John McDaniel Retires As NSA Membership Chair
by John McDaniel (Cave Junction '57)
When I was in the eighth grade back in West Virginia, I became interested in forestry through my involvement in the Boy Scouts. I was further encouraged by my 8th grade teacher, Mrs. Baughman, whose husband attended West Virginia University School of Forestry. He was killed in WWII but left all his books and papers. Mrs. Baughman, knowing of my interest in forestry, gave me those books, some of which I still have. Sometime thereafter, I read a book titled Hank Winton-Smokejumper. That did it! I resolved to apply when I was old enough and had some woods experience.
The First Time I Met Walt Smith
by Roger Cox (Missoula '69)
I enquired about the nature and circumstances of Walt’s purple heart. That can be a forbidden question, but among Marine veterans, it is acceptable. His story revealed the “First time I Met Walt Smith.”
Wildfire Trends In The US and Adaptation Strategies To Increasing Wildfire
by Tania Schoennagel, PhD
As smokejumpers work heroically to extinguish remote wildland fire starts, we all search “yet again” for answers to why is so much area burning, and how can we better manage the growing threat of wildfires?
The Run For The Top
by Bill Mader (Boise '75)
The Mann Gulch Fire is not just about tragedy and the burnover of 12 smokejumpers and one fireguard. It is also about trying to do everything right and having everything go wrong, and maybe a few things about that pot-holed trail called life.
Save A Billion $$ A Year–The New Fire Triangle
by Chuck Sheley (Cave Junction '59)
We can save a billion dollars a year in the expense of fighting wildfire using common sense. What would you do if presented with a problem and options to solve that problem?
Safe Zones vs Evacuation By Roads–There Is A Better Way
by Chuck Sheley (Cave Junction '59)
The Camp Fire that destroyed the town of Paradise, CA, on Nov. 8, 2018, illustrated the need to revamp the thinking regarding the evacuation of communities threatened by wildfire.
The 2017 Lolo Peak Fire–And Others–They Didn’t Have To Happen
by Chuck Sheley (Cave Junction '59)
After the description above, I went to Roger Savage (MSO-57) and asked him to check his records for fire jumps made in this “super steep and rocky terrain.” The list started with Ed Courtney (MSO-58) and Robert Wilson (MSO-57), who jumped a fire (August 1961) surprisingly named Lolo Peak. Then Dan Roberson (MSO-75) and Steve Straley (MSO-77) jumped another fire, same name, same place, September 1979.
Congratulations guys. I know for sure that three of the above are still alive as they get this magazine——you survived a “suicide mission.”
The Camp Fire – The Future of America’s Wildfires?
by Chuck Sheley (Cave Junction '59)
This historic firestorm started on Thursday, November 8, 2018, in the early morning hours. By that evening it was within three miles of our home in Chico. It was contained 17 days later at over 150,000 acres. There were at least 86 fatalities and about 14,000 homes destroyed. Paradise, a town of 27,000, was wiped off the map in a period of hours.
In response to the number of NSA members inquiring about the safety of my wife and myself, I started sending out daily ‘blurbs.’ What follows is my view of the Camp Fire as it happened.
The Beauty Of Clearcutting
by Karl Brauneis (Missoula '77)
A district ranger north of us at Dubois, Wyo., told me years ago that an old forester came in to visit and see some of the 1,000-acre clearcuts they had planned and harvested in the 1960s.
The forester felt remorse at the size and scope of the cuttings. It bothered him throughout his career. Now he was back to see the effects.
Upon returning from the field, he told the ranger, ‘Forget about what I said. Those clearcuts are beautiful.’
Wildfire Suppression – A Problem No One Can Solve?
by Chuck Sheley (Cave Junction '59)
Sure, there have been many practices in the past that have not been environmentally sound. But, at the same time, does that mean that we give up and go completely the other way? There has to be a middle ground reached. We cannot allow the radicals to rule the roost.
Surviving An Australian Firestorm – February 1983
by Dave Blakely (Missoula '57)
As I looked out at the raging flames, I had serious thoughts about whether or not we were going to survive. I wondered exactly why I was there? I thought of my family and that my wife had no idea where I was.
The Whetstone Ridge Fire ‘Later Part of the Meyers Fire Complex’ A Failure in Early Detection and Attack
by Ben Smith (Missoula '64)
In the year 2017 we, as Americans, saw account- ably in many forms, from cabinet officers being fired for using less than $1million of private air travel, to Navy Captains and their bosses being relieved from command for accidents at sea. Where is the account- ability in the US Forest Service for spending $32 million dollars on a fire that should have had the same aggressive initial attack as three other nearby fires that cost less than $400,000 each?
T.V. Pearson And The Parachute Scheme
by Richard Elsom
In the West, wildland fire is a regular threat to populated spaces as well as the rugged back- country found in forests and wilderness areas. In an effort to improve response time on fires in remote areas, the U.S. Forest Service began to experiment in 1939 with dropping firefighters from aircraft. These early parachute tests conducted in Washington state were so successful that they spawned a new type of wildland firefighter that still serves today ‘“ the smokejumper.
However, 1939 was not the first time the Forest Service tested the idea of dropping firefighters by parachute.
Bruce E. Egger – Citizen Soldier/Smokejumper
by Chuck Sheley (Cave Junction '59)
Stephen Ambrose about Bruce Egger: ‘There is no typical GI among the millions who served in Northwest Europe, but Bruce Egger surely was representative. He served at the war in almost continuous front-line action. He never missed a day of duty.’
Enough Excitement To Fill Several Lifetimes – Seethaler Part III
by Karl Seethaler (Missoula '55)
Combining my time as a smokejumper, Air America kicker, and loadmaster in Peru, I spent about 15 years accumulating extraordinary experiences.
Alaska, Bent Props And Luck
by Bill Mader (Boise '75)
I realized almost immediately that is was a highly unorthodox landing ‘“ tumbling bodies in the fuselage and chunks of tundra flying past the window.
The Man in the Middle – The First Black Smokejumper
by Robert L. 'Bob' Bartlett
The man in the middle would have experienced life at the awkward intersection of race and pacifism.
Shep Johnson Remembered
by Chuck Sheley (Cave Junction '59)
Unbelievably, this throwback to men who broke trails for wagon trains a couple hundred years ago, worked for the CIA with its Harvard men and persuasive boardroom thinkers.
A Tale of Two Coins
by Robert 'Bob' Bartlett (Associate)
My hero, my father, and his brother both served in segregated Army units during World War II.
Beas – Part II
by by John Driscoll (Missoula '68)
What the hell did the general do to get me all these people? – He shot the lieutenant.’
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