Eric Hipke: Itís been two decades from the time when the South Canyon Fire killed 14
firefighters on the slopes of Storm King Mountain in Colorado.
Each spring, the Redding Hotshots wrap up their fire refresher training by leading a
staff ride to the site.
They come prepared having read John MacLeanís book and the 1998 follow up to the original
investigation report.
Some students test their fitness using the same fireline escape route used in 1994.
They face a reality of hiking in steep, uneven terrain and additional challenges that being
part of a large group could bring.
Over the years, the fire community has come to recognize that human factors are just as
important as keeping track of the fire itself.
Fire is just going where the fuel, wind and topography allow it.
We are the ones that put ourselves in harmís way.
Itís often a sobering moment for many students when they hear the story straight from the
survivors, and relate to the circumstances, realizing they might have done the same thing.
Twenty years ago, I was one of the 49 firefighters on Storm King Mountain.
Over the last year, Iíve interviewed 11 of us that were there.
Now, we will take you through the fire as we experienced it, so you can learn from our
mistakes.
Colorado is in a severe drought after a low snowfall winter and a hot dry spring.
An evening lightning storm starts many new fires on the Grand Junction District.
One bolt strikes a ridge coming off Storm King Mountain near the town of Glenwood Springs.
The small fire smoldered and occasionally torched pinyon and juniper trees.
That smoke is noticed by many in the area and reported to authorities.
One man calls directly to the BLM Grand Junction Office.
Heís located in South Canyon, across the river from the smoke and dispatch, needing
a fire name, records it as the South Canyon Fire, and that becomes the official fire name
from the on.
At 1414, with a thunder cell dumping rain in the area, a BLM engine foreman reports
to dispatch that the fire is in rugged terrain and is inaccessible with the current weather.
He recommends smokejumpers and also a helicopter for water drops when conditions improve.
At 1438, a plane load of smokejumpers, a lead plane and an airtanker are rolling out of
Grand Junction Air Center toward the fire, 70 air miles away.
At this point, it would have been a classic initial attack use of smokejumpers, but instead,
five miles out, dispatch calls and diverts them to a new fire 55 miles away.
A wind driven sage flats fire that went to 160 acres that night with engines and crew
on it.
With the local crews committed to other fires on the district, no other action is taken
this day on the small, low priority South Canyon Fire.
Allen Bell: Thereís the fire.
Today is July 4th.
Probably started by lightning a day or two ago.
Itís less than a half mile from my house.
Hipke: Late that afternoon, during a lull in the fireís activity, Butch Blancoís BLM
engine, a Forest Service engine and Michelle Ryersonís small handcrew arrive at the freeway.
Blanco has been assigned as the incident commander and Ryerson is squad boss.
Michelle Ryerson: Saw it, ya know, on the hillside, inconspicuous, just kinda backing
itself down the hill and not a lot of fire activity and at that point in time we knew
ya know, it was going to be too late to try to get up there.
The spring was very busy.
I mean, I initial attacked my first fire we went out in March.
It was pretty consistent initial attack from then on.
Hipke: They drive to the BLM office in west Glenwood Springs to prepare for the next day
and to try and get some needed sleep.
Blanco calls dispatch requesting more firefighters, an airtanker and helicopters for crew haul
and bucket work, but resources are stretched thin.
That evening, the fire grows to 11 acres and is estimated to be 29 acres by the morning.
No helicopter support coming, Blanco plus six, start the long hike up whatís become
known as the East Drainage.
It took three hours to reach the fire.
Ryerson: As you got, ya know, towards the top of that, youíre just on your hands and
knees, ya know, working your way umm to the ridge top.
We get to the fire and itís just kinda skunking around in PJ, grasses and that.
Itís just really steep rocky terrain on the interstate side and there wasnít a whole
lot we could do with that.
It just wasnít worth trying to get anybody down on that side.
So we pretty much concentrated on ya know, the the top knob, getting a helispot cuz we
knew we were going to need supplies and then start try to start getting a line around it.
It was pretty obvious that you know, we were going to need some more help.
Hipke: An airtanker arrives, but because of down drafts and terrain, can only make drops
on the interstate side of the fire.
Pilot radios Blanco that this would be a better job for a helicopter.
Blanco replies, ìIíd love to have one.î Ryerson: Put in a little bit of line and then
our saws broke, so that pretty much, ya know, ended what we could really effectively get
done.
And it was late enough in the day, it was probably umm ya know, time that we start hiking
out anyways.
Ya know, about that time we were hiking out that the first load of smokejumpers were coming
in.
We didnít have a face-to-face with them before we left.
Hipke: Orbiting the fire, are eight Montana based smokejumpers.
Don Mackey is jumper in charge.
Also on board are Sarah Doehring and Kevin Erickson.
Their day had started at a spike base in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Sarah Doehring: Loaded up on the plane and we flew to GJ, we landed and umm they said
we gotta request for you guys, but weíre gonna brief you up.
Kevin Erickson: I think we talked in generalities about, ya know, weíve been having red flag
warnings every day and and it has to do with low humidity and afternoon winds.
Ya know weíve been living with red flag warnings for weeks and weeks.
Maybe we were a little maybe I was complacent and uh, it was just that didnít mean a whole
heck of a lot to me.
You knew it was gonna be hot and dry in the afternoon and youíre probably going to have
some winds come up.
Doehring: And uh, we were all pretty happy.
It was our first umm, our first fire mission in the season and the first one in pretty
much almost two years because 1993 was so quiet.
Erickson: We were happy to go finally get on a fire and it looked like, ya know, looked
like a pretty good one.
Doehring: We were all pretty stoked because we just see thisÖAt first I couldnít even
see the whiffs of smoke and then the plane went around and circled it and basically it
was just wisps of smoke coming out.
We were pretty happy, high-fiving an era, it was just gonna be a piece of cake, ya know.
Weíre gonna jump this thing.
Weíre gonna have a line by midnight and itís gonna be a done deal.
Erickson: Ya know, we didnít recognize how steep it really was and how big it really
was over the top of that.
Doehring: So the spotter selected a jump spot and uh, Don Mackey, first in the door, picked
one out and Don and I were jump partners.
We went out first and followed them out, and uh I was thankful he was first cuz it was
only my, this was my fourth season of smokejumping, so pretty young in my career and uh.
And I remember opening up and looking around like, where did that jump spot go.
But I could see Don and basically tried to follow him in.
Hipke: They complete jump operations, gather cargo and hike the ridge to the fire.
Mackey scouts and calls Blanco, reporting that the fireís crossed Blancoís handline
and is now burning actively.
The eight jumpers start lining the east flank.
Doehring: Itís just scattered grass and PJ type thing and rocks.
Digging was pretty easy, umm, and, but as we started to go down that east side, it was
pretty steep.
Erickson: And uh, as we worked our way around, uh, it got dark and then a lot of stuff started
rolling down on top of us.
Doehring: Iím trying to recall who it was that almost got taken out, I wanna say it
was Woods, but Iím not sure.
And thatís when we decided it was kinda a lost cause right now, it was, we just couldnít
see the things that were rolling.
I remember Don saying, ìWell, ya know, maybe we outta just pull out of here and weíll
head up on top.
Itís not worth getting killed over here.î So, we uh, called it a night and hiked back
up to the top and uh, made camp up there.
Hipke: Mackey radios up dispatch, estimates the fire at 50 acres, and orders to type 1
crews.
Doehring: That night was just one of those restless type sleeps just because of the wind
and you could hear the cars go by on the interstate and you could also hear the train.
At one point I remember waking up and walking over and looking at the edge going wow this
fire did grow a little bit, ya know, this is a lot bigger than it was yesterday and
it looks like a little bigger than what we can handle right now.
But yeah, I woke up the next morning and uh, Don had already been up scouting and I could
hear him talking to dispatch on the radio.
Hipke: Mackey requests a helicopter for crew haul and bucket work and a plane to be an
eye in the sky.
He is talked into using one helicopter for everything.
Doehring: It was so windy that morning so we kinda went off the edge a little bit in
the trees and had breakfast and thatís when I took that picture.
So we just chatted and umm Don briefed us on what he had talked to dispatch about.
Ya know, talking about our game plan for that day.
Erickson: It was pretty well nuked out around H1 where you felt pretty good, but all the
way around there was no there was no control line underneath ya or anything like that.
So thatís why we wanted to get something up on top to start off from so we could start
digging and try to flank that fire.
Basically use that ridgeline as a good uh defensible starting point.
Um, otherwise we didnít have a good starting point.
Hipke: Butch Blancoís crew starts hiking up the east drainage.
The next BLM Forest Service crew now numbers 11.
It had been another sleepless night for those at the BLM office.
Ryerson: And the phones rang constantly the whole entire night.
I mean the rang and rang and so finally I picked it up because I couldnít figure out
why why people were why was the office phone ringing after hours.
Ya know, it was a resident calling in umm ya know, the fire.
Yya know going in to the shift that day we knew there was a cold front, but the forecast
that we had heard before we left the office was that to expect moisture, so we made sure
that we put our rain gear umm in our PG bags.
That was more on my mind than ya know, the winds and and how it played out.
Hipke: Blanco makes it to the saddle area and checks in with dispatch.
He learns that a hotshot crew and another load of jumpers are on their way.
Ryerson: When we got up there, I was very surprised how big the fire had grown and a
lot of it I couldnít see.
It was down ya know, the west drainage down in the gamble oak.
Hipke: Blanco and Mackey meet for the first time and discussed tactics.
Since the terrain blocks most of the fire from view, they agree that they need to recon
the fire from the air before finalizing the plan.
Blancoís crew is to brush out the handline that the jumpers are putting in from H1, clear
another helispot, H2, to fly crews and their gear in, and jump gear out.
Mackey flags a starting point for the jumpers to line the west flank.
Doehring: And then we got to the where the fire went off the west side and we were gonna
dig line down there.
And when we got to that point thatís where I was like hmmm how did we get so lucky cuz
I remember looking over the edge and just seeing that very tall brush.
Hipke: Helicopter 93-Romeo arrives on the scene and lands at Canyon Creek Estates to
set up helibase with their ground crew.
A plane load of jumpers arrives over the fire.
This load is carrying a mix of McCall, Missoula and North Cascades smokejumpers, including
myself.
Late the night before, we had demobed off a fire into Grand Junction.
After a short nightís sleep, another fire was awaiting us.
While waiting for the pilots to arrive, we had time to ready our gear and get a briefing.
Mike Cooper: But I do recall, we got a jump weather briefing that morning and we were
notified about the impending weather front coming in the afternoon.
Tony Petrilli: Talking about the IC and and the ya know, he he uses jumpers, heís comfortable
with jumpers, ya know, make sure you do a good job and.
Cooper: We went and flew the fire and as we flew the fire I had visions of another beautiful
high mountain fire and the aspens and the Rockies and it was in the shale country and
it was gambleís oak and it was a messy sunbaked piece of crap really as far as a firefighter
would look at it.
Hipke: Just looking at this big, ugly, smoldering pig wondering what are we gonna do with this
thing I mean look out there how would we, ya know, what sorta tactics is this is this
hung up all over the place kinda fingery.
Petrilli: No real, ya know, heel, flanks.
Top of the fire was all on every side of this little mountain top.
Dale Longanecker: I remember getting a good look at the fire cuz I could see where the
the guys I could see their yellow shirts ya know, theyíre kinda strung out along the
main ridge.
So I figure while they were working on that side of the fire, ya know and now we just
need to concentrate on this west side.
Petrilli: Being a smokejumper, you always see things from an aerial view.
Itís like oh it doesnít look that steep.
Oh it doesnít look that far.
Then you get on the ground and itís like wow this is steep.
Wow this is far.
Hipke: After jump operations are completed, we tie in with the other jumpers who are starting
the west flank line.
The helicopter takes Blanco and Mackey on a recon, and for the first time they see just
how big the fire is.
Since all the firefighters are already in place on the main ridge, they go with their
plan.
Mackey calls the jumpers and tells them to continue lining the west flank.
Erickson: And so we drug our feet and said I donít think we wanna go down there, why
donít you come and talk to us first.
Um Don hits the ground and comes down and talks to us.
And uh I grabbed Don and uh just took him off to the side we walked down the hill a
little ways in the brush and say what do you see, what do you see up there.
He says well ya know, it looks pretty sparse down directly below us and uh, itís not burning
very hot and I think we can get around it and uh.
Iím like you sure, ya know whatís ya know, is there a safety zone below us.
He goes yeah, itís pretty open, ya know.
I go OK and about that time we had a tree up on top of the ridge flare up and uh, basically,
you guys and our guys kinda all jumped on it and started digging around it and uh walked
back up to the top.
Cooper: As we were pounding out those two trees on the top of the ridge, thousands of
sparks are blowing off downslope on the back side, the shady side of the ridge.
But it was just due to the timing and it was morning and that side of the slope was still
in shade and still damp from moisture from the night was the only reason that didnít
take off.
I didnít express those concerns to anybody or articulate that, there were more experienced
jumpers on the fire, umm and I just kinda defer to them as far as ya know making the
decisions at that time.
I just, ya know, plugged along with everybody else.
Hipke: And it didnít seem like that bad a plan cuz it obviously smoldering downhill.
Creeping of the fire hadnít been checked.
And so I went OK, well lets lets get this thing corralled.
Erickson: Itís kinda strange.
Everybody just kinda fell into place and started down where that flag was and started flanking
the fire.
There was reasons why we were dragging our feet and, uh, it was because we didnít like
it, and, uh, we probably should have hung to our guns about that.
And didnít, ya know, everything just kinda fell into place and folks went down the hill
and went to work.
Hipke: As we first came of the top, digging the uh line downhill, it wasnít so bad.
Uh the brush was of moderate height, but as we started getting like a couple hundred feet
down, itís itís soon became apparent that it was a lot bigger than it looked.
It was over our heads, 10-12 feet tall.
Cooper: Even the most basic firefighters know, ya know, you start getting into some kind
of vegetation thatís as high as you are, as tall as you are and that thick, youíre
gonna be more umm in tune to what the potential is for things to go wrong.
Hipke: And the only way out was the way that we were constructing and to go back up the
hill.
That was the only that was the only way to get to the safety zone at H1.
The further we went, the further we were getting from our safety zone.
Petrilli: It was just an an uneasy feeling.
Itís uh, ya know, we can do this, ya know letís just hurry up and get it done kinda
thing.
Cooper: Besides a little bit of the more enclosed feeling with the heavy brush, again, there
was no sense of alarm because the fire behavior itself was very benign.
The fire behavior was six-inch flame lengths.
The fire was creeping through dead leaf litter underneath the live gambleís oak.
There was no flame creeping up the bark of the individual um, tree stems.
There was no um crinkling of the leaves, the green leaves hanging above in the canopy.
There was no crinkling, there was no shrinking.
There was no visible indicator that the fuel was being pretreated at all.
Hipke: Ya know, a lot of us are from the northwest and certainly for me, uh, brush, ya know I
was just used to alder brush and it ya know, it burned, fire burned in the twigs and leaves
underneath that, but it just never really burns itís usually a place where you can
catch the fire.
Erickson: You know we tried to burn it out a couple of times up on top, by throwing a
fusee but it wouldnít burn.
We just couldnít get it to burn and so we were under the impression that OK this stuff
is fairly safe now.
It didnít burn then so it must have enough moisture that itís not gonna go now.
Hipke: But then on the other hand, thereís just a it just didnít feel right being in
this stuff.
Iíd never been in a California fire, but I was starting to wonder, is this that kinda
stuff?
Doehring: To be honest I didnít I mean I was a little uncomfortable, but I wasnít,
ya know, so much so that I felt the need to speak up at that time.
Hipke: So one of the many mistakes we made, especially as workers, is we uh, we didnít
pass on our concerns.
Uh, ya know, to Don Mackey.
I think maybe if enough of us had spoken up he might have been swayed and, ya know, we
just didnít like being in here and, but yet thatís just the way the culture was then,
ya know, you just kinda work away, grumble amongst yourselves.
Uh, ya know, Don would walk by and go hey Don how ya doing and walk on and oh man this
is bad.
And then what happened along here is the tree flared up.
And the tree was actually on the other side of this spur ridge right here, so we couldnít
see it but we uh could hear it and it sounded pretty impressive.
Sounded like a lot more than a tree and itís sending up smoke and that kinda confirmed
with us along here that OK this is our excuse to get out of here.
Petrilli: When Mackey said hey letís pull out, ya know, that uneasy feeling that I had
definitely subsided cuz we were starting to walk back up.
Hipke: Longanecker happened to be out there right by it scouting line and he called back
and said no itís OK itís just a single tree.
Longanecker: Called a helicopter to drop a bucket on it, ya know, and then it calmed
down and said well lets go back in and keep at it.
Petrilli: And after that got cooled down itís like ummm now we gotta go back down there.
And definitely more uneasy feeling.
Hipke: More grumbling.
Weíre going back down.
Weíre going even further into it.
As the line construction continues, the flare-up tree becomes the stump and nine Prineville
Hotshots join the west flank fireline crew.
Tom Shepard: Weíd already put in 18-20 days on fires so weíd worked the bugs outta the
tree, we took a day off, umm.
Being close to Crater Lake we said OK letís geeze letís cruise on up there.
A lot of the guys hadnít been there.
Holly cow, ya know, what a better place to spend the Fourth of July uh camaraderie was
just amazing, ya know, everybody was happy, cheerful, looking forward to a great fire
season.
The following morning on the 5th, we got the word OK weíre going to Colorado.
So five hotshot crews flew down to uh Grand Junction.
Bryan Scholz: Thereís a lot of different things that didnít make sense at the time
that the from when we first got to Colorado.
And some of them are pretty typical ya know when we go to the uh got to the airport there
werenít any buses.
And then there werenít sure which fire we were gonna go to and then they had issues
with feeding.
It was just a little confusing.
It was kinda obvious that things were a little unsettled here.
Shepard: Yeah, weíre going OK situation normal, ya know.
Next morning we got up and the bus had our name on it and it said Glenwood Springs, South
Canyon.
So we drove to Glenwood Springs on the bus.
Went to the local BLM office.
Weíd flown so we didnít have the usual compliment of of uh pulaskis and shovels.
The lady in the office didnít have a clue as to what to do to help us.
Sheís going oh well, I didnít know you guys were coming.
Uh, no you canít have those tools.
Those belong to the Colorado River fire crew.
Scholz: They werenít expecting us um.
Didnít know quite what to do with us.
Didnít have any tools.
Had to scrounge around, break in to the river guysí lockers to get some fire tools.
Shepard: No, no, we didnít break in the cache.
As far as I know, ya know, I mean thereís some things that happen that they crew does
that maybe you youíre not aware of as the superintendant.
Scholz: They told us to head in to town, get some lunch and half way there we got turned
around cuz they needed us on some fire.
So there was a little confusion in the system.
Shepard: So we got up to the Canyon Creek Estates.
You could see the fire just laying there.
Not real active, pretty calm, pretty innocent.
My usual MO is to get a recon, talk to as many folks as I can about whatís going on
and look for myself.
When I put the squads together and put the manifest together I hadnít taken into account
some heavy weights that we had on the crew.
The helitack saw that and they swapped me out for Tami Bickett.
I bawked and I, wait a minute, what about my recon flight and oh weíll get it in, donít
worry.
So, first five get flown over.
John Kelso, Tami Bickett and the squad bosses they met right away with Blanco and made plans
before I got there.
Um helicopter comes back, we get loaded up.
The IC is over there going ìhurry up, hurry up.î So, we zipped over there and I didnít
get a recon flight, which I think was crucial in the outcome.
Blanco took me aside and kinda laid out what the plan was.
Asked if my guys could go down and it was too soon for me to even interject anything,
ya know, into that plan because I hadnít gotten a feel for anything yet.
These jumpers have been here ummm.
They scouted the lay of the land they know whatís going on.
Itís itísÖ So without my going down there, I trust the IC and and the uh well Don Mackey
basically.
That things were OK down there.
Hipke: The Prineville crew shuttle is interrupted to do bucket work.
Blanco takes Shepard up to the H1 safety zone to show him the fire.
No lookouts are posted and the train blocks views.
Shepard searches for a better vantage while waiting for the second half of his crew to
fly up.
The first half of Prineville integrates with the west flank jumpers.
Doehring: Pretty excited because one of my rookie bros was on the Prineville Hotshots
and I was wondering if Iíd see him.
Erickson: Knew John Kelso pretty well.
John Kelso and uh he come walking in and everybody, ya know, giving high fives and said howdy
to him.
Doehring: So we chatted and then we said well weíll get together at dinner time.
And uh, we talked and they uh they kinda fell into line.
Shepard: Routinely checked in with with John down there on the radio and howís it going,
John.
Oh, great, ya know, weíre doing fine.
Hipke: Scouting the line, Longanecker is discovering the true scale of the area.
Longanecker: Try to find an open area little bit open where you could see anything was
like we shouldnít have to go any further.
Is this it?
And we come fire up and we go way over here.
Hipke: Back in Canyon Creek Estates, Bryan Scholz and the second half of the Prineville
Hotshots are observing the fire while waiting for the helicopter to finish bucket drops.
Scholz: So Iím looking at something that doesnít make sense.
These folks are up here, conducting an operation, cutting line, throwing buckets around, running
saws and way down below them thereís a smoke.
Well that doesnít make sense what theyíre doing.
Hipke: On the west flank line, we had a major spur ridge that was coming off H1 that was
blocking our view down canyon.
A line construction gets us out of the brush and to that spur ridge.
Cooper: And when you got on the lunch spot ridge, the vegetation changed with the aspect
of that finger ridge.
Looking uphill to the left was all gambleís oak.
To the right was starting to become more open, pinyon pine um with light grasses on the ground
and a lot of mineral soil.
Hipke: And thatís where, much to our surprise, the fire wasnít generally following the contour
anymore.
It as it had been on the other side and we got to this ridge and all the sudden thereís
smoke coming from way far down and we canít see canít even see where itís coming from.
Cooper: And I was ahead of everybody else so I kinda, ya know, looked the area over
and so I figured it would be a good place to take a break because if the fire did take
off we wouldnít have to go anywhere.
Hipke: And the Missoula jumpers, theyíre kinda above me here and the Prineville started
filtering below and I was kinda sitting with uh Dale Longanecker eating for awhile and
then uh he went off to scout.
Cooper: Longanecker dropped off one side to scout for line cuz the fire edge on that side
was uh incident was not very well defined.
It was patchy, um there was, ya know, clump of trees on fire here.
Clump of trees over there thatís not.
It wasnít a clean edge as opposed to everything we had come down so far.
Hipke: As forecasted, the cold front is advancing into the Storm King Mountain area.
Earlier in the day, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service in Grand Junction,
was alarmed by the 40 miles per hour wind gusts that was associated with the front as
it passed outlining weather stations.
Recognizing that this meant trouble for firefighters, he called all the dispatchers in the area,
telling them to pass the updated warning to their staffed fires.
The only district to fail to pass that warning was the Grand Junction District.
After completing bucket work, the helicopter is refueled and flies the second half of the
Prineville Hotshots to the fire.
Kip Gray: It was interesting when I stepped out of the helicopter the first thing that,
ya know, that I noticed was when the helicopter flew away I was expecting that wind to quite,
no more rotor wash.
Man the wind is still howling even after the helicopter left.
Had to hold your hardhat on your head kind of a wind.
Uh, that probably should have got my attention a little bit, but Iím ready to go to work.
Shepard: They were happy to be there, ya know, happy to to be productive and finally get
rolling.
Scholz: I get out on the last load um and uh meet uh uh the IC and and Tom Shepard and
the crew boss and we get lined out with an assignment to brush out this ridge top um
which makes sense to me.
Um, itís a good place to hold.
Itís a good place to be and uh necessary thing uh if weíre going to have a safe place
to operate.
Alex Robertson: We assembled our gear and we received a briefing from Bryan Scholz that
our mission was to brush out from H2 to H1. Ryerson: Tied in with Bryan Scholz and we
talked about, ya know, what our group was doing and how weíre gonna roll them into
our operation.
Scholz: Jumpers called in below theyíd run out of water and that gave me an excuse to
go down that fireline and see them.
Shepard: So we went to work and I continued to my lookout spot but Iím uneasy if Iíd
knew what it was that was bugging me then Iíd had good reason to pull the plug.
Scholz: Generally when you build a line right on the fireís edge youíre bringing your
safety zone with you.
Thereís no unburned fuel between you and the fire.
What this fire had done was it had backed down to all of this brush on this hillside
and the canopy of the brush was still intact and the fact everyone on the fire had unburned
fuel between the fire and where they were.
Hipke: Bryan Scholz hikes down the west side fireline with two five gallon cubies of water.
He meets Roger Roth at the stump.
Scholz: Ran into a smokejumper who was wrestling with a burning log.
He was trying to go down the hill on it.
And uh so I set down the water and then we wrestled with the log awhile and got it set
in bed so it wouldnít roll down and we chatted for awhile and uh at that point I intended
to go on.
I needed to see what was down the fireline.
I needed to see what my folks were up to.
I needed to see what was at the bottom of the hill.
And uh, the jumpers said that heíd take the water.
And about that time um I heard from my folks up on the ridge top that the wind had really
picked up.
And that ridge top was really important place.
We really needed to hold that line up there.
I thought it pretty likely that the wind that uh that we would get a spot fire over the
ridge.
So I had to decide am I going to go down the line to a problem that I donít know about
or am I gonna go back up the hill to the problem that I was pretty sure was gonna happen.
And I went back up the hill.
Doehring: Myself and Don Mackey and Kevin Erickson we had a little snack and that was
our lunch spot.
Erickson: Youíre kinda sheltered down in those little draws and uh ya know, you didnít
get a heck of a lot of wind down there.
You could tell that the winds were picking up a little bit afternoon and uh it just didnít
register on us about it being something big coming.
And uh at this time nobody had said anything about ya know, that I had heard like here
comes the big cold front.
Doehring: But thereís all these leaves that are swirling around and the winds picking
up and the smoke was picking up a little bit and uh.
I was a little uncomfortable sitting and I donít know if itís just the nature, ya know,
that if youíre doing something then youíre not thinking that much about it.
Um, feeling a little bit uncomfortable there and then wanting to sorta get back up and
get back to work and get a visual on things.
Erickson: Don headed back up to where you guys were working and he asked Sarah and I
to go back the other way and uh make that line was good.
The water had been bumped to where Roger Roth was working on the tree.
And uh, yeah.
I offered to take that back to the crew at that time and heís like nah I got fresh legs
and I just got here.
Anyway so we kinda argued about that and he ended up winning and uh he left and uh so
Sarah and I just sorta took our time walking back out of there.
Hipke: This is the spot on the line I came down to just off of the lunch spot ridge.
There were embers and litter rolling out of this tree right here.
Started putting in a cup trench, just doing busy work until the decision came to figure
out what our next plan of action was going to be with getting around the fire.
Uh, Mackey came by, chatted with him a little bit and Tami Bickett came by.
She told me that the plan was her crew was going to come in here and maintain this part
of the line.
So she said I could either go back to the lunch spot or just bump around the last person
in her crew until I hit the first jumper that was along there.
And I was going to head back to the lunch spot but then I looked back up the line and
all of her people were already coming down.
It was pretty steep and narrow here.
And so I was OK, ya know, Iíll just sit down here, I thought it was going to be another
hundred feet and it would be a lot further than I wanted to go back into that oak brush.
Dale Longanecker is scouting across a double draws looking for the fireís edge.
Heíd overheard some radio traffic that a bus load of smokejumpers is driving to the
fire from Grand Junction.
When they arrived, he thought, they could work in from the bottom and tie in with our
line.
Longanecker: Itís kinda why I was here.
Was checking out to see what we had to do to keep it from backing down the hill there.
Petrilli: He called us and said, ya know, we have another hot spot area down here.
We got to an area where uh we could see Longanecker cross the uh gully.
Communicated my apprehension with Dale, ya know, talking with the jumpers that were with
me.
Do we wanna get more spread out, ya know, weíre having trouble holding what we have.
Weíre leaving this area here and go down further.
I donít know if we should be doing this, ya know.
As we were having this conversation over the radio, kinda hmm hawin back and forth um we
the fire activity above Dale on his aspect of the ground uh definitely increased.
There was some pine trees in that area and it was definitely getting up into the crowns
with the flame and the heat coming off of it and then rolling back up the hill.
Longanecker: And ya know, so at that point oh man this is just getting bigger.
So I called for a bucket drop and I got one but I think the winds were starting to pick
up on the top and they called for a bucket drop up there.
Ryerson: It was just some of the key leadership folks that have radios, I think there was
a lot of conversation happening on the inter-crew-nets so a lot of the activity that was happening
on the west side I had no knowledge of and we got a spot across the ridgeline.
I was working with um Mackey insuring the helicopter so I asked him if he could free
it up for a couple of bucket drops.
Robertson: Winds very strong coming out of the west uh the last us few minutes of us
cutting brush and swamping.
The swampers were able to lift the brush and the wind would take it off the hill.
Gray: Toss it up in the air and it would disappears right into that east drainage.
And we just weíre doing that over and over and itís kinda fun.
Weíre having fun with it.
Robertson: So we received the order to move up to this spot where we tied in with Bryan.
And uh the spot fire that the helicopter was working was right over here behind us.
At this time we were really aware of the wind, but I wasnít really concerned about it.
It didnít uh there was very little smoke coming off the fire.
I would categorize it as drift smoke at the time.
I wasnít seeing any any torching any flame.
Just heavy winds and a little bit of smoke coming off the fire.
Gray: Weíre about ready to go in there and the helicopter comes to let a bucket go and
it disappears into the wind and at that time things are starting to happen.
Cooper: I donít think anybody on that fire was unaware of the potential that could happen.
I think what would fool people especially if it took us by surprise is how quick the
change came.
It was almost like a switch was flipped.