Eight Oregon firefighters killed returning home
The contract firefighters were returning from 14 days in Idaho when the van crossed a double-yellow line around a curve, according to authorities. Both vehicles were immediately engulfed in flames, but the two people in the truck were able to escape, Malheur County Sheriff Andy Bentz said. Everyone in the van was killed.
The deaths underscore the risks crews face in long-distance driving, now a routine part of their job. Last year, five members of an Oregon-based contract fire crew were killed in a van rollover on their way to fight a fire in Colorado.
"We're rapidly recognizing that even though firefighting is hazardous, that travel can be equally hazardous," said Rod Nichols, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Forestry, which is charged with overseeing contract crews.
Meanwhile, cooler temperatures and milder winds yesterday helped firefighters contain the Northwest's largest wildfire, which has destroyed nearly 250 homes and forced the evacuation of thousands in Kelowna, B.C. Some of those evacuated were allowed to return home.
The eight Oregon firefighters — all men under the age of 23 — worked for Roseburg, Ore.-based First Strike Environmental. They were traveling in a 12-person van when the accident occurred at about 10 a.m. PDT on Highway 20, about 16 miles west of Vale, Ore.
The van crossed a double-yellow line around a curve and was trying to pass a semitrailer when it struck the semi operated by Swift head-on in the eastbound lane, said Malheur County Undersheriff Brian Wolfe. The van was torn in two by the force of the collision.
Names of the fire-crew victims were not available last night. Leslie Habetler, a spokeswoman for First Strike, said six were from Douglas County in southern Oregon and two were from the Portland area.
The occupants of the Swift semi were able to free themselves and were hospitalized with dislocations and burns, Wolfe said. Their names and conditions were not available last night, but Wolfe said their injuries were not life-threatening.
Habetler said First Strike has been operating for 20 years, employing up to 200 people to help fight fires under government contracts. Until yesterday, she said the company had not suffered any fatalities.
"I extend my wholehearted sorrow and sympathy to the families who lost their sons today," First Strike President Robert Krueger said in a statement last night. "These were all fine young men who had worked together for two years. They were closer than most and the hole they leave is enormous."
Krueger said the company has notified the bosses of the three crews working on Montana and Washington fires to determine whether they should return to Roseburg. Counseling is being provided at the fire camps.
In addition, 11 other First Strike firefighters who were traveling on Highway 20 in two other vehicles will return today to Roseburg for debriefing and counseling, he said.
Federal agencies charged with fighting fires use a mix of government and private crews. With fires flaring across the West, the number of the private crews has more than tripled since 1988, from 88 20-person crews to 301 this year. About 95 percent of the crews are based in the Northwest.
The Oregon Department of Forestry has cracked down in recent years on companies that have skirted training rules. But Nichols, the agency spokesman, said First Strike is a good operator with no major violations.
The victims were part of a 19-person crew that had been deployed to the Boise National Forest on Aug. 12. Their tour of duty had included an initial attack on a fire, putting out hot spots and chipping wood that had been cut along a section of fire line.
Company officials said they thought the crew's last day of work — Saturday — involved a 10-hour shift, a figure they were trying to verify. Forest Service officials say the crew apparently began working around 7 a.m. Saturday and ended their day at 9:30 p.m. By 7:30 a.m. yesterday, the crew was on the road and headed back to Oregon.
Tracy Powers, information officer at National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, said that before yesterday's accident, 19 wildfire workers had died on duty this year. Three died from injuries suffered in fires, six from unrelated illnesses, four in vehicle accidents, five in aviation accidents, and one was killed when a tree fell on his tent.
Last year's deadly highway accident involved five firefighters working out of a La Grande, Ore.-based contract crew, Grayback Forestry. They were killed when their van overturned in Colorado near Parachute on the way to the 137,000-acre Hayman fire near Denver.
In Kelowna, B.C., emergency officials allowed 2,000 evacuees to return to their homes yesterday. They said 24,000 people had been evacuated.
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien toured the area yesterday, viewing the devastation from the air and comforting evacuees on the ground.
Temperatures that dropped to 39 overnight and winds that were down to 9 mph from a high of 45 mph were helping firefighters to keep the flames from spreading.
Winds were forecast to remain mild until tomorrow, and rain was expected last night.
Seattle Times staff reporter Hal Bernton contributed to this report.