Mills College Engine Entrapment Fatalities 1968

On the afternoon of August 31, 1968, a brush fire ignited on a hill on the campus of Mills College in Oakland, California. Engine Company 31 from the Oakland Fire Department responded to the fire, driving up the hill to try to cut off the head of the fire as it advanced up the hill. In later interviews, it was determined that the engine had located themselves uphill of the fire, in the green, to attempt a frontal assault. At the top of the hill, on Prospect Hill Road, the engine attempted to hook up to a fire hydrant but were unable to get the hydrant to open due to many years of paint encasing it. As a result, there was no water for the firefighters with deployed 1.5-inch hose standing a short distance away on the road. The fire ran through brush and burned over the three firefighters, causing burns over 50-60 percent of their bodies. Three firefighters of the five on Engine 31 were taken to the St. Francis Memorial Hospital Burn Center in San Francisco, where, during the following weeks, all succumbed to their injuries. 

The three firefighters lost on the Mills College Fire: John Carlyon, Floyd "Babe" De Marco, and Terry Silveria.