1910 Fires – 100 Special Policemen Appointed By Mayor – Relief From Small Army of Moochers

One Hundred Extra Men Now Guard City Carefully Against Disorder Missoula awoke yesterday red-eyed from the smoke and cinders, but with determination to prove equal to the emergency which the presence of a couple of thousand visitors had placed upon her shoulders. Most of the visitors are cordially welcome, and Read More

Fire Department Waddles Into 20th Century

Fire Department – 1902 Missoula has a splendid system for protection against fire, having a direct pressure from the reservoir of fifty pounds, so that in nearly all cases no engine is necessary. The apparatus consists of a large hook and ladder truck, a hose wagon and a chemical. The Read More

Tom Pope – 1st Missoula Fireman Killed in Line of Duty

Tom Pope – First Fireman Killed in Line of Duty in Missoula The first on-duty death of a Missoula fireman, Tom Pope, occurred in 1904 and it was a sad one. He was killed not while fighting a fire, but injured while driving a team of horses as they pulled Read More

“Big Smoke” – 2 Killed in Miller Creek Forest Fire – 1937

“Big Smoke” – 2 Killed in Miller Creek Forest Fire – 1937 Another Forest Fire By The Forest Ranger When on July 14, 1937, the Miller Creek forest fire on the Lolo National Forest snuffed out two human lives, it immediately made headlines in newspapers throughout the land.[1] Here was Read More

Mayor Wilkinson recalls fires of 1889

Mayor recalls fires of 1889   Mayor Recalls “The Dark Days” in Summer, 1889 Present Forest Fires Rival in Severity Those of That Year. Forest fires in this vicinity are not a new thing. There are many Missoula people who remember the fires of 1910; perhaps not so many who Read More

Clare Kern – 51 Years a Fireman – Missoula Historian

Clare P. Kern Is Dead at 71 Clare P. Kern, 71, retired Missoula fire chief, recognized as an authority on Missoula history, died in a Missoula rest home Tuesday night. Mr. Kern was born Nov. 28, 1893. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank P. Kern, came to Missoula in the Read More

Missoula’s deadliest fire – 1950 Molenda family tragedy

Following are 3 articles about the deadly Molenda fire from the Daily Missoulian – the first two from Sat. morning, January 7, 1950. The Molenda family had just experienced the most tragic fire in Missoula’s history with the deaths of 6 of their 12 youngsters. The 3rd article also lists Read More

‘Red Skies of Montana’ 1952 by Jule Banville

The article below, by Jule Banville, appeared at the New West blog on April 4, 2011 During the making of “Red Skies of Montana,” various Hollywood stars were severely injured on a motorcycle, stung on the neck by a hornet, burned badly, missing eyebrows singed off unintentionally and visiting the Read More

‘The Red Scourge’- 1910 Fire – article by Neil LaRubbio – Montana Kaimin

The Red Scourge – Montana Kaimin, September 3, 2010 By Neil LaRubbio Around 3 o’clock in the morning, A.J. Breitenstein awoke to his phone ringing. The sky loomed outside his bedroom window in the color of old rose, and an odor like campfire lingered in the wind. An editor from Read More

The Story That Tore Through the Trees by Katherine Schulz N.Y. Books 9/9/2014

This article examines the impact of The Mann Gulch Fire and Norman Macleans’ book about it – Young Men and Fire. Amid some of the worst wildfire conditions America has seen in a century, a return to the book that burned its way into our collective imagination. http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/mann-gulch-norman-maclean-2014-9/