Tangle Blue Fire Hit by Tree Fatality 1924

Lyle Ritz was killed by a falling snag while hiking in to suppress a 100-acre fire near Tangle Blue Creek, Shasta National Forest, California. Ritz was struck by the snag at around midnight as he and five other firefighters hiked along a trail towards the fire. Ritz's injuries included a shattered femur and broken back. His companions placed Ritz on a stretcher and began to carry him back toward the nearest road for evacuation to medical care. While still enroute a few minutes later Ritz passed away. Ritz was a 25-year-old World War I veteran. 

The Shasta National Forest  was administratively combined with the Trinity National Forest in 1954. 

Hit by Tree, Fatality, Hand Crews