0:00:31.109,0:00:33.210 Travis: It was being managed by a Type 2 Fire Use 0:00:33.210,0:00:34.210 Management Team. 0:00:34.210,0:00:39.800 Started on about the 15th of July, the activity really started to increase with the fire. 0:00:39.800,0:00:44.110 Fire behavior really picked up and they were getting some significant gains in Anchorage. 0:00:44.110,0:00:50.170 They decided to swap out the Black Hills Fire Use Module with the Unaweep Fire Use Module, 0:00:50.170,0:00:55.160 which was gonna be eight people, and myself, and another local guy from the Shoshone. 0:00:55.160,0:01:03.080 We're gonna come in with them to help be local knowledge, show where the fire had been, where 0:01:03.080,0:01:08.040 it had been growing to, what had been going on with it, and where some of the historic 0:01:08.040,0:01:11.230 structures are around the area that would be threatened. 0:01:11.230,0:01:14.890 Speaker 2: Our assignment was to meet at Jack Creek Trailhead. 0:01:14.890,0:01:19.360 We were going to hike in eight miles, to the Venus Cabin, where Black Hills Fire Use Module 0:01:19.360,0:01:20.479 was been working. 0:01:20.479,0:01:25.000 We were going to get a briefing from them, that afternoon, and the next day, they were 0:01:25.000,0:01:26.530 going to be hiking out. 0:01:26.530,0:01:30.780 Initially, that morning started off, it was just going to be a hike into the wilderness. 0:01:30.780,0:01:33.649 It was going to be eight miles in, with a mule train. 0:01:33.649,0:01:36.549 It wasn't supposed to be engaging in any fire activity. 0:01:36.549,0:01:42.150 It was almost a relaxed mindset, knowing, "Hey, I've got eight miles of trail to hike 0:01:42.150,0:01:43.570 along the river. 0:01:43.570,0:01:44.570 It's going to be a beautiful day. 0:01:44.570,0:01:48.970 Go meet in with the Module and the next day's going to be work." 0:01:48.970,0:01:54.670 The mules took off from the trailhead around 1400 and we took off about 20 minutes after 0:01:54.670,0:01:56.440 the mules. 0:01:56.440,0:01:58.510 The packers were local, from the area. 0:01:58.510,0:02:03.110 One was a middle aged gentleman that's been contracting with that district for quite a 0:02:03.110,0:02:08.410 while, and he had a helper, who was a younger boy, about 14 years old, that was from that 0:02:08.410,0:02:09.520 area, also. 0:02:09.520,0:02:12.200 Travis: About halfway up the trail, a little over 0:02:12.200,0:02:18.090 halfway, we were about an hour, little over an hour, into the hike, we received a broken 0:02:18.090,0:02:24.580 message that we were ... Black Hills was advising that we find a spot, downriver from the fire, 0:02:24.580,0:02:28.670 to stage, because they didn't think we'd be able to make it through the fire to the Venus 0:02:28.670,0:02:38.050 Creek Cabin, where we were going to meet them to do a transition out with them. 0:02:38.050,0:02:42.800 Myself and [Lathan 00:02:39], the Unaweep Module leader, discussed some options that 0:02:42.800,0:02:44.510 we had. 0:02:44.510,0:02:47.510 We were also advised that we need to try and get ahold of the packer. 0:02:47.510,0:02:52.330 The packer had a radio, but it was turned off. 0:02:52.330,0:02:58.170 He was going to be dropping some rolls of shelter wrap, to wrap a structure with, at 0:02:58.170,0:03:02.020 the junction of the low water trail and the low water trail, which comes together at Anderson 0:03:02.020,0:03:03.800 Creek. 0:03:03.800,0:03:07.870 Discussed with Lathan that maybe we could catch the packer there, to try and get ahold 0:03:07.870,0:03:12.040 of him, and then also, when we got there, there is a distinct bend in the river with 0:03:12.040,0:03:13.550 a little ridge that we could get on. 0:03:13.550,0:03:17.650 We would have a good view of what's actually going on and that would determine whether 0:03:17.650,0:03:21.640 we need to turn around, and go back to the trailhead, or whether we could keep going 0:03:21.640,0:03:27.790 on, up towards the fire, or if we just need to stage and wait 'til it cooled down. 0:03:27.790,0:03:32.989 The other option was, we could go up Anderson Creek, to a historic structure and maybe start 0:03:32.989,0:03:37.860 doing prep work on that, instead of just holding off. 0:03:37.860,0:03:39.960 We proceed up the trail. 0:03:39.960,0:03:46.110 We got to the junction where the packer had left the shelter wrap and when we got there, 0:03:46.110,0:03:50.890 he wasn't there, so we continued up to what's referred to as the turn around point to see 0:03:50.890,0:03:52.910 what the fire was doing. 0:03:52.910,0:03:56.319 The whole time, on the hike in, we couldn't really see the smoke or anything. 0:03:56.319,0:03:59.440 Tight canyon, smoke was headed off, behind the ridge from us. 0:03:59.440,0:04:05.670 But as soon as we hit the turn around point, we could see that we definitely weren't going 0:04:05.670,0:04:07.129 up canyon anymore. 0:04:07.129,0:04:12.190 It wasn't a plan of turning and going up Anderson, it was just a matter of try and get ahold 0:04:12.190,0:04:15.090 of the packer and we need to get out of here. 0:04:15.090,0:04:20.669 The fire was approximately a half mile away, with a running crown fire. 0:04:20.669,0:04:26.650 Shortly after arriving at the turnaround point, the fire got in alignment with the canyon 0:04:26.650,0:04:32.259 and the winds and the column pretty much blocked out the canyon and started racing down towards 0:04:32.259,0:04:35.599 us. 0:04:35.599,0:04:39.729 When we arrived here, we didn't have all of our PPE on yet. 0:04:39.729,0:04:42.610 We were just hiking up the trail. 0:04:42.610,0:04:47.490 We still had t-shirts on, ball caps. 0:04:47.490,0:04:52.620 We had our line gear with us, our hand tools with us, but we weren't prepared to engage 0:04:52.620,0:04:54.259 a fire, really. 0:04:54.259,0:04:56.680 Immediately when we got to this point, we dropped packs. 0:04:56.680,0:04:59.800 Everybody started gearing up, getting in full PPE. 0:04:59.800,0:05:04.100 As soon as the fire turned and started to line up with the canyon coming down, we could 0:05:04.100,0:05:08.520 see spot fires starting between us and the head of the fire. 0:05:08.520,0:05:11.530 They were starting to torch rather quickly. 0:05:11.530,0:05:14.360 Most of the crew was starting to head back. 0:05:14.360,0:05:15.900 Lathan was turning them around. 0:05:15.900,0:05:23.900 I wanted to wait for the packer, when the 14 year old, with his pack string end up showing 0:05:23.900,0:05:24.900 up. 0:05:24.900,0:05:29.189 We talked to him, just briefly, and told him to ride out the low water trail, all the way 0:05:29.189,0:05:34.619 to the trailhead and not to worry about the pack string, just go as fast as he could. 0:05:34.619,0:05:42.750 Not long after that, the senior packer was seen chasing his horses down the trail, the 0:05:42.750,0:05:45.110 pack animals down the trail. 0:05:45.110,0:05:49.740 By that time, we already had spot fires within a couple hundred feet of us that were starting 0:05:49.740,0:05:54.139 to get up and torch trees between us and the packer. 0:05:54.139,0:05:58.469 The packer, actually, was chasing the horses through some of the flames, little spot fires 0:05:58.469,0:06:06.009 in the grass, and he met up with us and we helped stop the pack animals and get them 0:06:06.009,0:06:09.550 cut free from one another. 0:06:09.550,0:06:11.819 That way they could move a little faster through the trees. 0:06:11.819,0:06:14.569 It's the incident that was referred to as the rodeo. 0:06:14.569,0:06:19.330 Speaker 2: The rodeo, in this situation, was pretty chaotic. 0:06:19.330,0:06:20.969 It caused a lot of chaos. 0:06:20.969,0:06:25.479 It kept people ... It got people distracted from the main idea of getting down and moving 0:06:25.479,0:06:27.070 down the trail. 0:06:27.070,0:06:28.139 The mules were all over. 0:06:28.139,0:06:30.099 People were worried about that. 0:06:30.099,0:06:34.089 The wrangler was yelling at us to cut lines, because the mules were tied together and they 0:06:34.089,0:06:36.619 were getting wrapped around trees. 0:06:36.619,0:06:40.729 We basically helped the wrangler get all his mules in front of us and he started moving 0:06:40.729,0:06:41.729 back down the trail. 0:06:41.729,0:06:46.889 After they started moving down the trail, at this point the fire was on us. 0:06:46.889,0:06:48.229 Spot fires all around us. 0:06:48.229,0:06:52.309 You could feel the heat. 0:06:52.309,0:06:57.509 We were all together, spread out, maybe within 20 yards of each other. 0:06:57.509,0:07:01.449 We started moving down the trail a little bit more, came across a couple packs that 0:07:01.449,0:07:02.990 had been dropped. 0:07:02.990,0:07:05.940 Travis: As I'm running along, I'm kind of in the very 0:07:05.940,0:07:10.189 back, all of a sudden, I see a pack laying on the ground. 0:07:10.189,0:07:15.759 That's when it really starts to dawn on me that we're trapped and we're going to have 0:07:15.759,0:07:16.759 to do something. 0:07:16.759,0:07:22.279 Somebody else has already thought about it, that it's time to find deployment site. 0:07:22.279,0:07:28.250 That's when I started to realize ... To me, biggest realization was when myself and the 0:07:28.250,0:07:30.939 packer had the final words. 0:07:30.939,0:07:37.310 I asked him to come deploy with us and he said he'd take his chances horseback. 0:07:37.310,0:07:42.029 As soon as I said those words, that's when I knew we had to find something right now. 0:07:42.029,0:07:45.229 Speaker 2: At this point, we crossed the river, because 0:07:45.229,0:07:49.800 the fire was on our right side and the only cool place at this time was on the opposite 0:07:49.800,0:07:50.860 side of the river. 0:07:50.860,0:07:52.860 Module Leader, everybody, crossed the river. 0:07:52.860,0:07:58.090 We all crossed the river, started running down to the Anderson Creek junction, because 0:07:58.090,0:08:02.840 we knew that was our last place that we saw a viable option. 0:08:02.840,0:08:04.979 The fire was basically right on top of us. 0:08:04.979,0:08:06.710 There was a little bit of discussion. 0:08:06.710,0:08:08.059 Should we run up Anderson Creek? 0:08:08.059,0:08:10.360 Should we keep trying to run down the pack trail? 0:08:10.360,0:08:13.569 At this point, the decision was made to deploy our shelters. 0:08:13.569,0:08:17.289 The Module Leader counted nine heads and he said, "We're missing one. 0:08:17.289,0:08:18.289 We're missing one. 0:08:18.289,0:08:21.069 Anybody know where Monica is?" 0:08:21.069,0:08:22.069 People looked around. 0:08:22.069,0:08:26.490 The last time we saw her was right at the rodeo. 0:08:26.490,0:08:28.509 We didn't see her crossing the river with us. 0:08:28.509,0:08:32.240 We didn't see her running to the Anderson Creek junction with us. 0:08:32.240,0:08:36.539 Travis: I remember a lot of people, including myself, 0:08:36.539,0:08:39.690 not believing that it could happen to us. 0:08:39.690,0:08:43.240 How could we not outrun a fire, especially down canyon? 0:08:43.240,0:08:46.960 Fires are supposed to travel fast uphill, not downhill. 0:08:46.960,0:08:53.040 Those basic things you learn in fire school that ... It didn't seem to be lining up with 0:08:53.040,0:08:54.040 any of that. 0:08:54.040,0:08:55.830 We couldn't believe that we were actually caught. 0:08:55.830,0:09:00.070 There was a lot going through our minds then. 0:09:00.070,0:09:04.519 Speaker 2: At that deployment site, threw down the [crosscut 0:09:04.519,0:09:10.089 00:09:04], took off my [PG 00:09:06] bag, and literally, I said to myself, "I can't 0:09:10.089,0:09:11.319 believe this is happening. 0:09:11.319,0:09:15.540 Never, ever thought I'd be doing this, grabbing my shelter out of my pack." 0:09:15.540,0:09:19.709 I knew that you had to do it, because you couldn't go down river at this time, couldn't 0:09:19.709,0:09:21.440 go up Anderson Creek. 0:09:21.440,0:09:24.790 You knew that you were relying on this little piece of equipment that you've been trained 0:09:24.790,0:09:25.790 to use. 0:09:25.790,0:09:28.319 You're sitting there going, "I have to use it." 0:09:28.319,0:09:36.759 Pulling those tabs was probably the weirdest thing, to do it for a real life scenario. 0:09:36.759,0:09:42.790 Grabbing the ... Luckily, for nine years I've been in fire, every season you go through 0:09:42.790,0:09:45.610 some type of training, but you never think you're ever going to have to do it. 0:09:45.610,0:09:51.920 So to actually pull that shelter out for real was a different experience. 0:09:51.920,0:09:57.610 When I pulled that shelter out, tried to flake it out, I remember almost laughing to myself, 0:09:57.610,0:10:00.100 because you hear over and over how the wind's going to be blowing. 0:10:00.100,0:10:01.300 Things are going to be loud. 0:10:01.300,0:10:02.790 Things are going to be crazy. 0:10:02.790,0:10:07.200 When you do it out on the lawn on a Spring/Summer day, it's nice and easy to do, but in that 0:10:07.200,0:10:14.709 situation, the wind was 50, 60 miles per hour, enough to just be popping trees over all around 0:10:14.709,0:10:15.709 you. 0:10:15.709,0:10:20.630 The heat, the embers, the smoke, it was ... With all those different environment and factors, 0:10:20.630,0:10:26.310 it was a lot more difficult than anything I've ever prepared for. 0:10:26.310,0:10:29.890 To hang on the shelter, that's absolutely true. 0:10:29.890,0:10:34.089 When you hear about wind being super strong and you need to hang on to your shelter because 0:10:34.089,0:10:38.430 when you flake that out and you shake it, if you're facing with the wind, if you're 0:10:38.430,0:10:41.290 hanging on to it, it's going to be gone. 0:10:41.290,0:10:45.689 The fact that those things in the training, even though I didn't actually get those real 0:10:45.689,0:10:50.019 case scenarios in training, they're in your head, so when you actually did do this, you 0:10:50.019,0:10:51.290 were prepared for it. 0:10:51.290,0:10:54.920 Travis: I had a New Generation shelter. 0:10:54.920,0:10:57.550 Pulled out of the case really easy, out of my line gear. 0:10:57.550,0:11:01.410 I dropped my line gear right as I crossed the river, so I came in to the site with my 0:11:01.410,0:11:04.230 shelter. 0:11:04.230,0:11:05.600 Pulled the plastic tab. 0:11:05.600,0:11:07.480 It popped out really easy. 0:11:07.480,0:11:10.010 Grabbed the two yellow tabs on it. 0:11:10.010,0:11:11.010 Flipped it open. 0:11:11.010,0:11:14.550 The wind wasn't really extreme at the site. 0:11:14.550,0:11:15.630 Popped open really nice. 0:11:15.630,0:11:21.380 It was just textbook, just like the training's always went, how they talk about it. 0:11:21.380,0:11:24.439 It wasn't something I thought about. 0:11:24.439,0:11:29.689 It was just second nature to pop the shelter out, and to follow the steps, and to put your 0:11:29.689,0:11:35.160 feet towards where the fire's going to be coming, grouping people up so we were tighter 0:11:35.160,0:11:36.230 proximity. 0:11:36.230,0:11:39.970 Everything really seemed to go just like the trainings say. 0:11:39.970,0:11:44.410 Speaker 2: When the fire made the first push down, everybody 0:11:44.410,0:11:50.029 else was in their shelters at this time, prepared, but I hadn't completely gotten mine yet. 0:11:50.029,0:11:55.420 I was using mine more as a shield, because the fire, initial push, was probably 30, 40 0:11:55.420,0:11:58.360 yards on the other side of the creek from us. 0:11:58.360,0:12:03.980 I used my shelter more as a shield from the embers and the wind and I actually took some 0:12:03.980,0:12:08.329 pictures of the spot, because, to me, it was a very, very unique situation. 0:12:08.329,0:12:12.470 I thought, "If this is the only push I'm ever going to have, it would be nice to have documented 0:12:12.470,0:12:15.460 this, have pictures of exactly what happened." 0:12:15.460,0:12:20.570 I wasn't threatened enough, at this time, where I had to be completely in my fire shelter. 0:12:20.570,0:12:24.779 Travis: The first flame front that run us in to the 0:12:24.779,0:12:29.350 shelters really wasn't that intense. 0:12:29.350,0:12:34.810 I went in to my shelter, purely because it was probably the main front. 0:12:34.810,0:12:43.019 A couple of guys stayed out of their shelters, realizing what it was, but when they said 0:12:43.019,0:12:49.810 that it was done, at first, I thought that meant that the main flame front had been by, 0:12:49.810,0:12:54.759 then could see the sea of green timbers still around us, see spot fires throughout. 0:12:54.759,0:12:57.420 We knew that we were going to have to go back in, or I knew I was going to have to go back 0:12:57.420,0:12:58.769 in, anyways. 0:12:58.769,0:13:01.920 Speaker 2: We got out of our shelters. 0:13:01.920,0:13:06.519 The Assistant Module Leader started getting everybody together while myself and the Module 0:13:06.519,0:13:12.920 Leader took some fusees and lit up Anderson Creek, a little backfire. 0:13:12.920,0:13:14.769 We knew there was already a spot fire up there. 0:13:14.769,0:13:18.730 We knew it was going to be coming down Anderson Creek, so we tried creating a little bit of 0:13:18.730,0:13:21.819 space between us and when that spot fire hit us. 0:13:21.819,0:13:25.970 The other seven individuals regrouped, got a little closer together, prepped up the site 0:13:25.970,0:13:27.300 a little bit more. 0:13:27.300,0:13:28.839 There's a little bit of grass in there. 0:13:28.839,0:13:32.540 Not much, but we went ahead and cleared anything out that could combust. 0:13:32.540,0:13:38.120 It was a really good deployment site, as far as ... It was flat, level. 0:13:38.120,0:13:40.319 It was an old sandbar. 0:13:40.319,0:13:43.439 It was a really good deployment site. 0:13:43.439,0:13:44.439 The wind was still strong. 0:13:44.439,0:13:46.870 You could hear snags falling left and right. 0:13:46.870,0:13:47.899 Couldn't see much. 0:13:47.899,0:13:49.560 The smoke was very thick. 0:13:49.560,0:13:54.779 Just being out of the shelters were those five minutes that we reorganized and regrouped, 0:13:54.779,0:13:58.490 your eyes were watering, your breathing already had changed, and you knew you almost wanted 0:13:58.490,0:14:03.670 to get back in the shelter just to get a break from the smoke. 0:14:03.670,0:14:08.600 At this time, the fire that had gone down Greybull had crossed through a creek and was 0:14:08.600,0:14:13.540 starting come up Anderson, while the spot fire, up above Anderson Creek, were actually 0:14:13.540,0:14:14.579 starting to come together. 0:14:14.579,0:14:18.779 We knew that we were going to have an intense, intense push through there. 0:14:18.779,0:14:26.999 That's when everybody got in their fire shelters, grouped together, and rode this one out. 0:14:26.999,0:14:31.810 When I got in my shelter ... When I knew I had to get in my shelter, the situation was 0:14:31.810,0:14:37.490 life threatening, prepared best as I could with the training. 0:14:37.490,0:14:41.959 Had my radio, had my water. 0:14:41.959,0:14:46.949 You had to hold down the fire shelter, because the wind was crazy. 0:14:46.949,0:14:51.320 It was one of those things that when the wind was going and the fire shelter would kind 0:14:51.320,0:14:56.579 of collapse, the tent would fall down, you knew it ... The heat from the fire shelter 0:14:56.579,0:14:59.499 touching your Nomex was hot enough where you had to keep creating that air pocket. 0:14:59.499,0:15:04.420 You would actually have to hold down the shelter and punch that tent formation back up. 0:15:04.420,0:15:05.930 You could hear the push going by. 0:15:05.930,0:15:07.290 You could feel it. 0:15:07.290,0:15:11.850 You had to be breathing in your ground or through your Nomex. 0:15:11.850,0:15:18.019 You couldn't be ... Just the air in the shelter was even getting hot to breathe. 0:15:18.019,0:15:25.630 It was a situation that I couldn't believe I was in and also, I thought, "While I'm here, 0:15:25.630,0:15:27.939 I want to document it." 0:15:27.939,0:15:32.749 At this point, I had a camera in my pocket that I'd been taking pictures of this whole 0:15:32.749,0:15:33.749 incident. 0:15:33.749,0:15:40.589 I stuck my hand out underneath the sand for a brief moment and just took a couple pictures 0:15:40.589,0:15:41.829 of the fire behavior around us. 0:15:41.829,0:15:47.410 I didn't know exactly what I was getting, but I knew that it was going to be something. 0:15:47.410,0:15:49.690 There was one point where it was like, "You know what? 0:15:49.690,0:15:54.691 I think I'm going to make out of this situation okay, but if not, hopefully this camera will 0:15:54.691,0:15:56.550 be okay and they'll have some pictures." 0:15:56.550,0:15:59.321 Travis: I remember feeling like it was hard to breathe. 0:15:59.321,0:16:07.509 I remember thinking that my back in on fire, like the skin, stuff like that, because everything 0:16:07.509,0:16:11.059 I'd heard of shelter deployment's people get burned still. 0:16:11.059,0:16:13.809 I assumed that I was getting burned. 0:16:13.809,0:16:18.319 Everywhere that felt really hot, I thought I was burning. 0:16:18.319,0:16:19.319 That wasn't the case. 0:16:19.319,0:16:22.089 I didn't receive any burns, but that's what it felt like. 0:16:22.089,0:16:29.070 I do remember fighting for not just air, but for something that was cool enough to feel 0:16:29.070,0:16:30.070 like you could breathe it. 0:16:30.070,0:16:34.990 It felt like you were sticking your head in an oven, trying to breathe. 0:16:34.990,0:16:37.019 Kind of unbearable heat. 0:16:37.019,0:16:39.259 I know I passed out for a period of time. 0:16:39.259,0:16:41.360 I don't know how long. 0:16:41.360,0:16:42.920 It was definitely hot in there. 0:16:42.920,0:16:49.399 It was a struggle to get fresh air, so you're always ... I had my hands right by my face, 0:16:49.399,0:16:52.540 digging in the sand, trying to get cooler and cooler air to breathe. 0:16:52.540,0:16:54.852 Speaker 2: When that second push came over and it was 0:16:54.852,0:16:58.230 so loud, you hear people trying to talk, but you couldn't hear anything. 0:16:58.230,0:17:00.809 The noise, it was a freight train coming through. 0:17:00.809,0:17:02.930 It was the loudest I ever heard fire. 0:17:02.930,0:17:04.309 Didn't know it would sound like that. 0:17:04.309,0:17:10.800 You could hear the embers, pine cones, twigs, sticks hitting your shelter. 0:17:10.800,0:17:14.530 You hear how you could try to prepare for this stuff, but to actually be in it, it's 0:17:14.530,0:17:15.530 all there. 0:17:15.530,0:17:16.530 It's just like, "Holy cow. 0:17:16.530,0:17:17.530 This is really happening." 0:17:17.530,0:17:20.740 Travis: You could hear trees snapping. 0:17:20.740,0:17:24.079 You could hear the roar of the fire, the wind. 0:17:24.079,0:17:28.730 All of it combined, it just like they say, kind of like a freight train sound, when you're 0:17:28.730,0:17:31.680 inside. 0:17:31.680,0:17:33.320 It's definitely an intense sound. 0:17:33.320,0:17:37.350 I remember being a little spooked thinking about one of the trees that were directly 0:17:37.350,0:17:39.960 across the creek from us coming back at us. 0:17:39.960,0:17:44.220 I remember wondering if a rock was going to break and fall off the top and roll down on 0:17:44.220,0:17:45.220 us. 0:17:45.220,0:17:48.340 Just some weird things like that, that we were thinking of. 0:17:48.340,0:17:53.520 I thought a lot about family and friends while I was inside. 0:17:53.520,0:17:58.060 I also thought about the training, all the shelter deployments that I'd been through, 0:17:58.060,0:18:00.610 the practice shelter deployments. 0:18:00.610,0:18:05.660 I thought about my boss taking me to a shelter deployment exercise that focused on nothing 0:18:05.660,0:18:11.690 but site selection instead of run and gun, pop your shelters as quick as you can. 0:18:11.690,0:18:12.980 That one come back to me. 0:18:12.980,0:18:19.360 It felt like it was a good spot because of the rock wall, because it would help protect 0:18:19.360,0:18:22.200 us from a lot of the wind and a lot of the direct flame. 0:18:22.200,0:18:24.760 We didn't have a lot of fuel loading directly in our site. 0:18:24.760,0:18:30.730 I knew it was small in proximity, as far as the crown spacing around us. 0:18:30.730,0:18:40.020 It felt good, so I wasn't thinking a whole lot about much else except family, friends. 0:18:40.020,0:18:44.659 I did think a lot about how I got in that situation when I was inside there. 0:18:44.659,0:18:48.240 You can think a lot in an hour. 0:18:48.240,0:18:51.240 Speaker 2: Once the fire pushed and it was still way 0:18:51.240,0:18:56.580 too smokey, a lot of radiant heat still around, you couldn't get out of your shelter, but 0:18:56.580,0:18:59.260 it's quiet enough where you could try to start talking and asking, "Hey, are you okay?" 0:18:59.260,0:19:00.260 "Yeah. 0:19:00.260,0:19:01.260 Is everybody all right?" 0:19:01.260,0:19:02.260 "Yeah." 0:19:02.260,0:19:03.480 You could kind of communicate a little bit. 0:19:03.480,0:19:06.890 That made you feel okay, because you heard everybody else's voices, so you knew people 0:19:06.890,0:19:08.630 were going to be okay. 0:19:08.630,0:19:11.400 That was nice to have a little bit of communication with people. 0:19:11.400,0:19:16.490 We were in there about right at an hour. 0:19:16.490,0:19:20.020 Pulled the shelter out, kind of walked around, looked at things. 0:19:20.020,0:19:22.110 Everybody else was still in their shelter. 0:19:22.110,0:19:24.760 Kind of started, "Hey, guys, are you okay? 0:19:24.760,0:19:26.270 Come on out." 0:19:26.270,0:19:29.500 People started popping out, knowing it was okay to come out. 0:19:29.500,0:19:40.679 The scene when you came out, it was kind of mind boggling, because our gear that was left 0:19:40.679,0:19:49.940 by our shelters, that had no fuel around them, no direct flame impingement, was melted. 0:19:49.940,0:19:52.760 Tool handles, plastic tool handles, had burnt. 0:19:52.760,0:19:55.580 So right there, you're going, "Holy cow. 0:19:55.580,0:20:01.580 That's how much heat was coming off that 60 foot stand of timber 20 yards from us." 0:20:01.580,0:20:05.290 You looked at some of the shelters and see some delamination and some burn marks and 0:20:05.290,0:20:15.960 you realize that if I didn't have that shelter, right there at that time, you might not be 0:20:15.960,0:20:17.390 here. 0:20:17.390,0:20:22.620 That was kind of crazy, because everybody comes out of that, and you look around at 0:20:22.620,0:20:27.390 your crew members, and people have a different way they react to the situation. 0:20:27.390,0:20:29.409 I came out and I was like, "Wow." 0:20:29.409,0:20:30.409 Soaking it up. 0:20:30.409,0:20:32.690 Taking pictures and going, "Man, I made it through this." 0:20:32.690,0:20:38.280 I go over to a buddy and ask him how he's doing and it's a different level. 0:20:38.280,0:20:39.880 He's not talking. 0:20:39.880,0:20:42.210 You could tell he's upset. 0:20:42.210,0:20:46.830 It's just like ... He's like, "All I could think about were my kids." 0:20:46.830,0:20:53.770 So, when you're there ... I was happy to be in that situation. 0:20:53.770,0:21:00.890 I kind of got brought down a little bit, because you realize that people have different priorities 0:21:00.890,0:21:03.890 in life. 0:21:03.890,0:21:09.770 But we had each other there to talk to and comfort each other and talk about just what 0:21:09.770,0:21:10.919 happened. 0:21:10.919,0:21:16.130 That was nice, but in everybody's mind, they were wondering, "Where was our other crew 0:21:16.130,0:21:17.130 member?" 0:21:17.130,0:21:19.620 Radio communication still hadn't been established. 0:21:19.620,0:21:20.850 We tried. 0:21:20.850,0:21:27.250 Module Leader tried, throughout the whole burn over, to try to be getting ahold of her. 0:21:27.250,0:21:34.710 The whole mood over the situation was really somber, because we thought we might has lost 0:21:34.710,0:21:35.710 somebody. 0:21:35.710,0:21:38.870 We didn't know if that person had rode out on the horses. 0:21:38.870,0:21:39.870 That's initially what we thought. 0:21:39.870,0:21:42.240 We're just going, "I hope she was able to make it." 0:21:42.240,0:21:46.640 Travis: After we came out of the shelters, the communications 0:21:46.640,0:21:50.309 were terrible in this whole drainage. 0:21:50.309,0:21:52.169 It was really hard. 0:21:52.169,0:21:58.580 I tried, several times, getting out on the radio, to contact ICP or to contact the dispatch 0:21:58.580,0:22:02.110 center and I couldn't get ahold of anyone. 0:22:02.110,0:22:06.400 Finally, on the repeater, I was able to get ahold of ICP, but they couldn't understand 0:22:06.400,0:22:08.980 anything I was saying. 0:22:08.980,0:22:14.340 A guy from the local unit that was somewhere out in the flats, he could kind of make out 0:22:14.340,0:22:15.520 what I was saying. 0:22:15.520,0:22:18.260 It was kind of a long back and forth. 0:22:18.260,0:22:24.649 We were trying to figure out if anybody had made it out to the trailhead, mainly trying 0:22:24.649,0:22:30.870 to find out what had happened to the two packers, and also what had happened to Monica. 0:22:30.870,0:22:33.830 We didn't know what her fate was at the time. 0:22:33.830,0:22:38.049 We didn't know if she deployed her shelter, if it was up river, down river, if she made 0:22:38.049,0:22:42.270 it all the way out, if the packer grabbed her on the way out, or what. 0:22:42.270,0:22:47.400 ICP: Yeah, you're still broken up, [inaudible 00:22:43]. 0:22:47.400,0:22:51.240 Schultz: ICP, this is [Schultz 00:22:47]. 0:22:51.240,0:23:00.220 He's asking, "How many people were with the packer at the Jack Creek Trailhead? 0:23:00.220,0:23:07.270 Just ask those people how many people were with the packer." 0:23:07.270,0:23:10.470 ICP: There was 10 people. 0:23:10.470,0:23:16.070 Travis: Schultz, tell him we had a shelter deployment 0:23:16.070,0:23:21.669 [inaudible 00:23:04] at the trailhead. 0:23:21.669,0:23:28.390 Count the number of people there. 0:23:28.390,0:23:33.510 Schultz: They had a shelter deployment at the Jack 0:23:33.510,0:23:34.510 Creek Trailhead. 0:23:34.510,0:23:38.919 They need to know how many people are there. 0:23:38.919,0:23:41.860 Travis: Schultz, shelter deployment [inaudible 00:23:22] 0:23:41.860,0:23:44.320 people are at Jack Creek. 0:23:44.320,0:23:46.779 Schultz: Could you please repeat? 0:23:46.779,0:23:50.980 You're real sketchy, but I heard that you're asking how many people were at Jack Creek 0:23:50.980,0:23:51.980 Trailhead. 0:23:51.980,0:23:52.980 Could you please repeat. 0:23:52.980,0:23:53.980 This is Schultz. 0:23:53.980,0:23:54.980 There were 10 people at Jack Creek Trailhead. 0:23:54.980,0:23:55.980 Travis: Schultz, [inaudible 00:23:46]. 0:23:55.980,0:23:56.980 Shelter deployment. 0:23:56.980,0:23:58.110 We need to know how many people made it to Jack Creek Trailhead. 0:23:58.110,0:23:59.110 [inaudible 00:23:53] 0:23:59.110,0:24:00.110 Schultz: Copy, Travis. 0:24:00.110,0:24:01.110 There were 10 people at Jack Creek Trailhead. 0:24:01.110,0:24:04.470 Travis: Once the helicopter got overhead, Monica heard 0:24:04.470,0:24:07.769 the helicopter and turned on her radio. 0:24:07.769,0:24:08.769 She'd had low batteries. 0:24:08.769,0:24:14.000 We were able to get in contact with her then. 0:24:14.000,0:24:19.470 We told the helicopter there's no way they can pick us up out of here or anything, that 0:24:19.470,0:24:23.290 we didn't need their services anymore, everybody was accounted for. 0:24:23.290,0:24:27.911 They let us know that the two packers had made it to the trailhead and all the pack 0:24:27.911,0:24:30.240 animals had made it out to the trailhead. 0:24:30.240,0:24:34.760 Then, we basically waited around a little while, waited for things to cool down. 0:24:34.760,0:24:36.929 There were still snags falling in the area. 0:24:36.929,0:24:41.750 Everybody, again, had severe headaches and was real thirsty. 0:24:41.750,0:24:45.870 We decided to start our hike out, knowing that we had to go through this particular 0:24:45.870,0:24:50.380 stand of trees right here that was a lot of trees still falling, a lot of trees still 0:24:50.380,0:24:51.460 burning. 0:24:51.460,0:24:58.409 We spaced out and tried to really keep our safety awareness up on the hike out, even 0:24:58.409,0:25:00.710 with the state that everybody was in. 0:25:00.710,0:25:04.039 Then we crossed the river, back down to the trailhead. 0:25:04.039,0:25:08.809 There was a shot crew there. 0:25:08.809,0:25:13.080 The fire operations, for the fire, was ... He met us there. 0:25:13.080,0:25:14.730 Ambulances were waiting. 0:25:14.730,0:25:22.090 They checked people out and basically diagnosed everybody with smoke inhalation and there 0:25:22.090,0:25:25.580 was a couple minor burns treated, is all. 0:25:25.580,0:25:30.570 Then, at that point ... It was about 10:00 at night at that time. 0:25:30.570,0:25:39.559 We went in to the shelters, it was around 4:00, I guess, so about 16 to 1700, we were 0:25:39.559,0:25:45.360 in the shelters and we didn't really get out and down to the trailhead until about 9:30, 0:25:45.360,0:25:46.360 10:00. 0:25:46.360,0:25:49.169 It was a long evening. 0:25:49.169,0:25:52.490 Then we all drove back to Cody to get some sleep.