An Analysis of Dodge's Escape Fire on the 1949 Mann Gulch Fire in ...

The Counter View
“There were extreme gusts <strong>of</strong> hot air that almost
lifted me from the ground as the fire passed over me”
– Wag Dodge (statement in Cooley 1984).
“Three violent gusts <strong>of</strong> superheated air nearly lifted
him from the ground” – The Missoulian newspaper,
14 August 1949 (cited in Lillquist 2006).
It’s s estimated that winds >87 mph would have been
required to physically lift Dodge <strong>of</strong>f the ground.
While this is certainly within the range <strong>of</strong> entrainment
winds observed on fires involving large quantities <strong>of</strong>
fuel, such winds have not been measured on grass
fires.