Clear Creek Fire Hit by Tree Fatalities 1946

Lawrence Graham and Charles Lucas, US Forest Service firefighters, were both killed when they were struck by a 30-inch diameter green fir tree on the Clear Creek Fire, Plumas National Forest, near Keddie, California. A group of four firefighters had stopped to rest in the early morning of September 15 when a tree outside of the fireline, rotten at the base, fell and struck the group. Graham and Lucas were killed instantly. Lucas was described as a logger and former longtime Forest Service employee who had been on every local fire since 1930. On the Clear Creek Fire, Lucas was directing the construction of dozer lines. Graham was 19 years old and working the fire under Lucas' supervision as a dozer operator. 

Hit by Tree, Fatality