One Foot In The Black
Author: Karsyn Sangray, Broadwater High School Student Intern
One Foot in the Black
Karsyn Sangray
Broadwater High School Student Intern
Broadwater High School Junior Colt Barnard works hard to bring awareness to the Mann Gulch tragedy. On August 5, 1949, lightning hit a canyon in the Gates of the Mountains and started a wildfire. A team of fifteen smokejumpers parachuted into Mann Gulch to fight it. The fire expanded and trapped the smokejumpers on the ridge with no escape. Unfortunately, 13 of the firefighters lost their lives in one of the deadliest firefighting tragedies in U.S. history. The incident led to immediate changes in the way that firefighters now fight fires.
During the 75th anniversary of the fire, Colt worked hard to bring attention to this event. Coming from a long line of firefighters, this project has a personal significance for him. His mother, a firefighter herself, is now safer fighting fires. Not only does he have generations of firefighters before him, Colt also finds fire history interesting. “When I was little I would always research Montana history about fire. Mann Gulch always caught my attention. I just kept digging and found out the role it plays in firefighting and how little respect and knowledge people know about it. I made it my mission to bring awareness to it,” he explained.
These words show Colt’s dedication to this project. He made it his duty to commemorate those who passed in the fire. He took time to find more stable and permanent crosses to put up in the Gulch. Not only does Colt set up the crosses, he also runs a Facebook Page with his Mom, ‘One Foot in the Black,’ which aims to help raise recognition for the fire. He is working towards getting the area recognized as an historical area with the names of the fallen added to the National Fallen Firefighters Register. He has raised over $5,000 and counting. His own family has pledged $15,000 of their own money to help Colt with the project. The funds will go to making a better path for the trail, getting permanent crosses and commemorating the victims.
Upgrading the area is only the beginning. The end goal is to help the memorial get recognized as a national monument and get more information to every high school and community library of the hometowns of the victims. Some of the jumpers were from North Carolina, Tennessee and New Jersey. Colt wants to educate their hometowns about Wildland Fire and the men’s sacrifices.
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Image 1 Caption: BHS Junior Colt Barnard manages Facebook Page 'One Foot in the Black' to commemorate Mann Gulch firefighters who died in August 1949.
Photo Provided by Karsyn Sangray
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