1937 — Aug 21, Blackwater Wildfire (lightning) kills firefighters, Shoshone Nat. For., WY–15

–15 AP. “Death Claims 15th Victim of Forest Fire.” Hamilton Daily News Journal, OH, 8-27-1937, p19.
–15 Drake. Kerry. “The Deadly Blackwater Fire.” WyoHistory.org. 7-2-2016.
–15 Headley. “The Forest Fire Season of 1937. Quarterly of the NFPA, 31/3, Jan 1938, 196-197
–15 National Park Service. Timeline: Large Fires and Fatalities.
–14 Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). 1982, p. 363.

Narrative Information

Headley/NFPA on “The Blackwater Fire”: “The most disastrous experience of 1937 occurred in Wyoming on the Shoshone National Forest, where forest fire danger is normally so low that no organized system of lookout stations and other protection facilities is maintained. These areas of average low danger do, however, have periods when fires will ignite and spread with vicious power. During August a lightning fire started on this national forest and spread with unusual rapidity because of low atmospheric moisture. During the second day of the work on the fire, high and erratic winds occurred with explosive suddenness. If these winds had occurred a few hours earlier or a few hours later there probably would have been no loss of life. The relative timing of the freak winds, the showing up of a detached fire started by a spark from the main fire and the position of the crews as they pushed their fire lines ahead, produced a fatal combination. Fifteen men were burned to death or died later from their injuries and 38 others were seriously injured.”

From narrative below photograph [not reproduced here] of mountain burn area on p. 196: “Aerial view of Blackwater burn. Dash line shows fire line lost at time of tragedy. Right-hand arrow marks the place where 7 men were burned to death by a spot fire from below, which these men had just discovered when fires were whipped to fury by sudden wind. Left-hand arrow points to spot on ridge where crew of 40 men were overtaken by flames while climbing to safety above timber line. Most of the crew who stayed with their foremen at this point were painfully burned. Three died later. Four others who broke away died in the fire.” (Headley, Roy. “The Forest Fire Season of 1937. Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 31, No. 3, Jan 1938, pp. 196-197.)
Newspaper

Aug 22: “Cody, Wyo., Aug. 21. – (AP) – An undetermined number of men, several reported burned to death, were trapped Saturday night [Aug 21] in a fire raging 35 miles west of Cody in the Shoshone National Forest. Saturday noon 275 men were rushed to the 500-acre fire in a heavy stand of timber on Blackwater creek. Details of developments were lacking late Saturday night.” (Associated Press. “Forest Fire Force Reported Burned to Death West of Cody.” Billings Gazette, MT. 8-21-1938, p. 1.)

Aug 22: “Cody, Wyo., Aug. 22. – the toll of a wind-driven forest fire sweeping through the Absoraka mountains mounted Sunday night [Aug 22] to 14, as rescue workers found another body in the charred ruins. Half a hundred fire fighters were trapped and burned. Six of the dead were identified shortly before midnight by civilian conservation corps [CCC] and forest service officials. The six, they announced were:

Al Clayton, 45, Sheridan, Wyo., forest service ranger.
Billy Lee, 30, Cody, Wyo., bureau of public roads foreman.
James (Jimmy) Sabin, Hyattville, Wyo., crew foreman of the CCC camp at Tensleep, Wyo.
Rex Hale, junior technician attached to the CCC at Cody, Wyo.
George Rogers, George, Texas.
Roy Bevens, Smithville, Texas.

“All were in Cody mortuaries.

“A quick-changing wind which reached a velocity of 40 miles an hour at times was blamed Monday for the tragedy on Blackwater creek. John Sieker, Shoshone National forest supervisor, said the wind which made blazing torches of the treetops was responsible for the trapping of the fire fighters as they sought to control the flames.” (Big Timber Pioneer, MT. “Fourteen Lose Lives and Many Injured in Wyoming Forest Fire.” 8-26-1937, pp. 1 and 8.)

Aug 23: “Cody, Wyo., Aug. 23. – Weary, heart-broken men fought mechanically Monday [Aug 23] to bring under control a forest fire which took 13 lives and seared the bodies of nearly 50 fire fighters.

“John Sieker, supervisor of the Shoshone national forest in which the tragic blaze occurred, said he was hopeful the flames which now spread over 2,000 acres would be under control Monday. ‘Our costly battle is nearly over,’ Sieker said, ‘and we feel now that we have brought out all of the bodies and that all our dead are accounted for.’

“Approximately 500 men from five CCC camps have been on the fire line in a heavily wooded section of the forest near timberline 35 miles west of here since late Saturday afternoon. The stubborn blaze has been burning since Friday.

“Of the fire fighters who were burned, 24 were being cared for in three small hospitals. Only one of the group appeared to be in a critical condition Monday.

“Out seven miles from the tragic scene of the fire, a handful of men, swathed in bandages, prepared to leave the emergency Red Cross station. They suffered painful but not serious burns. Some of them will come her for further attention during the day. With the exception of a shortage of picric acid, physicians in the town said they had sufficient medical supplies to care for the injured.

“The acid was flown here shortly before dawn Monday by Bill Munday, Cody rancher and aviator, who made the errand of mercy after Lazelle Lowry of the Western Drug company had asked aid of The Associated Press late Sunday night in obtaining the soothing ointment.

“Nine of the 13 victims died in Cody hospitals after suffering hours of agony. Roy Bevins of Smithville, Texas, Tensleep, Wyo., CCC enrollee who had considered himself ‘lucky’ because he escaped the swift painful fate which caught seven of his comrades was the first to die in any of the three hospitals.” (Big Timber Pioneer, MT. “Fourteen Lose Lives and Many Injured in Wyoming Forest Fire.” 8-26-1937, pp. 1 and 8.)

Aug 24: “Cody, Wyo., Aug. 24. – Forest service officials converged here Tuesday to begin an investigation into the tragic fire on the Shoshone National forest which claimed 14 lives before it could be conquered. John Sieker, Shoshone National forest supervisor, said Tuesday the type of investigation to be made would be decided upon with the arrival sometime during the day of David Godwin, assistant chief of fire control in the United States forest service. Sieker said there was ‘unmistakable evidence’ that the worst fire in the history of the state had been started by lightning.”
(Big Timber Pioneer, MT. “Fourteen Lose Lives and Many Injured in Wyoming Forest Fire.” 8-26-1937, p. 1.)

Aug 27: “Cody, Wyo., Aug. 27. (AP) –Paul Tyrrell of Cody, died here last night, fifteenth victim of the fierce fire in Shoshone National Forest, which trapped 60 firefighters last Saturday. He was a highway employee.” (Associated Press. “Death Claims 15th Victim of Forest Fire.” Hamilton Daily News Journal, OH, 8-27-1937, p. 19.)

Blackwater Fire Fatalities
• Alfred G. Clayton, Ranger South Fork District, Shoshone National Forest, age 45.
• James T. Saban, CCC Technical Foreman – Ten Sleep Camp F-35 (former Forest Ranger on Medicine Bow and Chippewa National Forests), age 36.
• Rex A. Hale, Junior Assistant to the Technician, Shoshone National Forest; from the Wapiti CCC camp, age 21.
• Paul E. Tyrrell, Junior Forester, Bighorn National Forest (Foreman), died Aug. 26 at hospital, age 24.
• Billy Lea, Bureau of Public Roads Crewman, originally from Oregon, died later at hospital.
• Civilian Conservation Corps Enrollees: Ten Sleep Camp F-35 in the Bighorn National Forest; Company 1811 — 3 months earlier came from Bastrop area of Texas, ages 17 to 20 years:
• John B. Gerdes of Halletsville, TX
• Will C. Griffith of Bastrop, TX
• Mack T. Mayabb of Smithville, TX
• George Harold Rodgers of George West, TX
• Roy Bevens of Smithville, TX, died later at Cody hospital.
• Clyde Allen of McDade, TX
• Ernest Seelke of LaGrange, TX
• Rubin D. Sherry of Smithville, TX
• William Whitlock of Austin, TX, died later at Cody hospital.
• Ambrocio Garza of Corpus Christi, TX, died later at Cody hospital.
(Drake. Kerry. “The Deadly Blackwater Fire.” WyoHistory.org. Wyoming State Historical Society, 7-2-2016.)

Sources

Associated Press. “Death Claims 15th Victim of Forest Fire.” Hamilton Daily News Journal, OH, 8-27-1937, p. 19. Accessed 6-29-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/hamilton-daily-news-journal-aug-27-1937-p-19/

Associated Press. “Forest Fire Force Reported Burned to Death West of Cody.” Billings Gazette, MT. 8-21-1938, p. 1. Accessed 6-29-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/billings-gazette-aug-22-1937-p-1/

Big Timber Pioneer, MT. “Fourteen Lose Lives and Many Injured in Wyoming Forest Fire.” 8-26-1937, p. 1. Accessed 6-29-2020: https://newspaperarchive.com/big-timber-pioneer-aug-26-1937-p-1/

Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982.

Drake. Kerry. “The Deadly Blackwater Fire.” WyoHistory.org. Wyoming State Historical Society, 7-2-2016. Accessed 6-29-2020 at: https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/deadly-blackwater-fire

Headley, Roy. “The Forest Fire Season of 1937. Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 31, No. 3, Jan 1938, pp. 196-197.

National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Timeline: Large Fires and Fatalities. Accessed 4-26-2009 at: http://www.nps.gov/fire/utility/uti_tl_largefirestext.cfm