THE NAVAHOS AS FIRE FIGHTERS.
by
Don Watson

On the ninth of July a small cloud, wandering across the Mesa Verde, caused an electrical storm that sent a few streaks of lightening down into our forests. One of these lightening streaks, striking a tree, started a fire that was to prove the most disastrous Mesa Verde has ever known. For two weeks it raged, ultimately consuming 4,540 acres of timber and brush lands.

Many interesting angles of the fire might be recounted; the viciousness of the flames, the loss of animal life, the difficulty of getting men and supplies to the scene of action, or the great number of pueblo ruins exposed, but another side of the story has more human appeal than all these: the story of the Navaho fire-fighters. About 600 were used in combating the flames and it gave the men working with them a splendid insight into Navaho psychology, for during such a time of stress, when human lives and property are endangered, the finest or poorest qualities in men are sure to come out. That the psychology of the Navaho is different from the psychology of the white man goes without question. With a different racial, mental, religious, and environmental heritage the mental machinery of the Navaho has always baffled the uninitiated white men and all of the strained relations and ill feelings between the two races can be traced to this source. The white man who recognizes the different mental attitude of the Navaho, is well on the road to success in his dealings with them.

As a rule people feel that the Navahos are poor workers, and are surprised to see us employing them in the Park. One man who had this feeling was Mr. W. M. Wirt, Assistant Forester for the National Park Service, who was in charge of the fire fighting crews. That his ideas concerning the Navahos underwent a change can best be shown by his own words.

"My most authentic information," said Mr. Wirt after the fire, "has been that Indians are slow, slovenly and lazy, and do not care to work. I had been told that Indians as fire fighters were useless and not reliable. When it was said, 'Well, let's get the Navahos out,' I wondered what good they could be and why good men could not be sent. I asked if they were used for fire fighting and was told that they were the best of all. 'O.K.', I said, 'let's go.' And we went."

"We rode in trucks to the end of the road and then hiked five or six miles to the fire. It was burning through low, dense brush at a pretty high rate. A small group of Indians pitched into the job and within twenty minutes they had all the brush cut and an effective trail more than an eighth of a mile long that checked the advance of the fire. I considered it very good and my thought regarding the Indians changed. It was pleasing to me to see how they worked. No words spoken; all was action, and it was most efficiently placed."

"My second surprise was at the chow line. How differently the Indians acted. Gentlemanly, even though starving. Decidedly different from the rest of the crew. Others noticed this as well as myself and, needless to say they did not have to wait until last."

"These men were without question 'the best we have' and I soon came to realize it. Steady, reserved, and always on the job; those are the outstanding things I noticed about the Navahos. No back talk, suggestions or stalling for time, Action started immediately up on receipt of orders. That is the important thing in fire fighting. The Navahos are good workers and I have changed my mind about them."

Too much can not be said about Mr. Wirt's mention of the manner in which the Navahos accept orders. In fighting the fire about six hundred Indians were used and an equal number of white men. It is doubtful if any of the whites ever received an order without countering with what they thought was a better idea. Not so the Navahos. They waited silently until orders were given, then went to work. Being superior woodsmen they often realized that the orders were faulty but they relied entirely upon the judgment of their foremen and accepted their orders without comment.

The men in charge of the Navaho fire fighters soon learned that there were three rules that governed their conduct in that type of work. First, and perhaps least important; the Indians were more efficient when not mixed indiscriminately with white men, second, that a large group performed much more efficiently than a small group, and most important of all; that they were efficient only as long as they were winning.

The white foreman who does not appreciate these rules will have little luck managing Indians because he will be butting his head blindly against fixed racial traits. When Navahos are working with a group of white men they are always reserved. They are quiet, show little enthusiasm, and seem to hold themselves in check. When they work by themselves they are natural and unrestrained and are as full of enthusiasm as a bunch of boys. Contests develop among them; each tries to out do the others and soon all are shouting and laughing and making play out of what is serious work to a white man. The larger the group the more this spirit enters, and a large group is more efficient then a smaller one.

The most important rule of all is that the moment a Navaho begins to lose he becomes discouraged and is worthless. It is the same whether he is playing baseball or fighting a fire; he cannot fight a losing battle. Ten Navahos being beaten back by the flames were ineffectual, but if they were suddenly reinforced by fifty more and began to gain on the flames they became a bunch of shouting, laughing madmen who could not be stopped.

Mr. D. E. Harbison, Forest Inspector for the Indian Service, who brought the Indians to the fire, recognized their unusual mental qualities when he said; "A crew of Navahos with a competent leader cannot be equaled. Such experienced foremen as Sam and Bill Day with eighty Navahos apiece make the finest fire fighting crews that can be found. A large group of Indians makes play of work and cannot be beaten. They do not need as much water as the white men, they can stand the heat better, and get along with less food. They also seem to have more stamina than the white men doing the same work."

One day, just as we reached the burning area with a small group of Indians, a fresh blaze came roaring up out of a canyon, and we all went to work in an effort to check it. Only a few minutes had passed when from the midst of the flames came the seemingly agonized cries of Sandoval Begay, our Yebitchai dance leader. He was completely surrounded by the flames and the heat was so intense that we felt we would soon need a new leader for our dancers. The cries continued, and at last, just as we had given up finding a way to get to him, Sandoval came dashing out through the flames. But instead of crying out in agony he was laughing and shouting Navaho swear words at the fire. Turning immediately, he began to fight the blaze, and the shrieks of the other Indians as they joined him almost drowned out the roar of the flames. In a few minutes the fire was checked. That was the time when Mr. Wirt stood in open-mouthed astonishment and changed his mind about Navaho fire fighters.

Another point brought out by Mr. Wirt was the manner in which the Indians conducted themselves at meal time. Always they stood silently at the end of the line, and waited their turn. Not so the white men, who sometimes mobed the cooks and took the food from them. Then in the evenings, when they were relieved from duty, the Navahos performed some of their dances to entertain the grumbling, complaining white men.

Two stories of happenings might be told to illustrate their attitude toward fire fighting.

One small Navaho boy of fourteen or fifteen had in some manner slipped in with the fire fighters. Being so young he was kept at the field kitchen where he helped the cooks. Two or three times he was told to go back to the base camp to rest, but each time he would reappear in a short time. After three days, during which he had worked almost all the time he was ordered to leave. Tired and weary he turned toward the out-going truck but as he went he broke into tears and asked one of the older Indians why he couldn't go out and "fight that fire."

One day a foreman was walking along a trail when he came upon a Navaho.

"How are you?" he asked the Indian as he walked by.

"Oh, I'm all right," was the reply, "but one of my wooden feet hurts me a little."

Thinking the Indian was delirious the foreman investigated and found that the man's limbs were artificial, one from the knee down, the other from the ankle down. He had walked seven miles to the fire and had worked three shifts, but his only complaint was "one of my wooden feet hurts a little."

If you were to go to a Navaho fire dance you would see things that might help you understand why they are good fire fighters. About midnight two men walk out on the dance court. One carries a short stick on the end which is a large ball of pitch from the pinyon tree. Igniting this pitch he holds it out to the other man and as the fiery, blazing drops of burning pitch fall this second man catches them in his hands. Carefully and thoroughly he bathes his hands and wrists in this blazing pitch until they are a mass of flames. Examine his hands and you will find not a single burn!

Later in the morning, a group of young men, devoid of clothing except a breech cloth, come out and perform the fire dance. Igniting their yard long, cedar bark torches, they dance wildly around the great fire, beating each other over the heads and backs with the torches, riding them like stick horses, running through the coals, shouting all the while like fiends. But always unburned!

All of these things are contributing factors to the abilities of the Navahos as fire fighters. Utter disregard for the flames, the ability to turn work into play, the feeling of confidence in numbers, the odor of victory in their nostrils; all of these things help to make them the best fire fighters that can be found.