Hazard and Risk
By Josh McDaniel
How do we measure the effects of fuel treatments on a potential fire? How do we treat fuels to reduce risk while adhering to varying and often conflicting management restrictions? Until recently the tools just didn’t exist to answer these types of questions.
By Mark Matthews
In the decade following the Mann Gulch fire in 1949, the U. S. Forest Service created technical and research centers in Montana and California dedicated to developing equipment to help protect firefighters from a multitude of dangers on the fire line.
By Mark Matthews
On August 5, 1949, a surging wildfire trapped fifteen smoke jumpers and one fireguard in a chimney-shaped canyon called Mann Gulch, whose mouth opened onto the banks of the Missouri River outside Great Falls, Mont. The fire instantaneously killed eleven men; another two died in the hospital the next day.
By Mark Matthews
The nature of fire remains unpredictable. Staying out of harm’s way may be the best advice—but what if fate and the elements don’t cooperate?