Little Rockies Fire Entrapment Fatalities 1936

Several firefighters, nearly all untrained, were entrapped by a fire run in the Little Rockies south of Malta, Montana. At the time of the entrapment, 400 firefighters were engaged on the fire, including residents of Malta, miners from the nearby mines, and 20 geology college students led by Dr. Maxwell Knechtel. The volunteers were placed under the direction of a Forest Service ranger James Pewitt. Pewitt was the only trained firefighter leader on the entire fire. 

When a wind shift caused a sudden crown run of the fire between 1200 and 1300, a group of firefighters took refuge in a cave. Firefighters John Roles, Cameron Baker, and Sawyer Brockunier were overcome by the fire and perished either on the scene or shortly after at the hospital. It is unclear whether the three were in the cave and left, or were overcome trying to reach the safety of the cave. Several other firefighters received burn injuries from which they recovered. The coroner's inquest included several witness statements criticizing the lack of adequate supervision and the use of so many untrained firefighters to fight the fire. 

Entrapment, Burn Injury, Fatality, Hand Crews