**Book Review** Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean

Young Men and Fire
by Norman Maclean
The University of Chicago Press 1992

Have you ever wondered what actually happened in an unspeakable disaster occurs, there is a loss of the lives of the brave heroes who sacrificed themselves to save others?

Do you love the scenic mountains of Western Montana? Do you like mysteries?

If the answer to any of these questions is in the affirmative, add this enjoyable non-fiction story to your list. It is an easy and engaging read. The author was a longstanding professor who late in life wrote a fascinating novel about life in Montana which became a successful movie (A River Runs Through It). At the time of his death, he had extensive notes for this story about what actually happened in the Mann Gulch firestorm in 1949. The story is about newly minted Smokejumpers (intrepid souls who parachuted into a ranging forest fire), who jumped into Mann Gulch. Only 3 of 13 survived.

The question addressed is what happened that caused the others to die. Was it a fire set by a Forest Service person, not a Smokejumper, to facilitate his own escape or something else?

I spent much of my formative life in this area of Montana, which was loved by my parents. I was born in Missoula. My dad was a field geologist working in these same areas, often with me or my brothers being his field assistants (meaning carrying heavy bags and driving a jeep to meet him at the end of the day). The mountains are beautiful. Unfortunately, today there are few jobs in this world, which is actually an underdeveloped country by some definitions.

Maclean undertook a relentless effort to unearth the truth about the deaths of the brave young men. In the process, the reader is treated to a play-by-play reality of what it would be like to jump into a fire, then try to fight it. The tactics are fascinating, not unlike coaching a football game with an enemy that can literally blow with the breeze.

The lessons learned from the Mann Gulch fire pushed the science of fire-fighting forward, though at the cost of the men buried beneath stone markers at the site where their bodies were found.

It is a shame that Maclean died before evolving the story into another potential movie.

Warms, Cym

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