Mann Gulch fire

It started when lightning struck the south side of Mann Gulch, which is in the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness, an area named by Lewis and Clark. The fire was spotted by a forest ranger around noon on August 5, 1949. James O. Harrison, the recreation and fire prevention guard for Meriwether Canyon Campground, had given up his former job as a smokejumper to find a less dangerous profession. On this day, however, he fought the fire on his own for four hours before he met the crew of smokejumpers who had been dispatched from Missoula, Montana, in a C-47.

Foreman Wagner Dodge told the team to get on the North side of the gulch and 'sidehill' (keep the same contour) and move "down gulch" towards the Missouri River. Then they could fight the fire from behind it. He went back with Harrison to eat, which the others had already done. He noticed however that the smoke was starting to boil, and he became concerned. He decided to get back to his men as quickly as possible and get them out.

The fire, by that time, had jumped the gulch from the south side to the north side, downgulch from the men. It had 'blown up', spreading much faster than anticipated, due to various weather and environmental conditions. This was unknown to the crew because various ridges running down the slope obscured their view of the slope. Only when they came over a ridge did they see the huge fire coming at them, only a few hundred yards distant. The men had to turn around and run for it. Soon after, Dodge ordered them to drop their heavy tools (shovels, Pulaskis, saws).

When Dodge realized that they would not be able to outrun the fire, he started an escape fire, taking a match and lighting a ring around him so that the fire would "jump" over him and his crew. He ordered everyone to lie down in the area he had burnt down. In the book that he later wrote, he claimed that he had been "lifted off the ground" several times by the fire. He later claimed he had never heard of such a fire being set, it just seemed "logical", and it was thought to be an on-the-spot invention....
Mann_Gulch_fire