Mount Rainier Fires Hit by Rock Fatality 1929

Firefighter Franz Frank was hit by a rolling rock described as a "boulder" while helping to suppress a fire near Shriner Lake in the Ohanapecosh area of the Snoqualmie National Forest in Washington. (Today, this area is primarily managed as Mount Rainier National Park and the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.)  Frank was transported in a cot lashed on top of an automobile for more than 50 miles before he was transferred to an ambulance in the Tacoma area. Before arriving at the hospital in Seattle, Frank died of his injuries, described as "a broken leg, crushed side, and lacerated scalp."

Two fires were burning near Mount Rainier at this time, just inside the boundary of what is now Mount Rainier National Park.