In the mid-20th century, perhaps no crew of firefighters was as famous as the Mescalero Apache “Red Hats,” the first all-Native American firefighting crew in the nation.
In 1948, two dozen men from the New Mexico reservation, many of them veterans of World War II, answered the call to train as wildland firefighters. They did everything from first attack to mop-up and specialized in digging firebreaks. In 1950 they received their first out-of-state assignment, joining a Hopi crew in California to halt a wildfire that threatened to consume Palomar Observatory.
By 1952 the Red Hats had grown to 200 men. Newspapers praised their discipline and efficiency, though some commentators fell into racist stereotypes when they attributed the Red Hat’s accomplishments to “mystical powers.” The Bureau of Indian Affairs, recognizing the success, expanded the fire training program to other Southwest reservations. Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, and other Native American crews fought fires throughout the West and as far east as Michigan. By 1961 the U.S. Forest Service had certified more than fifteen hundred Native American firefighters.
The Red Hats disbanded in 1973. But Mescalero, White Mountain, and San Carlos Apache Tribes continued to lead the way in firefighting with the creation of all-women crews and elite “hotshot” crews. And it was Native firefighters—the Apache Red Hats and Taos Pueblo Snowballs—who rescued the singed bear cub named Smokey who’s still a symbol of forest protection today.
This Earth Note was written by Melissa Sevigny and produced by KNAU and the Sustainable Communities Program at Northern Arizona University.
