u/Northern_Blue_Jay

A beautiful rendition by the Fiddlin' Foresters who, like the Mann Gulch smoke jumpers, were/are with the U.S. Forest Service.

As the musicians and singers tell you, there was an investigation that followed which changed the way many things were handled in smoke jumping. The survivor and storyteller in the song - the foreman - R. Wagner ("Wag") Dodge had the insight under the extreme circumstances to innovate "a fire circle," or "escape fire," a deliberately burned out area that the fire then bypasses, which to my understanding was used by Plains Indians for protection in wild fires (whether Wag knew about that or not), but the men didn't understand the strategy, panicked and ran instead, and as a result, tragically perished, Dodge being one of only three survivors.

This story is told about 5 years later when Dodge is in the hospital and dying of cancer instead - which is an extremely high statistic among smoke jumpers (65% of smoke jumpers develop cancer - in Dodge's case, a rare blood cancer that is nevertheless more common among smoke jumpers as well). So, he's facing his own end for other smoke jumping related reasons - and still haunted by what happened that day in Mann Gulch.

The last survivor, Robert Sallee, who was only 17 at the time, passed away in 2014 from complications during open heart surgery. The other survivor, crewman Walter B. Rumsey, died in a plane crash in 1980. His family said he didn't like to talk about it, and though Robert Sallee worked with an author on a very well known book about the tragedy, "Young Men and Fire," by Norman Maclean, I read that he initially wouldn't talk about it either for a number of years. Sallee and Rumsey, who knew each other prior to Mann Gulch, narrowly escaped together by cresting a ridge top into an adjoining valley, sheltering against rock face as the fire lept over them. Dodge himself, inside the escape fire, lying fully down with his face buried into the mineral soil for oxygen, was levitated off the ground 3 times by violent winds and super heated air.

Many of the firefighters who died also served in WW II, some as parachuters, and they came from different parts of the United States. In one account I read, another smoke jumper (not at Mann Gulch) who fought in the Korean War, reportedly said that smoke jumping was more challenging than fighting in the Korean War.

I must add here (because I'm a single payer supporter who posts a lot on this subject) that we don't even guarantee health care for smoke jumpers and fire fighters in this country. Just like we haven't for the 9-11 first responders. Or for anyone in our country unless you're wealthy. We even allow children to die or become orphaned so that "health" insurance company executives can continue to make obscene profits off the denials and resulting deaths, disabilities, and financial ruin of millions of people - and with their interests being the rule of the day in Washington DC, instead of health care as a human right for the American people.

So, we direly need to send other kinds of politicians to Washington - ordinary Americans from various walks of life who understand these kinds of things - and who aren't taking insurance company monies - and who are ready to take on the status quo and fight for a national single payer health care system - which is what most nations today have - and which we should have, in the U.S., as well. What I think Thomas Paine would have also called, "Common Sense."

#IndependenceDay2026

On that note, here is a smoke jumper running for Congress in MT-01, Sam Forstag. I think we really need a smoke jumper in Congress who understands the impact of these wild fires.. He also supports an improved #MedicareForAll. Please help his campaign, if you can - and if you're MT-01, vote for Sam Forstag! I sure would if I were in MT-01 ! He's *the* hands-down, head over shoulders choice! He's an outstanding candidate. These are the kinds of candidates Americans should vote for.

Sam Forstag for Montana

IIRC last year or the year before, the fireworks and explosive noises around Big Bear caused the newly fledged offspring to prematurely leave the area entirely. And in this case, the offspring have less experience fending for themselves and clearly need to stay longer. Sad that July 4th becomes an occasion to torment our national bird. If anything, around Big Bear, it should be an occasion to double down on keeping the area quiet since it's an eagle habitat. If people want to see fireworks, they should go enjoy them at another location.

There's reportedly a development project there, too, that the local naturalists have been fighting because it endangers the eagles' habitat at Big Bear. See their group for further information on how you can help.

Fly Like An Eagle - Steve Miller Band

https://youtu.be/snrO4G8ed5I?si=keBuGNbM2jWswS23

With it being the 250th 4th of July, I feel as though it’s only natural, to remind all Americans what the document we’re all celebrating actually says, and how it compares to today.