Cramer Fire Death Report

An Idaho Bitterroot Mountain wildfire claimed the lives of helitack crewmembers Jeff Allen and Shane Heath. According to an article in The Idaho Statesman, the crew had no clue they were in danger until it was too late for them to be saved. The fire actually grew from 220 acres to more than 5,000 acres the day of the fatalities with wind gusts to 20 miles per hour.
Allen and Heath rappelled from a helicopter to prepare a landing spot (helispot) on a ridgeline above the Cramer Fire near the Salmon River, Idaho. They were asked several times if they needed to be picked up but replied that they did not. When Jeff Allen radioed to be picked up, it was already too late to get help to them in time.
After a three-hour attempt at rescue, other helitack crew rappellers made the ridge and found a completed helispot but no crew. Apparently the doomed crew had abandoned that spot as the bodies were later found down slope and away from their safety zones. Inhaling superheated gases was the cause of death.
A ten-person Accident Investigation Team "comprised of a mix of technicians and fire safety and fire behavioral specialists with the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management" have completed the site inspection for an accident investigation to be published in "four to six weeks." Critics and some family members question why we are seeing yet another all too familiar story of firefighters being trapped uphill of a fire.
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Cramer Fire USFS News Release