Hundreds Flee Montana Wildfire

Fox News ^ | 7/29/2003

[CholeraJoe]

WEST GLACIER, Mont.

[CholeraJoe]

Wildfires have consumed nearly 200,000 acres in Montana this year and it isn't August yet. For those who know me, this fire is a long way off.

[CholeraJoe]

Stay safe.

[Slip18]

Glacier National Park is such a beautiful place. Hopefully, the fire will be under control soon.

[trad_anglican]

My name is Dodge, but then you know that
It's written on the chart there at the foot end of the bed
They think I'm blind, that I can't read it
But I've read it every word, and every word it says is death
So, Confession - is that the reason that you came?
Get it off my chest before I check out of the game
Since you mention it, well there's thirteen things I'll name
Thirteen crosses high above the cold Missouri waters

August 'Forty-Nine, north Montana
The hottest day on record, and the forest tinder dry
Lightning strikes in the mountains
I was crew chief at the jump base, I prepared the boys to fly
Pick the drop zone, C-47 comes in low
Feel the tap upon your leg that tells you go
See the circle of the fire down below
Fifteen of us dropped above the cold Missouri waters

Gauged the fire, I'd seen bigger
So I ordered them to sidehill and we'd fight it from below
We'd have our backs to the river
We'd have it licked by morning even if we took it slow
But the fire crowned, jumped the valley just ahead
There was no way down, headed for the ridge instead
Too big to fight it, we'd have to fight that slope instead
Flames one step behind above the cold Missouri waters

Sky had turned red, smoke was boiling
Two hundred yards to safety, death was fifty yards behind
I don't know why I just thought it
I struck a match to waist-high grass running out of time
Tried to tell them, step into this fire I set
We can't make it, this is the only chance you'll get
But they cursed me, ran for the rocks above instead
I lay face down and prayed above the cold Missouri waters

When I arose, like the phoenix
In that world reduced to ashes there were none but two survived
I stayed that night and one day after
Carried bodies to the river, wondered how I stayed alive
Thirteen stations of the cross to mark to their fall
I've had my say, I'll confess to nothing more
I'll join them now, those that left me long before
Thirteen crosses high above the cold Missouri waters
Thirteen crosses high above the cold Missouri shore

Cold Missouri Waters by James Keelaghan - The story of the Mann Gulch fire.

[CholeraJoe]

Great post. Mann Gulch is about 20 miles downriver from me. It still looks imposing today, even though the fire damage is no longer apparent 54 years after.

[CholeraJoe]

*ping

[trad_anglican]

Great post. Mann Gulch is about 20 miles downriver from me. It still looks imposing today, even though the fire damage is no longer apparent 54 years after.

Thanks. It's an awesome song and such a compelling story. He based the song on the Norman Maclean book "Young Men and Fire." My wife and I hope to visit the Gates of the Mountains and do some wilderness camping before we get too old for that kind of thing.

[CholeraJoe]

The Gates are one exit north on I-15 from mine.

[Lucy Lake]

Stay safe.

Thank you. I've already packed a suitcase and put it in the car, along with necessities for the cat. Another bag is by the front door for last minute essentials. (If there is time for a last minute.)

Yesterday, plows were making a fire break around my area.

While I'm a long way from the Glacier fires, this mountain is dry as a tinderbox, and as I type, the winds are already coming up, about 35mph, I'd guess.

[LoneConservative]

Greetings from NYC...I've got some friends who live in Canyon Ferry! I spent 2 weeks with them a few years ago, and loved it out there. I did the tourboat ride through Gates of the Mountains, and stopped at the memorial plaque for the smokejumpers who died at Mann Gulch. I hope I can make it back out there someday soon!

[CholeraJoe]

It's getting pretty hairy out here. Grizzfan just freepmailed me and said that he heard a radio report that the entire western third of Montana is at 100% ignitability. It's dry as can be east of the Rockies too.

[CholeraJoe]