Don Kurt Mackey (Missoula ’87) (Missoula 1987)
Posted: May 24, 2021
Don was born May 23, 1960, in Sacramento, CA, to Bob and Nadine Mackey. In 1968, his family moved to Montana, where Don graduated from Hamilton High School.
Don began firefighting in 1985 and rookied two years later out of Missoula.
He settled in Hamilton and had a daughter, Leslianne, and a son, Bob.
In 1994, he was assigned to jump Colorado’s South Canyon Fire. While battling the blaze on a steep mountainside, he was one of 14 firefighters who lost their lives. According to one survivor, Don had saved eight people and was trying to save others when he died. He was 34 years old and died on July 6, 1994. Don jumped at Missoula 1987-94.
