Edward George “Ed” Heilman, June 24, 1984

Edward “Ed” Heilman discusses his career in the U.S. Forest Service. He talks about joining Forest Service in 1945, at the age of 16, and being stationed at the Blue Canyon Fire Station in California’s Tahoe National Forest. He describes his duties and numerous fires on which he worked. Heilman recalls his time at the University of Montana’s School of Forestry which he attended in 1946. He also discusses being assistant ranger on the Cleveland National Forest in California and talks about the firebombing experiments at that time. He mentions working in New Mexico in 1967, as the first director of the National Fire Training Center. Heilman then discusses working in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, until 1974 when he became director of Aviation and Fire Management in the Northern Region office based in Missoula, Montana. He explains the natural role of fires in context with forest preservation and fire prevention.https://scholarworks.umt.edu/forestrylanduseconservation_interviews/1008/thumbnail.jp