Mann Gulch
Gulch in Montana’s Gates of the Mountains, site of the deadly 1949 fire. Range uses it as the emblem of firefighters who would not drop their tools.
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World | David Epstein | subject | Smokejumpers expecting a routine fire were chased uphill through dry grass when the fire jumped the gulch; foreman Wagner Dodge told… |
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World — David Epstein (2019)
Source: Range · Original · Readwise highlight
In Montana’s 1949 Mann Gulch fire, made famous in Norman Maclean’s Young Men and Fire, smokejumpers parachuted in expecting to face a “ten o’clock fire,” meaning they would have it contained by 10 a.m. the next morning.
- Role: subject
- In the book: Smokejumpers expecting a routine fire were chased uphill through dry grass when the fire jumped the gulch; foreman Wagner Dodge told them to drop their tools. Thirteen firefighters died.
- Why it matters: Karl Weick’s emblematic example of people clinging to tools under pressure.