I still remember that day exactly 18 years ago. I was on the phone with Steve Creech, the Fire Coordinator for the state of Indiana and he told me that 14 wildland firefighters had been killed on a fire in Colorado. I didn’t believe him. I didn’t WANT to believe him.
This was 1994 and we had entered the modern era of wildfire management. Lessons had been learned, I thought. Reports about fatalities and near-misses were being widely distributed to firefighters so they could avoid making the same, too often, fatal mistakes. Communications, radios, training, weather forecasts, personal protective equipment, fire shelters, and fireline protocols had advanced far beyond the point, I told myself, that double-digit fatality incidents could occur.
While all of those factors had changed, fire had not. It still burned as hot as the Loop fire that killed 10 members of the El Cariso Hotshots in 1966 and the Rattlesnake Fire on which 15 firefighters died in 1953 — and many others — too many others. Training and defensive measures are of little help if a firefighter is in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Today I am thinking about those 14 firefighters who lost their lives on Storm King Mountain in the South Canyon Fire.
On the afternoon of July 6, 1994 near Glenwood Springs, Colorado the South Canyon 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.
You can get a copy of the investigation report HERE (large 4 Mb file).
I’ll add my thanks to Ken’s. I appreciate the reminder of the fire and the portraits of those who died there. I think of them every day. I’m sure many times each day. Doug Dunbar was my son.
I am very sorry for your loss, Mr. Dunbar
Some of the Smokejumpers who were at South Canyon are now some of the most expereinced Smokejumpers in the business. For fear of missing someone, I wont name names but they are all out on the fire line today.
Eric Hipke retired from Smokejumping in 2010. I dont know what he is up to these days? Dale Longanecker retired last September after 38 years, 893 total jumps and 362 fire jumps. Dale rode out the South Canyon blow up sitting on a log and walked away without a scratch. Sonny Soto died from a brief illness the following summer. Quentin Rhoades went on to a successful law carer in Missoula.
I am an old fire fighter, so take your shots when I am done, I don’t care unless you are going to fix it, but listen. I turned over a 7000 acre fire to an IMT that came off that fire and they bascially sucked their thumbs for three days and lost the fire. Messed them up. Should have. When I look at the faces of those kids, and I look at the faces of those young women here and from 30 Mile I get misty and then I get mad. If we are going to send our young folks and especially our young girls out on these fires then give them the benefit of leadership. Yep, I singled out the girls, and I always will, they are special. Nothing has changed, we still have “jumpers in charge” with limited large fire experience, we still don’t talk about “available” fuels, we still monkey around with fires like this until they take off, when they burn we are suprised, its okay to be scared but it is never okay to be suprised, USFS and BLM Districts are still hoarding air assets, and then, we spend an inordinate amount of time explaining how it was a good decision that went bad. Little Bear this year is a fine example. Screw up of monumental proportions and many of you out there want to fight about how it was nobodys fault. Bull! The list goes on, and more kids are going to die. Mourn them always but damnit, make some changes, starting from the bottom up.
I think about Levi everyday, I go by the cemetery on my way to work every day. I want to thank you Bill for remembering. If we let the people forget it will happen again. Levi’s family misses him everyday. thanks for the site. God Bless the Storm King 14
I was assigned to the incident as a type 3 PIO after the blow-up. I think all of us (within the fire community) we’re feeling like we’d just had the wind kicked out of us. This incident has left a permanent mark in my heart and mind and the memory of them and the incident is never very far away.
Remeber it well We (T-62) were at Grand Junction the day before. Knew the Redmond kids. That was where Butler Aircraft was based. We got sent home
when we arrived at Redmond, it had happened.