This information is a tribute to the more than 5,000 men and women who have served our nation as smokejumpers since the start of the program in 1939.
Killed In The Line Of Duty PDF
These are the accounts of the lives and deaths of the more than 30 smokejumpers who have been killed in the line of duty. Read their stories. You’ll find they were no more heroic or foolhardy than those of us who have also worked the “best job in the world” and survived.
These jumpers were simply doing their jobs when their luck ran out. If you are a jumper, you will identify with many of them.
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Old Men and Fire
A group of retired wildland hotshot firefighters who visit old historic fires once or twice a year to do their own historic staff rides has created a website that NSA members may be interested in. After visiting Mann Gulch on their inaugural trip, they laughed over a beer and decided instead of Young Men and Fire, like Maclean’s book title, they would call themselves Old Men and Fire. They have been doing trips for several years and have compiled their experiences on a website by the same name.
Larry Edwards, a former hotshot and smokejumper, enlisted the aid of Kurt LaRue and Jim Cook to develop a similar list for smokejumpers also killed in the line of duty – with stories about those fires.
The 100 Fires Project
Tom Boatner (FBX ’80) has helped former hotshot superintendents with their project called “The 100 Fires Project,” a website with stories and accompanying maps and photos of fires that have been important in American history or influential in causing a change in how we deal with fire in America. This website is an excellent resource for information about important fires in American history going back to the 1800s. Both Mann Gulch and South Canyon are among the 100 fires explored on the website.
