I don’t have a paper yet he Blackwater fire was caused by a lightning strike on August 18, 1937, in Shoshone National Forest, about 35 miles (56 km) west of Cody, Wyoming, United States. Fifteen firefighters were killed by the forest fire when a dry weather front caused the winds to suddenly increase and change direction. The fire quickly spread into dense forest, trapping some of the firefighters in a firestorm. Nine died during the fire and six died afterwards from severe burns and respiratory complications; 38 others were injured. More U.S. wildland firefighters died in the Blackwater fire than in any incident since the Great Fire of 1910; the death-toll was not surpassed until 2013 when 19 firefighters died in the Yarnell Hill Fire. Firefighters in the first half of the 20th century used mostly hand tools to suppress wildfires, and all gear was carried by the firefighters or by pack animals. Weather forecasting and radio communication were generally poor or nonexistent. After the Blackwater fire, better ways to respond to such fires were developed, including the smokejumper program in 1939 and the Ten Standard Firefighting Orders (a standardized set of wildland firefighting principles) in 1957. n 1937, firefighters did not have portable radios for rapid on-scene communication or helicopters to bring supplies and provide water drops.[8][9][a] Firefighters had some access to gas-powered portable water pumps (two were set up on the Blackwater fire), but most used backpack pumps that were manually operated and held limited water.[10][b] Firelines were dug by handcrews using shovels, axes and pulaskis (a tool that could be used as either an axe or a hoe).[12][13] Most firefighters wore cotton and wool clothing, which provided poor protection from flames.[12] Additionally, they did not have fire shelters, which first became available in the 1960s but were not mandatory until 1977.[14] Later researchers believe the use of shelters might have saved lives depending on where the firefighters were when the firestorm occurred.[12][15]
The steepness and ruggedness of the terrain in Blackwater Canyon meant firefighters had to access the fire on foot, carrying all their supplies. On the Blackwater fire, pack horses were used to ferry supplies from the access roads to an upper base camp.[16] Many of the firefighters were employed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and had limited training in wildfire suppression and behavior, as the CCC was mainly engaged in construction projects. After a series of severe and deadly forest fire events in the early 20th century, officials established the 10 am rule in 1935, which recommended aggressive attack on all fires and to have them controlled by 10 am, the day after they are first detected.[17][18] This was intended to prevent fires from remaining active into the afternoon when the rising temperatures and more turbulent air caused fires to expand and become more erratic.[19] A scientific publication about fire behavior that could be used for widespread training of firefighters first became available in 19