Before humping it up forested mountains and swinging a Pulaski, before their baptism by fire, just about every wildland firefighter embarks from a simple beginning like the spark of a flame.
It also starts with a pair of hardy, hard-bottom leather boots.
At 69, Rick Trembath has owned 12 pairs of White’s in his lifetime, and like an old friend, he can remember when and where he was introduced to his first pair. It was 50 years ago, the summer of 1967. Trembath arrived in the Flathead Valley as a 19-year-old wide-eyed forestry student from Minnesota, hired as a seasonal firefighter for the Flathead National Forest hotshot crew.