38 years ago today. Thankfully no lives were lost! Im not alone in feeling appreciative beyond words for the lessons that have been passed down because of this incident. Always remember that fires on flat ground are at the mercy of the wind. It can be a HARD place to be when you cant see the forest though the trees & many logging roads going every which way & T-cells pushing fire in all directions.
“At around 1700, thundercells moved over the fire causing the fire to increase in intensity into a crown fire that burned over the 3 engines and hand crew, who sought shelter in an opening in the forest and deployed fire shelters. The entrapped firefighters were forced to move from this initial deployment site and redeploy on a road about 40 minutes after the initial crown fire initiation. The group of 25 firefighters left their fire shelters and walked out of the fire area at 1810. In all, 17 of the 25 firefighters were taken to area hospitals with various injuries. Burn injuries were characterized as “a few first and second degree burns.” Two firefighters were transferred to a burn center.”
