Fire On The Mountain, A&E, 2001
In 1949 in Mann Gulch, Montana, 13 people died trying to outrun a wildfire that had reached a critical stage known as a blow-up. The tragedy was the first of its kind for the new breed of wildfire fighters, and it was detailed in the 1991 book Young Men and Fire, by Norman Maclean, the author of A River Runs Through It.
In 1994, 14 firefighters battling a blaze on Colorado's Storm King Mountain met the same fate, and an official inquiry determined that the victims were responsible for their deaths. Maclean's son John, a journalist, was immediately suspicious of this finding, and he quit his job of thirty years to investigate the incident.
Fire On The Mountain, named after John Maclean's revelatory bestseller, exposes many troubling facts about the Storm King Fire that the official report overlooks or downplays. Smokejumpers who were there, federal investigators who refused to sign the official report, and family members of the victims join Maclean to tell the astonishing story that should serve--belatedly--as a warning to all who deal with these dangerous blazes.
100 minutes, fully narrated, DVD only, DF6100 / $29.95
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Historical Videos
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