COLUMN: Of young men (and women) and fire ...

I got to meet a remarkable young man last week, and in some ways we were both lucky to have the chance.

Lakota Duncan is the 15-year-old Missouri youth who took remarkable video footage on a cellphone of the Reynolds Creek Fire just as it blew up on Tuesday afternoon.

Lakota and his mother and father stopped by the Daily Inter Lake newsroom on Wednesday afternoon and talked to reporter Seaborn Larson for a story we played on the front page of Thursday’s paper.

I sat in on part of that interview and watched in awe as the video footage was replayed of a major forest fire chewing up Montana’s best scenery in Glacier Park just 200 yards away from the tourist family.

Like all the hottest viral videos, it came with a live soundtrack as Lakota’s mom and dad bantered about what they were watching (sort of along the lines of “You don’t see this in Missouri every day!”) while Lakota himself assessed the danger accurately and urged the family to get it in gear and hightail it out of there.

That’s just what they did, and in the nick of time, as the fire — driven by high winds — suddenly approached them and then seemed to chase them down the highway as they accelerated toward St. Mary.

I was scared just watching the video, although the family seemed to take it all in stride. I complimented Lakota on being “the smart one” in the family for encouraging them to get gone while the getting was good, and they all agreed, but I wonder if they realize just how lucky they were.

Norman Maclean, the University of Montana English professor, who became famous upon publication of his Missoula memoir, “A River Runs Through It,” told of a similar inferno in his book “Young Men and Fire.” The Mann Gulch Fire that he wrote about happened in 1949, and claimed the lives of 13 firefighters when high winds churned up a wildfire and cut off the men’s escape route. Two of the smokejumpers who had their lives cut short, Henry Thol Jr. and Bill Hellman, were from Kalispell.

I always think of them and the uncertainty of life whenever we assign someone on our staff to head out and cover a wildfire such as the Reynolds Creek blaze. This past week, reporters Sam Wilson and Matt Hudson, along with photographers Brenda Ahearn and Aaric Bryan, have all gone into the field on fire assignments. In this case, they haven’t gotten close to the flames, or put themselves in danger, but at some point in their careers they probably will.

The key thing to remember for reporters, photographers and tourists is that we can leave the scene of danger whenever we want to, and we can exercise caution at our own will. But for the firefighters who are on the front lines, there is no such thing as a safe vantage point.

As more than 300 firefighters continue their efforts to contain and control the Reynolds Creek fire this weekend, let’s all pause to be thankful for their heroic efforts and say a prayer for their safety.

Frank Miele is managing editor of the Daily Inter Lake. If you don’t like his opinion, stop by the office and he will gladly refund your two cents.  E-mail responses may be sent to edit@dailyinterlake.com