Deer Creek Fire Hit by Tree Fatality 1931

Ignited in late July, the Deer Creek Fire burned a large area from the Bonners Ferry, Idaho, northeast into the Yaak Valley of Montana, on the Pend Oreille and Kootenai National Forests. E. D. Murphy, a smokechaser for the United States Forest Service, was killed by a falling snag on the Kingsley Creek area of the Deer Creek Fire. Murphy's death certificate indicates he died at 0400 on July 30 from injuries to the head and chest. US Forest Service employee Albert Cramer: "I was called to the Deer Creek Fire north of Bonners Ferry on July 26... I was finally released from this fire on August 15. [One night during this assignment] I fed the entire crew [of 300 firefighters] before dark and put all men back out on the fire line again because it seemed that we were going to have to fight to save our camp. About midnight a tall white pine snag struck one of my men squarely on the head, bursting his head in two pieces... I pulled the entire crew into camp and told them to hit the hay." When the fire was controlled, it was the largest fire in the 1931 Idaho-Montana fire season, something greater than 50,000 acres. The full name of the deceased is not readily available.