Wind Surprised Wildfire Crew, Official Says

Everyone knew that a shift in the wind was coming, but no one expected it to transform a modest brush fire on Storm King Mountain into a deadly inferno, a state official said Friday as the death toll in the blaze climbed to 14.

“They were in a situation where they were making the decisions. They were aware of the risks,” said Bob Moore, state director for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

“The fire was handled routinely. . . . It was a small fire, an ordinary fire, and we had limited resources,” he said.

The last two bodies were found about a quarter of a mile north of where the others were found, Garfield County Undersheriff Levy Burris said.

“They were running along the ridges and apparently got caught up with nowhere to go in a ravine,” Burris said.

He said the bodies would be taken to a local mortuary for an autopsy before being returned to their families.

In Washington, Interior Department officials said a federal review board will “establish the facts and sequence of events” that caused the firefighters to become trapped Wednesday and “identify ways to prevent a recurrence.”

The board is to submit a report to the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service within 45 days.

Wind that pushed the fire quickly through steep and rugged terrain had been forecast about 24 hours earlier by the National Weather Service. But Eric Hipke, a smoke jumper with 52 other firefighters who were clearing a fire line on the mountain, said no one expected 50 m.p.h. winds that sent bands of fire ripping through the dried-out juniper and pinion at 100 feet per minute.

Hipke said “the whole canyon just blew up. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. It just kept chasing us back.”

Hipke, who was burned on his arms and legs, said from his hospital bed that the ravine the group was using as an escape route dead-ended and they were trapped.

Smoke jumpers traditionally parachute in to fight fires. Among the firefighters on Storm King Mountain, some had parachuted in, while others hiked in.

“We must find answers to what caused this terrible tragedy,” Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said in a statement.

As officials started to analyze the disaster, people whose lives were touched by it spoke out.

“I just see it as somebody made a big mistake by sending them in there,” said Nadine Mackey, the mother of Don Mackey, of Hamilton, Mont., who died in the fire.

Walter Roth said he recalled discussing the danger of sudden high winds with his son, Roger Roth, one of the elite smoke jumpers who was among those killed. “He’s had experience with them before, he knew what to watch for. But somehow or other the terrain was so steep they didn’t have a chance to run out before it came up the valley,” Roth said.