{"id":1312134,"date":"2019-07-05T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-06T00:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=983102"},"modified":"2019-07-08T07:51:48","modified_gmt":"2019-07-08T13:51:48","slug":"never-forget-legacy-of-storm-king-fire-lives-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/never-forget-legacy-of-storm-king-fire-lives-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Never Forget: Legacy of Storm King fire lives on"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"746\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/20190705-20190705DSC_5731-1024x746.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/20190705-20190705DSC_5731-1024x746.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/20190705-20190705DSC_5731-300x219.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/20190705-20190705DSC_5731-768x560.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><figcaption><strong>Canyon Creek resident Lynette Cerise hangs flags and purple ribbons along with the names of the 14 wildland fire fighters who lost their lives 25 years ago in the South Canyon Fire on Storm King Mountain.<\/strong><br \/><em>Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Lynette Cerise still struggles with the memory of the firefighters who died 25 years ago in the fire on Storm King Mountain.<\/p>\n<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.815415821501\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-983102-834\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/20190705-20190705DSC_5723-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/20190705-20190705DSC_5723-1024x716.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent | The guest book at the Storm King Memorial trail head is filled with notes from family and other hikers one day before the 25 year anniversary of the South Canyon fire which took the lives of 14 wildland firefighters.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"9\">\n<p><strong>The guest book at the Storm King Memorial trail head is filled with notes from family and other hikers one day before the 25 year anniversary of the South Canyon fire which took the lives of 14 wildland firefighters.<\/strong><br \/>Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/20190705-20190705DSC_5723-1024x716.jpg\" alt><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/20190705-20190705DSC_5728-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/20190705-20190705DSC_5728-1024x683.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent | The guest book container is covered with fire agency stickers from across the western United State at the trail head of the Storm King memorial trail. Saturday, July 6 is the 25 year anniversary of the South Canyon fire which took the lives of 14 wildland firefighters.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>The guest book container is covered with fire agency stickers from across the western United State at the trail head of the Storm King memorial trail. Saturday, July 6 is the 25 year anniversary of the South Canyon fire which took the lives of 14 wildland firefighters.<\/strong><br \/>Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/20190705-20190705DSC_5728-1024x683.jpg\" alt><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/20190705-20190705DSC_5731-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/20190705-20190705DSC_5731-1024x746.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent | Canyon Creek resident Lynette Cerise hangs flags and purple ribbons along with the names of the 14 wildland fire fighters who lost their lives 25 years ago in the South Canyon Fire on Storm King Mountain.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"9\">\n<p><strong>Canyon Creek resident Lynette Cerise hangs flags and purple ribbons along with the names of the 14 wildland fire fighters who lost their lives 25 years ago in the South Canyon Fire on Storm King Mountain.<\/strong><br \/>Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/20190705-20190705DSC_5731-1024x746.jpg\" alt><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/20190705-20190705DSC_5763-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/20190705-20190705DSC_5763-1024x683.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent | Saturday, July 6 is the 25 year anniversary since the South Canyon fire took the lives of 14 wildland fire fighters on Storm King Mountain.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"9\">\n<p><strong>Saturday, July 6 is the 25 year anniversary since the South Canyon fire took the lives of 14 wildland fire fighters on Storm King Mountain.<\/strong><br \/>Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/07\/20190705-20190705DSC_5763-1024x683.jpg\" alt><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/never-forget-legacy-of-storm-king-fire-lives-on\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/never-forget-legacy-of-storm-king-fire-lives-on\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cI can understand a firefighter dying to save a person, but for them to die for a hillside, that affects me even more than them dying to save a human being,\u201d Cerise said.<\/p>\n<p>Cerise vividly remembers watching the fire from her Canyon Creek home 25 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>She and her husband were one of the few who didn\u2019t evacuate the area as the fire blew up after the July Fourth holiday. They had a truck packed and ready to go, but stayed to moisten the roof of their house and their yard, and to help firefighters however they could.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe thought we might be able to do something,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had a lot of firefighters in our yard that day, using our hoses to wash themselves off. We gave them coffee and water, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When branches of the fire blew up late in the afternoon on July 6, 1994, Cerise watched as the flames race up the hillside from her front yard. The flames, more than 100 feet high, engulfed 12 men and women who couldn\u2019t outrun the blaze.<\/p>\n<p>Two others perished after being trapped by a flanking fire in a rocky chute on the other side of the canyon.<\/p>\n<h4>\u2018The noise \u2026 was like a jet taking off\u2019<\/h4>\n<p>The Storm King fire, officially known as the South Canyon Fire, started as one of more than 100 small dry-lightning fires on July 2, 1994.<\/p>\n<p>There were other fires burning across the Rocky Mountains, and the Glenwood Springs fire wasn\u2019t near many structures, so it was allowed to smolder for several days.<\/p>\n<p>After a few days, a cold front, unanticipated high winds, and the incendiary dry Gambel oak brush covering the hillside, turned the fire into a tragedy that Glenwood Springs will likely never forget.<\/p>\n<p>Smokejumpers and hotshot crews were called in from around the country, and on the evening of July 5<sup>th<\/sup> and into the 6<sup>th<\/sup>, they worked tirelessly to fight the blaze.<\/p>\n<p>When the fire spotted in multiple directions around 4 p.m. July 6, some firefighters were able to survive in fire shelters. Others were not so lucky. The fire spread so quickly \u2014 rushing up the mountainside in less than a minute \u2014 that 12 could not set up their shelters quickly enough or outrun the wall of flames.<\/p>\n<p>One surviving firefighter later told <a href=\"http:\/\/www.iaff.org\/hs\/LODD_Manual\/LODD%20Reports\/South%20Canyon,%20CO%20-%2014%20LODDs.pdf\">investigators<\/a> that \u201cthe noise of the firestorm in the canyon was like a jet taking off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 15 seconds, the fire traveled 150 yards, one survivor estimated. The investigators determined that the initial 12 who died simply did not have enough time to deploy their shelters. The other two who died, part of the Helitack crew, were inside fully deployed shelters.<\/p>\n<p>The South Canyon Fire has been studied by emergency management experts since 1994. Firefighters have tried to use the tragedy as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/many-lessons-learned-after-storm-king-tragedy\/\">lesson<\/a> on being situationally aware, watching wind conditions, and knowing the type of fuel in the fire path.<\/p>\n<p>For the 25th anniversary this year, the survivors and families of the victims are not hosting a big public event as they did for the 20th anniversary in 2014. Instead, there will be a somber hike up the Storm King Memorial Trail for the families.<\/p>\n<p>Members of the community who live in the shadow of the scar and with the memory of the tragic day have their own traditions.<\/p>\n<p>Cerise puts up purple ribbons as a vow to never forget the fire and its victims, and every five years she puts up the names of the 14 to commemorate their sacrifice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s probably a lot of people around that don\u2019t know anything about the fire, but we\u2019ll never forget,\u201d Cerise said. \u201cIt still gives me goose bumps to this day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"mailto:tphippen@postindependent.com\">tphippen@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/never-forget-legacy-of-storm-king-fire-lives-on\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Canyon Creek resident Lynette Cerise hangs flags and purple ribbons along with the names of the 14 wildland fire fighters who lost their lives 25 years ago in the South Canyon Fire on Storm King Mountain.Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent Lynette Cerise still struggles with the memory of the firefighters who died 25 years ago [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1312134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-20 04:21:23","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1312134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1312185,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312134\/revisions\/1312185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1312134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1312134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1312134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}