Cascade River Fire Medical Emergency Fatality 1927

Ben Muchler, a trapper in the Skagit River Valley near Marblemount, Washington, perished from an apparent heart attack after assisting the US Forest Service in suppressing a fire in the Cascade River area on August 5, 1927. Muchler's identity cannot be verified, potentially indicating a misspelling of his name in contemporaneous reporting. His age was estimated to be 45-50 years. Whether Muchler experienced his medical emergency while on the fire itself, or in the aftermath in his trapper cabin, is not clear. Regardless, he perished before medical care could arrive to his location and his body was taken to Mount Vernon by pack mule. The fire Muchler was employed to suppress was one of about 20 burning in the area at the time, employing 165 firefighters. The fires were burning on the Mt Baker National Forest.