With the recent deaths of 19 firefighters on the Yarnell Hill Fire, we must remember the deaths of 14 firefighters 19 years ago on the South Canyon fire near Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
On the afternoon of July 6, 1994 the fire spotted across the drainage and beneath firefighters, moving onto steep slopes and into dense, highly flammable Gambel oak. Within seconds, a wall of flame raced up the hill toward the firefighters on the west flank fireline. Failing to outrun the flames, 12 firefighters perished. Two helitack crew members on top of the ridge also died when they tried to outrun the fire to the northwest. The remaining 35 firefighters survived by escaping out the east drainage or by seeking a safety area and deploying their fire shelters. More info here.
The firefighters who lost their lives that day:
- Kathi Beck
- Tami Bickett
- Scott Blecha
- Levi Brinkley
- Robert Browning
- Doug Dunbar
- Terri Hagen
- Bonnie Holtby
- Rob Johnson
- Jon Kelso
- Don Mackey
- Roger Roth
- James Thrash
- Richard Tyler
If you are over 40 years old, do you remember where you were when you heard about the 14 deaths? I heard about it on a phone call from Steve Creech, the Fire Coordinator for the State of Indiana. After I hung up I thought that can’t be true. In this day and age, we no longer have large groups of firefighters being killed at the same time. We’ve grown and learned beyond that, I told myself, refusing to believe it.
And this past Sunday, I had the same feeling — 19 firefighters dead? That can’t be true. But fark, we have not grown and learned beyond that. We are still fighting fire with sharpened pieces of metal attached to the ends of sticks, under, in many cases, aircraft built for the Korean War. We still put wet stuff on the red stuff. And… dammit, we can still lose 95 percent of a hotshot crew in a matter of minutes… in 2013.
I hope we don’t passively resign ourselves, thinking that this is inevitable.
Dammit guys and gals…. Let’s Be Careful Out There.
I was in the SW coordination center when I heard. I was friends with one of the people that died as well as a number of others that worked on the GJ District, and I’d worked on a fire in AK with another that died there. That event set the tone for the rest of my career.
I was sweltering in the evening heat in northern Colo. when I heard about it on a Denver radio station, and as soon as I heard “helitack” I had kittens. My brother was at the time a helitack foreman operating out of JeffCo, and I thought the worst. As I found out later, both his crew and the Grand Junction helitack were in GJT that morning. Only God knows why the GJT helitack was fatefully dispatched to South Canyon that morning, and my brother’s crew was dispatched to the Mitchell Lakes incident in the San Juan NF north of Durango. After a full day of operations (hearing nothing yet about South Canyon), they grounded near Durango, and my brother phoned in to give a status update to JeffCo dispatch. The first words he heard were “”Have you talked to your wife? You better call your wife!”, followed by an account of what was known at the time. Needless to say, the word spread to the rest of the family, and we all slept well that night….except for him. To quote him: “That was the beginning of the end of operations for me.”
I completely agree that something drastic has to change to make a difference. I like to think that I do my part, however small. I read all the reports and the books trying to get a better understanding. I have read everything printed on the South Canyon incident , the Man Gulch , The Thirty Mile the Rattle Fire, even The Great Chicago and the Peshtigo back in 1910. We are facing some of the worst conditions in a long time. Yet nothing has really changed to protect our fire fighters or the public. I was an engine boss on a fire in the great basin somewhere.The company owners were waiting for us when we came in off line because the three of us happen to be from Central Oregon and worked along side the Priniville HotShots many times. The company made a special effort to lesson the impact that the accident may have had on us and I am forever grateful for their efforts. We chose to continue working and felt that to be the best way to honor the fallen. Years later we were called to the Iron Fire arriving the day after the multiple fatality there. There have been so many others, so how do we honor them if we don’t learn from their loss? Is remembering their names enough?
Getting ready for a western fire assignment. Knew three of the people killed and for years after I always took the extra time to look at the entire situation before entering it. Years later I turned down a dangerous, rushed and unplanned assignment and the crew backed me fully despite the vile threats of the person giving us the assignment.
I was in my parents living room watching the news. I was eleven and can remember it well to this day. I can remember wondering why anyone would want to be on a mountain called Storm King.
how about Knox ranch entrapment -cascade….Burn by…whatever you want to call it.130 of us.it was a real “come to Jesus” moment for a lot of us.gov.downplayed error-responsibility.
I too agree. Why do we keep putting our best and brightest in these situations?
I remember the day well, It was my tenth summer of wildland firefighting. Our hotshot crew got the news while we were at a fire. We just kept working throughout the day and several days afterwards. I heard about the helicopter crash in the Gila NF later that year. I watched the ABC news cast Turning Point, Inferno on Storm King Mountain, which came out later that year. I still play and discuss the VHS tape for my firefighters in July, so that they can remember or learn from it. I know that some newer wildland folks do not know what happened or why. I also discuss past close calls that I have had during my summers of wildland firefighting. I can see who actually gets it and who doesn’t. I know that during these close calls, I had good situational awareness, but I also know that sometimes nature and fire will do something unpredicatable. I tell everyone that each and every wildland fire out there is not the same, there is always something different in each one. What I have done is to learn from the good fires and the bad fires. I agree that trees and houses will burn, they always have and always will, but firefighters do not have to. I will remember and continue to pass along my safety messages to those that will listen.
Well said, Bill. Something dramatic has to evolve in the wildland fire suppression world and environment.
Bill
19 yrs ago I was, still am, with the NPS. That day I was the crew leader at Dinosaur NM. We knew the cold front was coming. I have to question why we allow smokejumpers to jump on a single tree fire in N.Ca. That had no spread potential. Yet this dangerous fire was worth the life of Luke Sheehy. Now we have 19 hotshots who died for …what? Houses? Pride? Honor? You, yes YOU the homeowner in the urban interface, clean your place up, get insurance and tell your community planners to not protect your house. Why did 14 family members die 19 years ago for shrub land? Why do we have the arcane fire policies we practice? It is time for the homeowner to accept responsibility for their property, be it fire, flood, tornado, hurricane and let the dreaded govt get back to managing the people’s land. Houses in the urban interface are like trees in the forest. Let em burn!