Storm King Mountain Memorial Trail, New Castle, Colorado

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Storm King Mountain Memorial Trail (14 photos)



When I joined the park service as a wildland firefighter the first three days of classes were spent spent dissecting what happened here...On July 2, 1994 lightning sparked a fire near the base of Storm King Mountain 12 firefighters were unable to outrun the blaze and perished. Two more helitack firefighters were also killed as they tried to flee to the northwest The Storm King Mountain Memorial Trail, closely following the actual path the firefighters hiked to fight the blaze, leads visitors to the site. Plaques and memorials line the trail explaining the events and paying homage to those who fell.

On July 6, 1994, fourteen firefighters died while battling the South Canyon Fire when high winds caused the flames to blow up suddenly, trapping them on an isolated slope. The memorial trail was created by friends and family wishing to visit the place where their loved ones lost their lives. It has since been improved by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service, but it retains its original characteristics as a steep, rugged climb of a thousand vertical feet in a mile and a half. Hikers can't help but think of the brave young men and women who labored up this same slope, carrying heavy firefighting equipment, for the purpose of controlling a fire which threatened the nearby community of Canyon Creek.





Prineville Hotshots: Kathi Beck, Tamera Bickett, Scott Blecha, Levi Brinkley, Douglas Dunbar, Terri Hagen, Bonnie Holtby, Rob Johnson, Jon Kelso.

Missoula Smokejumper: Don Mackey

McCall Smokejumpers: Roger Roth, Jim Thrash.

Helitack: Robert Browning, Jr., Richard Tyler.

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Comments

[Home and Away]

Thanks for sharing this...
having been through the Waldo Canyon fire last summer, we really appreciate what the firefighters do to keep us safe.