Santa Clara County Fire Entrapment Fatality 1916

Carl Stagen, a ranch hand working on one of the ranches near the Santa Clara - San Mateo County border, was entrapped and killed when fighting a fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains in the vicinity of Page Mill Rd. The fire had started at around 1400 on September 10, and mostly contained by 2130 that evening owing to the work of more than 100 volunteers in the surrounding area. The fire reportedly started from an escaped bonfire. Stagen was assigned by his employer to hold a stretch of road to prevent the fire crossing and threatening a summer home of the mayor of San Francisco. The fire ran down the slope with the wind and Stagen attempted to swat the flames out when he was overcome and perished. Stagen was a sailor aboard a German ship which was detained in harbor when World War I began.  

Entrapment, Fatality, Burn Injury, Hand Crews, Initial Attack