Knappa Fire Entrapment Fatalities 1917

Two firefighters were entrapped and fatally injured on a forest fire near Astoria, Oregon, sometime around August 24, 1917. The firefighters were both described as "Russians," immigrants working for Big Creek Logging Company at the time of their deaths. A crew of loggers working as firefighters were entrapped by a run of the fire burning in a clearcut, and were instructed to run to safety. The crew broke into two groups -- some taking a trail and others escaping via a railroad right of way. Of the railroad group, three escaped, but two firefighters, Stit Kulik and Alex Aushiki were overcome and perished. The two men were natives of Grodno, a region that is now in Belarus but was at the time part of Russia. 

Entrapment, Fatality, Hand Crews, Burn Injury