Somersville Fire Entrapment Fatality 1943

Emile Corsi, one of 150 volunteer and professional firefighters mobilized to fight the Somersville Fire in Contra Costa County, California, died when he was trapped and burned in the early morning of August 22. The fire was discovered at 1900 and burned through rolling hills of tall, dry grass and chaparral brush. Corsi, a ranch employee, worked to suppress the fire with a backpack pump until a wind shift swept the flames over him. He could not escape in time, and his cotton clothing caught fire. Other firefighters nearby rolled Corsi on the ground and smothered the flames on his clothes. He was severely burned and taken from the fireline to Antioch hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries two hours later. 

Entrapment, Fatality, Burn Injury, Hand Crews