as a firebreak. The fire had begun to burn to the top of the ridge, and the crew, led by Foreman Wagner Dodge thought that the fire had spent itself.
Suddenly, at 5:35 p.m., the fire began migrating down the hill and got between the men and the Missouri River. To be continued in tomorrow’s Weather Talk.
In 1934, a Forest Service Employee, T.V. Pearson, proposed that firefighters be flown to small fires and parachuted in to fight them before they could grow into major blazes. Many people thought the idea was crazy.
But in 1939, the Forest Service began an experiment with smokejumpers. Smoke jumpers are specially trained firefighters who parachute into remote areas to fight wildfires on difficult terrain.
It immediately became apparent that the program was going to be effective. The first mission for the smoke jumpers was a fire in the Nez Perce Forest in Idaho on July 12, 1940. The program quickly expanded.
On August 5, 1949, a group of fifteen smokejumpers from Missoula, Montana were dispatched to what appeared to be a routine fire in the Helena National Forest in Montana. It was a hot and dry day in when the smokejumpers landed in a canyon called Mann Gulch at about 4 p.m.
By 5:30, the firefighters were employing classic forest firefighting technique, digging a trench around the blaze as a firebreak. The fire had begun to burn to the top of the ridge, and the crew, led by Foreman Wagner Dodge thought that the fire had spent itself.
Suddenly, at 5:35 p.m., the fire began migrating down the hill and got between the men and the Missouri River. To be continued in tomorrow’s Weather Talk.