AUGUST 5 IS THE ANNIVERSARY of the Mann Gulch Fire in 1949 near Helena, Montana. On that fateful day, temperatures were in the high 90s. From the fuselage side-door of a Douglas DC-3/C-47 aircraft, 15 smokejumpers fell from the sky and landed in the wilds of the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness. Their day was over in less than two hours — their boots hit the ground just after 4 p.m. and they perished before 6 p.m. It has been estimated that 3,000 acres burned in 10 minutes during its “blow-up” stage, with the fire eventually burning 4,500 acres across ...
