Lemon Butte Fire Smokejumping Accident Fatality 1945

Malvin Brown, a U.S. Army Medic and Paratrooper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is recognized as the first smokejumper killed in the line of duty. Brown volunteered for the Army in 1942. He was assigned to the all-African American 555th Parachute Infantry, who were sent to the Western United States to suppress wildland fires as smokejumpers based in Pendleton, Oregon. On August 6, 1945, a plane load of 15 smokejumpers was ordered to suppress a lightning fire near Lemon Butte on the Umpqua National Forest in Oregon. The jump spot, approximately two acres in size, was surrounded by trees up to 200 feet tall. When Brown exited the aircraft in a stick of nine jumpers, his parachute became caught in a tree. While attempting a "letdown," Brown fell 150 feet into a ravine and died. His body was recovered by his fellow paratrooper/smokejumpers and carried 15 miles out to the nearest road. 

Smokejumping Accident, Fatality, Initial Attack