1994 South Canyon Fire on Storm King Mountain

On July 6th, 1994, 14 firefighters were killed on the South Canyon Fire near Glenwood Springs, CO. In this video we will experience the fire from the perspective of 11 firefighters that were there that day.

0:00:00 Intro.
0:01:30 JULY 2 (Four days until blowup), lightning starts fire.
0:02:11 JULY 3 (Three days until blowup), fire reported to dispatch from South Canyon area.
0:02:39 Engine Foreman sizes up fire from freeway and recommends smokejumpers and helicopter water drops.
0:02:56 Dispatch turns away planeload of smokejumpers minutes before arrival over fire.
0:03:32 JULY 4 (Two days until blowup), late afternoon, Butch Blanco's BLM/USFS crew assigned fire, Michelle Ryerson is squad boss, she describes what they saw from the freeway and the season in general.
0:04:54 JULY 5 (1 day until blowup), in the morning, Incident Commander Blanco plus crew of six start the long hike up to the fire. Ryerson describes getting to the fire and the difficult day.
0:06:21 Late afternoon, Don Mackey's planeload of eight smokejumpers arrives over the fire as Blanco and crew are hiking out. Jumpers Sarah Doehring and Kevin Erickson describe the fire, their season and the jump.
0:08:32 They get to the fire and work the east flank into the night until rolling debris barely misses them. The fire keeps creeping larger overnight.
0:09:56 JULY 6 (Day of blowup), Mackey and his jumpers plan for the day.
0:10:58 At 0530, Blanco, now with a crew of 10, begin another long hike up the east drainage.