[ Music ] >> August 5, 1949. It's a broiling hot day across Montana. The thermometer in Helena reached 97 degrees but it's even hotter in Mann Gulch, a funnel-shaped canyon that adjoins the Missouri river 20 miles north of Helena. It's been a busy fire season and the young smokejumper program is getting a good test; 1949 is the 9th year young men in prime physical condition have risked life and limb to attack wildfires in the national forests of Montana. The program has been remarkably successful. The smokejumpers have proven the value of quickly getting to remote road-less areas to attack fires in the early stages. In the afternoon of August 5th, a fire is reported on the south ridge of Mann Gulch and 16 smokejumpers take off from Missoula and fly 120 miles east to the jump site. One smokejumper becomes ill on the bumpy flight and remains on the airplane. The remaining 15 jumpers hook onto the jump line and hurl themselves into the wrath of nature. [ Music ] >> This is where the whole story begins, right here at the jump spot. At about 3:10 p.m., the airplane arrives over the fire area. Earl Cooley, the spotter, informant Wag Dodge are in the door of the DC-3 scanning the area for a suitable jump spot. This is the spot they decide on jumping into. They circle. They drop a drift streamer. It drifts about a quarter mile down the canyon. It carried the jumpers a quarter mile into the wind and have them exit the airplane. At 3:30, Wag Dodge followed by three jumpers take off out of the airplane and land here. Three more passes and the rest of the 15 jumpers are on the ground. They assemble their parachutes and their jump gear right here. The next step is to gather the cargo. Since the winds are so turbulent in the canyon, it's impossible for the airplane to drop down low and accurately drop the cargo in a concentrated area, so they have to drop from a high altitude. The cargo is scattered down the canyon about a quarter mile from here. [ Music ] Well now it's about 4:00 o'clock and the jumpers and all the cargo are on the ground. Since the airplane had to drop the cargo at a high altitude, it's fairly scattered throughout the bottom of the Gulch. The foreman tells his men to gather up all the cargo and put it in this area right here. He, in the mean time, is planning to take off and head over toward the fire because he's heard someone yelling. The rest of the crew takes about 45 minutes to gather all the cargo up and then they grab a bite to eat, fill their canteens, and then each man grabs double tools, Pulaski shovel. Two of the men grab saws and then after about 20 minutes, they, too, head this way toward the fire. [ Music ] Once Foreman Dodge left the cargo assembly point, he headed up to the fire. He arrived at the fire's edge at about 5:00 o'clock and found James Harrison. James is a wilderness guard on the Helena National Forest and he'd been working on the fire for several hours by himself. Dodge didn't like what he saw up there, so he and Harrison headed out back down toward the cargo assembly point. It was there they picked up a little bit of food and water and continued to chase the crew down the canyon where it took them about 20 minutes. Finally when they caught up with the crew, Dodge ordered Bill Hellman, squad leader, to the back of the line and Dodge took over the lead. When they got to this point, Foreman Dodge could see that the fire had now jumped from the top of the ridge from the Meriwether side of the canyon to the north slope of Mann Gulch, so the fire was now burning at both sides of the Gulch at the crew. Dodge realized he had to turn his men around and move quickly up toward the ridge top and get out of here. At some point, and there are some speculation here, some say maybe 500 yards, some say as little as 200 yards, the foreman ordered his men to drop all their heavy tools. About half the men did and half the men didn't. From that point, the men had to race for their lives. [ Music ] Now we're at the crossroads between life and death. This is the point where Dodge started his escape fire. After leaving the drop tool point and traveling at top speed, the men reached this point and Dodge turned to look down the canyon. Below him he could see the fire was moving very fast, catching up with them, leaving them about a minute before they would overtake him. So Dodge calmly reaches into pocket, pulls out matches and starts lighting the grass on the hillside above him on fire. The men are confused by this. They don't know what he is trying to accomplish. He's putting fire above the men on the hill when below them they have fire, more fire than they can deal with. Dodge then stands up and motions to the men, follow me men, in here boys, follow me, but the men are confused amid the heat, the smoke, and the flame and they continue on. One of the men was overheard saying, "To hell with that, I'm getting out of here." Dodge finally has to give up his plea to get the men into the escape fire and he walks into the burn area. He wets a handkerchief, covers his face, and lays down and waits for the flames to move up onto his area. The rest of the men head up the hill. Only two outrun the fire. Dodge stood up about ten minutes later and started looking for his men. [ Music ] After running up the right flank of Dodge's escape fire, Rumsey and Sallee, followed closely by Eldon Diettert, reached the top of the ridge and it's there they find a very small opening along this ridgeline and they sneak though just in the nick of time. Eldon Diettert, for some reason, continues on and chooses not to go through the opening. Sallee and Rumsey run down the hill to a scree slope and it's in this rockslide that they take refuge as the fire comes at them from both below and the top. They move across the rockslide avoiding the heat and once the flames battle down, they stand up and start up back up for the ridge top. [ Music ] >> The Mann Gulch fire was a harsh wake-up call for just how unpredictable fire can be. The conditions in Mann Gulch changed quickly and resulted in 16 firefighters racing a fire up a brutally steep slope, a race 13 men would lose. The unusual fire behavior in Mann Gulch created a new interest in fire research and the field of fire science was born. Out of this, two forest service fire sciences laboratories were created, one of which is located in Missoula, Montana. Along with research came technology that has produced better tools for firefighters such as fire shelters, fire-resistant clothing, and better communications equipment, but most important is the need to understand the various elements that drive a wildfire. From this knowledge, we can better understand that nature is not always as predictable as we would like, but if we use our past experiences and combine it with research knowledge, we can at least be better prepared for the new challenges that wildfire will create next; however, the ultimate legacy of Mann Gulch is the loss of the young men who fell here. Because they died so young, they had little time to experience life. That is why it is so important that they be remembered. [ Music ] >> And as we move into the next millennium, it's time to rededicate ourselves to the memory of these fine young men and the lesson their deaths taught us, that wildfires are and always will be dangerous and we must respect its potential to put a firefighter in harm's way and that life is precious and for some very short. And now please join me in a moment of silence in memory of those 13 young men who lost their lives in Mann Gulch: Robert J. Bennet, Eldon E. Diettert, James O. Harrison, William J. Hellman, Philip R. McVeya, David R. Navon, Leonard L. Piper, Stanley J. Reba, Marvin L. Sherman, Joseph B. Sylvia, Henry J. Thol, Jr., Newton R. Thompson, and Silas R. Thompson. [ Music ]