Diamond Fire Fatality 2011

IHC personnel devised a plan to shuttle crew carriers to a road above the fire area and the remaining crew personnel would hike to vehicles. The crew, configured as squads, began the hike up the steep, heavily wooded terrain to the proposed location of the vehicles. As the Incident Commander reached the new drop point of the vehicles, he initiated radio contact with the squads to determine time of arrival for personnel. As personnel were accounted for, one individual was late and did not respond to radio traffic addressed to him.

At that time an “Incident Within an Incident” protocol was initiated and the Incident Commander of the Diamond Fire assigned the task of searching for the individual to a senior member of the IHC. After several sweeps of the area by personnel assigned to the fire, law enforcement from local, county and state agencies were requested to assist with search efforts. Search efforts continued throughout the evening, and early morning hours until the missing firefighter was found deceased at 6:18 am.

Heat Related Illness, Initial Attack, Fatality, Medical or Exertion