Introduction

15 smoke jumpers landed near the top of Mungulch late on a scorching August afternoon in 1949. The foreman, Wagner Dauch, saw that the fire had leapt across the Gulch and was heading straight at them. By burning the grass ahead of him, he cleared the area of fuel for the wildfire to feed on. He then poured water from his canteen onto his handkerchief, covered his mouth with it, and lay face down in the charred area for the next 15 minutes. Tragically 12 of the smoke jumpers perished. A pocket watch belonging to one of the victims was later found with the hands melted at 5.56 pm.