Sullivan Creek Fire Fatalities 1929

Paul Croxton and Lester Rudd were assigned to the Sullivan Creek Fire near Spotted Bear on the Flathead National Forest when the fire made a sudden significant run. An officer of the Flathead NF was leading the crew to safety when the men disappeared. The fire run necessitated the evacuation of fire camps, and the men were unaccounted for in the ensuing confusion. Rudd's body was located three weeks later on September 22, on a gravel bar of the South Fork of the Flathead River. It was determined Rudd did not die of burns, but his precise cause of death was not determined and was speculated to be either from exposure or ingestion of superheated gases. Paul Croxton, as of media reports as late as December 1929, had not been located.

Unknown, Fatality, Fire Behavior, Hand Crews