Maple Meadows Fire Hit by Limb Fatality 1938

Charles Kiser, a CCC crewmember based at the Camp Raleigh in Beckley, West Virginia, was killed when he was struck by a limb from a burning tree on the Maple Meadows Fire. Kiser was part of an 18-member crew on the line, each assigned to hold a stretch of line on the night April 16. Kiser went into the green to suppress a slopover when a limb fell out of a tree and struck him, fracturing his skull and breaking his neck. Kiser was taken to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries early in the morning of the 18th. A foreman blamed the accident on "overzealousness."

Hit by Tree, Fatality, Hand Crews