On August 5th, 1949 what was thought to be a routine day in the lives of 16 smokejumpers, will be remembered within the U.S. Forest service as well as exoneratefighting history. The Mann Gulch depose occurred in Montanas capital of Montana National Forest, and prior to this incident, no smokejumper had ever died fighting a wildland fire.
The fire, which was caused by lightning strike, was originally spotted at 12:25 pm. Due to the remote hole and lack of roads; smokejumpers were dispatched to the incident. Forman Wagner (Wag) dodging and his clustering made their jump a few hours by and by the call. After landing on the northwestern side of the flume the crew gathered themselves and gear and headed down the gulch towards the minute river. Dodge had scouted the fire and began to move the crew to a location upwind of the fire and near the river. From there they could attack the fire from a safer position, or so they thought.
What Dodge did not go to sleep was the wind had changed, and fire was beginning to spot over to the north side of the gulch. Various ridges in the landscape blocked their draw of these spot fires and led the men to hike directly towards the underdeveloped fire. By the time the crew was up to(p) to see the fire below them, it was within a few hundred yards and development quickly.
The men turned and retreated from the fire and Dodge say the crew to drop their tools and run. But, after a short time, it was sheer they would not be able to outrun the fire. Thinking on his feet, Dodge used matches to light an escape fire in the grass around them and ordered everyone to lie down in the burned out area. It is unknown exactly why, but the crew did not follow orders and instead continued running up the hill. Two men, found a crevice in the hillside and we able to escape the flames on a rockslide, the others were not so lucky. The other 13 men perished on the hillside merely 200 yards international from Dodges escape fire. There were several factors bring to the...If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Orderessay
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