Las Pilitas Fire Entrapment Fatalities 1950

A crew of 20 men were entrapped between the main fire and a firing operation on the Las Pilitas Fire in San Luis Obispo County, California. Four of these men were unable to escape and received fatal injuries. Three were soldiers with the 60th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion from Fort Ord. Part of a force of more than 100 sent to the fire to assist in suppression, they were were identified as John Smith and Laurence Morris. The third soldier may have been Turley McFarland. The other firefighter who lost his life on this entrapment incident was Gerald "Jerry" O'Reilly, employed with the California Department of Forestry (now CAL FIRE). Two days later, rains helped to control the fire, which burned approximately 28,000 acres. 

Entrapment, Fatality, Burn Injury, Firing, Hand Crews