‘Risen from the ashes’: Helena remembers Mann Gulch fire tragedy 75 years later

Her dad could never talk about it. Her grandparents were inconsolable. She wasn’t told what had happened to him, but with years of his picture hung on the bookshelf, she pieced it together.

Her uncle, Henry J. Thol Jr., was one of 13 firefighters who died in the Mann Gulch fire.

He was a 19-year-old smokejumper who had graduated from Flathead High School in Kalispell a year prior. He was to start a university education just a month after he died.

He mattered so much to her family, LaFerriere said. Now, 75 years later, she was close to tears thinking about him mattering to strangers, too.

“I wish my grandparents were here to see this,” she said.

Monday marked the 75th anniversary of the Mann Gulch fire, one of the most impactful tragedies in modern firefighting.

Nearly 200 people attended a memorial ceremony on front yard of the state Capitol, including 80 members of the victims’ families and dozens of current firefighters. Five speakers, a musical performance and two moments of silence marked the occasion.

“Mann Gulch has not faded into obscurity, but has risen from the ashes to become a cultural legacy for the wildland fire community, Montana and the nation,” speaker John Maclean, son of writer Norman Maclean, said.

The incident itself happened Aug. 5, 1949.

Twelve responding smokejumpers and one Forest Service employee died in a massive fire “blow up,” transforming a simple fire on rocky terrain north of Helena into a sweeping burn that trapped the firefighters on a hill.

At its fastest, the fire may have spread 5 acres per second.

Only three survived: crew foreman R. Wagner “Wag” Dodge, who created an escape fire to hide in the already-burnt grass, and Walter B. Rumsey and Robert W. Sallee, who clung to a crevice in the rocky walls.

It was a horrifying shake to firefighters across the United States, Kathy Bushnell, a district U.S. Forest Service ranger, said at the Monday memorial.

Part of the 13 firemen’s legacy is the change that followed their loss, she said.

Smokejumping and firefighting as a whole was still an evolving art. Experts nationwide pushed to better understand the science and safety of fire.

Missoula’s Fire Science Laboratory was opened 11 years after Mann Gulch. The Ten Standard Firefighting Orders, which include looking for escape routes and knowing the weather of the area, were integrated into fire training.

Updated equipment became a higher priority, and the fire blanket and escape fires — the same technique that Dodge used to save himself — were among a wave of safety innovations created for firefighters.

They’re steps in the right direction, National Smokejumper Association President Mike Bina said, but they aren’t the end.

The 13 who died were more than losses from a fire, he stressed. They were pranksters, husbands, WWII veterans and friends. Some were planning to go to college, and some had families to feed.

Action didn’t happen fast enough after their deaths, multiple speakers said, and other firefighters have since died. A 1994 fire in South Canyon, Colorado, killed 14. A moment of silence was held for the pilot who died fighting the Horse Gulch fire in July.

Their legacy lives on in education and action, Jeff Marsolais, Associate Deputy Chief of the USDA Forest Service, said.

The memorial was closed with a performance of “Cold Missouri Waters” by James Keelaghan, who describes the events of Mann Gulch in song. Thirteen wreaths were presented, representing the 13 dead.

It was powerful, attendee Brian Hart said. He’d read Norman Maclean’s book “Young Men and Fire” describing Mann Gulch in 2022, and became a firefighter in March. He drove from Washington to see the event.

“The book describes young men facing hard things,” he said. “I want to have the bravery they did.”

Another attendee, Al Nixon, found himself fighting tears as he read the descriptions of the 13 firemen, written on signs posted around the event.

He’d considered becoming a firefighter in the ‘70s, but life called him to another industry. He gets emotional whenever he thinks about what firefighters face, knowing it could’ve been him.

And for Colt Barnard, a 16-year-old local high school student, and his mom, Audrey Martin, it was a reminder of their mission.

Bernard has dedicated himself to preserving Mann Gulch’s memory since he learned of the tragedy at 6 years old. He knows each of the deceased’s lives and legacies, first teaching classmates about their tales through a pizza box in elementary school.

Now, he’s determined to renovate the memorial sites of the dead firemen, and plans to host a road trip visiting each of the firemen’s high schools next summer. Even though he knows how dangerous it will be, he wants to be a wildland fireman one day. His mother, who was a firewoman herself, couldn’t be more proud.

“It’s kind of part of the legacy,” Barnard said. “They should be remembered.”