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Remembering A Pioneering Smoke Jumper [audio 4 minutes 32 seconds]

Laird Robinson, a former smoke jumper, talks to Melissa Block about Earl Cooley, who was with the first National Forest team that jumped into a fire in 1940. Cooley died Monday at 98. Smoke jumpers are elite teams who fly out over raging wildfires in the West, parachute down into the burning forests and battle the flames until they're under control.
Read entire article at NPR - All Things Considered