WatchWildfire tours
Walk the ground where fire history was made
You can read every report, but nothing teaches like standing where it happened. These are the tour operators and guided experiences that take you to the historic wildfire sites of the world, from Mann Gulch to Black Saturday country.
United States
Tours of America’s historic fire grounds
Gates of the Mountains Boat Tours
Holter Lake, Montana
A working boat company running narrated tours through the Gates of the Mountains canyon on the Missouri River. Their guides talk about the 1949 Mann Gulch fire on the canyon walls above the water: where twelve smokejumpers died and where Wagner Dodge lit the escape fire that saved three men, including himself. The closest you can get to Mann Gulch without hiking in, told from the water.
Commercial boat tour operator
Missoula Smokejumper Visitor Center Tours
Missoula, Montana
Guided tours of the Aerial Fire Depot, one of the busiest smokejumper bases in the nation. Active smokejumpers walk you through the loft, the parachute rigging room and the ready room, and tell the stories of Mann Gulch, Blackwater and the smokejumpers who came after them. You can watch jumpers on the practice tower and even take a ride in the cargo plane mockup.
US Forest Service visitor centerNorth Cascades Smokejumper Base Tours
Winthrop, Washington
Summer tours of the oldest smokejumper base in Washington, on the edge of the North Cascades. Guides explain how jumpers parachute into roadless wildfire country, and the Methow Valley around the base has a long fire history of its own. A great stop on a Cascade Loop road trip.
Seasonal base toursSiskiyou Smokejumper Base Museum Tours
Cave Junction, Oregon
The Siskiyou Smokejumper Base was one of the busiest in the nation, and today its museum preserves the loft, jump gear and aircraft of the early smokejumping years. Former smokejumpers volunteer at the museum and give tours in person, passing along stories from a lifetime of jumping fire in the Siskiyous.
Smokejumper-run museum toursMuseum of Flight & Aerial Firefighting
Greybull, Wyoming
Home to one of the largest collections of aerial firefighting aircraft in the world, on the edge of the Bighorn Basin where tanker bases still work summer fires. Walk right up to the tankers and airtankers that hauled retardant on big fires for decades, with exhibits on the pilots and rigs that built aerial firefighting.
Aviation museum with guided visitsYellowstone Forever Field Seminars
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
The official nonprofit partner of Yellowstone runs multi-day guided field seminars taught by naturalists and fire ecologists. The 1988 Yellowstone fires burned over a third of the park, and these programs take you into the landscape those fires reshaped: lodgepole forests in every stage of recovery.
Guided field seminar operatorAustralia
Guided journeys through bushfire country
NSW National Parks Aboriginal Ranger Tours
New South Wales
Guided cultural tours led by Aboriginal rangers in NSW national parks, sharing Traditional Knowledge of Country, plants, animals and fire. A chance to hear Indigenous perspectives on land and fire management in the places where it is being brought back.
Ranger-guided commercial toursDiscover Aboriginal Experiences
Australia-wide
A collective of Aboriginal-owned and -led guided journeys across Australia, including immersive experiences on Country where hosts share traditional land management and the oldest fire knowledge on Earth. Browse the journeys to find fire and Country experiences in the regions you are visiting.
Aboriginal-led tour collectiveWorth the trip
Memorial sites you can visit on your own
Some historic fire sites have no tour operator, only a trail, a memorial or a museum. They are open to everyone and they stay with you long after you leave.
Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park
Yarnell, Arizona
A state park trail honoring the nineteen Granite Mountain Hotshots lost at Yarnell Hill in 2013, following the crew’s travel route with interpretive signs down to the deployment site.
Plan your visitSmokey Bear Historical Park
Capitan, New Mexico
Where the burned black bear cub found after the 1950 Capitan Gap Fire became Smokey Bear. Exhibits on the fire, the campaign and Smokey’s grave.
Plan your visitBlack Saturday Bushfire Memorials
Victoria, Australia
Community memorials across the districts hit by the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, including Kinglake and Whittlesea, open to visit year round.
Plan your visit