“Mann Gulch, Norman Maclean, and Young Men and Fire” with Stephen Pyne

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On August 5, 1949, a fire was spotted at Mann Gulch, near Helena, Montana. The U.S. Forest Service dispatched a team of 15 smokejumpers, who were met by a fire guard from a nearby campground. When the fire blew up, thirteen firefighters were killed, three escaped. While the Forest Service studied what happened and revised its training and safety measures, few outside the agency remembered the tragedy. That is not until Norman Maclean published a meditation on it, entitled Young Men and Fire, did the event connect with national and cultural interests—and continues to thirty years later.

Fire historian Stephen Pyne and host Jamie Lewis discussed the fire on its 75th anniversary and how Maclean’s book has affected the American fire community.