Rattlesnake Fire

The Rattlesnake Fire was a wildfire started by an arsonist on July 9, 1953 in Grindstone Canyon in the Mendocino National Forest. One Forest Service employee and 14 volunteer firefighters from New Tribes Mission perished. It has become a well-known firefighting textbook case.

The arsonist had started two fires, one on private land and the other along Alder Springs Road inside the forest boundary. He was later sentenced and convicted on two counts of arson. [Cermak, Robert W. p. 323] The first fire was quickly suppressed by the Division of Forestry. The second fire continued burning toward Grindstone Canyon. The fire was spotted and reported mid-afternoon and by evening, it was considered under control.Then, about 9:00 pm, the wind caused a spot fire north of the road from a burning brand. The plan to bulldoze lines above this fire were not completed as the terrain was too steep for the equipment. Then the wind died down and the spot fire became inactive. With the new weather conditions, a firebreak line was built directly around the inactive spot fire successfully. The wind came up again and changed directions which started several spot fires west of the crew. All but one of these new fires were extinguished by the watertank trucks. The men then rested, had dinner, and were in an area out of sight to the fire front and were unaware that a flameup was occuring until too late. [Cermak, Robert W, pp. 319-321]

Of the 24 person crew, 15 were burned alive as they tried to outrun the fire through the dense brush and steep terrain. The tragedy resulted in major changes to wildland fire training, firefighting safety standards, and overall awareness of how weather affects fire behavior. [Maclean, John 2003] [ [http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/mendocino/recreation/rattlesnake/] Mendocino NF webpage on the Rattlesnake Fire] The tragedy of the 1953 Rattlesnake Fire prompted US Forest Service Region 5 (Pacific Southwest Region) to increasingly rely more on techical strategies such as heliocopters and air tankers. [Cermak, Robert W, p. 374]

The wildfire burned over 1,300 acres before being extinguished on July 11, 1953.

Footnotes

References

Cermak, Robert W, "Fire in the Forest-A History of Forest Fire Control on the National Forests in California 1898-1956" USFS Publisher, 2005
Maclean, John N. "Fire and Ashes: On the Front Lines of American Wildfire" Henry Holt and Co. 2003

External links

* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,889816,00.html Time Magazine article] (Monday, Jul. 20, 1953 issue)
* [http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/mendocino/recreation/rattlesnake/ Rattlesnake Fire Memorial & Interpretive Site] (with photos)
* [http://www.fire.uni-freiburg.de/media/2005/news_20050711_us2.htm Announcement of the July 2005 memorial service]
* [http://www.wildfirenews.com/archive/080405.shtml Wildfire News coverage of the 2005 Memorial] (with photo)