Ed/Michelle- Have you read Norman MacLean's "A River Runs Through It" anthology? One of the vignettes that accompanies "River" details MacLean's life during a season working for the newly formed USFS, manning/supporting fire lookouts some 30 miles by trail from nearest habitation, and the work ethic that was in place at that time...a lot to be re-learned!
-Don > Date: Sun, 3 Jan 2010 22:30:07 -0500 > Subject: Re: [ENTS] Recent Obituary > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > > Thanks for posting this, Ed; > > Having worked in the wilds of Idaho myself, and not too far from the Nez > Perce NF at that, I enjoyed the story, even if it is an obituary. > > It brings back memories of less dangerous forest fires... > > One morning, hiking down from an overnight camperoo on "The Nub", my > hiking friend and I discovered a lightning struck forest fire about > halfway down the mountain we were hiking down... we could see it way off > in the distance and, as we rushed down what would've normally been about > 4.5 hours of hiking in about 2.5 hours, killing our knees as we went but > then again we were only in our twenties... anyway, we were certainly > hoping the fire wouldn't grow too big for comfort before we could get > below it and back to the ranger station! As it turned out, the firetower > gal had seen it and the station decided to let it go out, which it did, so > I guess one could say I could've walked down that mountain slower! Come > to think of it, that was the same camperoo when an elk almost stepped on > the tent, probably trying to hide from the sudden lightning storm which > had cropped up way too late in the day for hiking back down (and which > caused the forest fire, of course). I had to shoo the elk away; it > probably thought it was pretty weird for a human to suddenly pop out of > what may have looked like a solid rock in the darkened distance??? > Perhaps it just wanted to visit but I couldn't risk falling asleep until I > felt it was not going to step on me! > > Michele > > > > > I saw this in the latest issue of Time magazine: > > > > > > > > Earl Cooley; smoke jumper helped pioneer risky firefighting technique > > > > > > > > WASHINGTON - Earl Cooley, 98, who was one of the first two US Forest > > Service smoke jumpers to parachute into a forest fire and later was a > > spotter on the Mann Gulch fire that killed 13 firefighters, died Nov. 9 > > at his home in Missoula, Mont., of pneumonia. > > > > As a 23-year-old outdoorsman who had built logging roads, lookout > > towers, and a home for his mother, Mr. Cooley was as well-prepared as > > anyone, which is to say hardly prepared at all, for the task of jumping > > from a propeller-driven plane into a lightning-triggered fire in Idaho's > > Nez Perce forest July 12, 1940. The first man out the plane's door was > > Rufus Robinson, followed closely by Mr. Cooley. > > > > The wind was blowing so hard that afternoon that Cooley's load lines > > twisted up behind his neck. As he bent to look at the emergency chute, > > the lines unwound. He was nearly in a freefall, and as he drew closer to > > Earth, he clipped the limbs off a big spruce tree. He landed without > > injury, as did Robinson, and the pair squelched the fire by 10 a.m. the > > next day, then hiked 28 miles to the nearest ranger station. > > > > That was the start of the Forest Service's storied corps of smoke > > jumpers who even today jump in hazardous, remote areas to quickly > > control fires that ground-based crews cannot reach. The idea of smoke > > jumping had first been proposed in 1934 and was tried in Russia in that > > decade, but the act of dropping men into a wildfire with little more > > than shovels and pickaxes was considered something between experimental > > and insane. > > > > On the flight in the 1940 Nez Perce fire, the man whose job was to shove > > supplies out after the smoke jumpers almost fell to his death. Merle > > Lundrigan's legs got tangled in ropes, and he was pulled out the plane's > > door, barely hanging on to the doorstep. The pilot immediately banked, > > which tossed Lundrigan back aboard. From then on, cargo kickers had to > > wear parachutes. > > > > "We didn't know what we were doing,'' Mr. Cooley told the Associated > > Press in 2000. > > > > His own training was rudimentary; the trainer had hung a parachute in a > > tree to point out the harness, shroud lines, and release handles, then > > said: "Tomorrow, we jump.'' Still, Mr. Cooley said, the only bad part of > > smoke jumping was the walk home. > > > > Mr. Cooley went on to make 48 more jumps. He was aboard the C-47 plane > > in 1949 from which a dozen smoke jumpers leaped into the Mann Gulch fire > > near Helena, Mont. > > > > Mr. Cooley was the spotter, the man who found the landing site and > > tapped each jumper on the left calf to alert him it was time to go. The > > firefighters landed safely, the additional equipment fell to the ground, > > so Mr. Cooley and the plane went back to base. But the fire "blew up'' > > and overran the men in what became the Forest Service's biggest tragedy > > until the 1994 South Canyon Fire in Colorado. > > > > "Earl lived a very long time, and he was acutely aware of his place in > > the history of smoke jumping,'' said John Maclean, author of three books > > on wildland fires, including one on the South Canyon Fire, and the son > > of Norman Maclean, who wrote on the Mann Gulch incident. > > > > John MacLean called Mr. Cooley's book about the early days of the Forest > > Service, "Trimotor and Trail: Pioneer Smokejumpers'' (1984), "the most > > authoritative book from the inside about that period.'' > > > > Mr. Cooley retired from the Forest Service in 1975. He had been a > > district ranger and superintendent of the smoke jumper base in Missoula, > > as well as regional equipment specialist. > > > > Ed Nizalowski > > > > Newark Valley, NY > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org > > Send email to [email protected] > > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en > > To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] > > > > > -- > Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org > Send email to [email protected] > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en > To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] _________________________________________________________________ Your E-mail and More On-the-Go. 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