At 4:00 p.m. the fire spotted across the bottom of the west drainage and spread up the drainage on the west side. It soon spotted back across the drainage to the east side beneath the firefighters and across the original firebreak. The fire had then moved onto steep slopes and into dense, green but highly flammable Gambel oak.
Within seconds a wall of flame raced up the hill toward the firefighters on the west flank fireline. Failing to outrun the flames, 12 firefighters perished. Two helitack crew members on top of the ridge also died when they attempted to outrun the fire to the northwest.
Being at the right place at the right time saved a majority of the fire crew. The 35 surviving firefighters either escaped east over Hell's Gate Ridge and out the "east canyon" drainage or they found a safety area and deployed their fire shelters.
