August 5th marks the 75th anniversary of the Mann Gulch fire, which shifted the way fires are fought to this day. The Montana Discovery Foundation will host a series of events in remembrance.
The Mann Gulch fire in 1949 started on the Helena National Forest. The fire is estimated to have grown to 3,000 acres in about ten minutes. Only three of the fifteen smokejumpers that dropped into the fire survived.
The fire changed how the Forest Service thinks about wildfire management and how firefighters work on the ground.
Chiara Cipriano is the Public Affairs Officer at Helena Lewis and Clark National Forest.
“Things like the 10 standard firefighting orders were created. And this is, you know, on a pocket guide that firefighters carry around with them in the field,” said Cipriano.
The Forest Service has continued that work with several fire science labs to study all things wildfire and inform best firefighting practices.
There will be a commemorative evening for the Mann Gulch fire on the north lawn of the Montana State Capitol Building from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday. Weather permitting, the plane used to drop the 15 smokejumpers into Mann Gulch named Miss Montana, will fly over the Capitol.
The Montana Discovery Foundation will be holding events in remembrance from Saturday the 3rd, to Monday the 5th.
