MISSOULA, Mont. -- Earl Cooley, the smokejumper who took the Forest Service's first leap into a flame-riddled wilderness, died Monday in Missoula. He was 98.

Cooley made the jump into the Nez Perce National Forest on July 12, 1940. His chute nearly failed to open and he landed 140 feet above ground, stuck in a spruce tree. Still, Cooley and fellow jumper Rufus Robinson had the fire under control by the next day.

In 1958, Cooley was named the smokejumper base superintendent in Missoula. He retired from the Forest Service in 1975 to start Cooley Realty.

Cooley also helped found the National Smokejumper Association and served as its president for three years. In 1984, he chronicled much of the Forest Service's early smokejumping history in his book "Trimotor and Trail."