Old Missoula

Forest Fire Ahead – Get Ready – Hit the Silk!*

Smoke-jumping, one of the greatest fire control advancements in the history of the Forest Service, has been used only the past two decades and it’s been centered right here in Missoula – headquarters for Region 1.

Parachute jumping experiments began in 1940. In 1941 Chester Derry, Forest Service jumper, and his brother Frank perfected a device which eliminated the most difficult phase of jumper training. This was a static line attached to the airplane automatically releasing the ripcord as a man leaped.

The Civil Aeronautics Administration approved the device in February 1941 and that summer three squads of eight jumpers each were trained. A mass parachute jump was featured at the fire school in July and in August the flying squadron was dispatched to battle a huge coast forest fire. The war cut down on the number of jumpers available as many entered the armed forces.

But by 1946 Missoula was recognized as the parachute jumping training center of the nation. A general told Forest Service officials that the experiments in Region 1 had stepped up Army parachute developments many months.

With much of Region 1 forests in remote areas jumpers have sharply cut the number of big fires. They can get to the fire while it’s still small. They are experienced and highly trained fire fighters who can be battling a fire in a remote area a half hour after the blaze has been reported.

Use of jumpers increased steadily. Only 19 fire jumps were made the first year – 1940. It was 1944 when the total exceeded 100 for the first time. In 1953 a record 1,151 fire jumps were made – the all-time high. The annual average was about 430 for the next three years with more than half of these within Montana. There were 768 in 1957, 814 in 1958 and the total last year was 496.

Until the dedication of the new $100,000 Aerial Fire Depot in September of 1954, training was conducted at Seeley Lake and Nine Mile most of the time. Since then training and dispatching of jumpers has been concentrated at the depot, providing an efficient and swift-striking method of fire control.

*This article was surrounded by 4 large photos of smokejumpers, parachuters in the process of jumping, and one of a fire being observed from the smokejumpers’ plane. 2 photos are listed as Catlin photos.