Sixty-five years ago today, 13 firefighters lost their lives in the Mann Gulch Fire on the Helena National Forest. Shortly after smokejumpers arrived on scene, they where cut off and forced to retreat uphill while the fire overtook them. This tragedy had a significant impact on changing the way we approach fire suppression today. After all these years our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the families who lost loved ones. Rest In Peace brothers! (USFS Photo courtesy of John Maclean with permission to repost) "Probably most catastrophes end this way without an ending, the dead not even knowing how they died...,those who loved them forever questioning "this unnecessary death," and the rest of us tiring of this inconsolable catastrophe and turning to the next one." - Norman Maclean from his book Young Men and Fire which dives into the events that unfolded August 5th 1949. #Throwback #NeverForget #MannGulch