Valsetz Fire Fire Entrapment Fatality 1938

On the night of July 22, 1938, mill worker and firefighter Roy Stryker was entrapped and killed on the Valsetz Fire in the South Fork Siletz River Valley, Oregon, 25 miles northwest of Corvallis. The fire, ignited earlier in the day, was being suppressed by 300 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and logger/mill worker firefighters. A crew was threatened by a fire run on the evening of July 22 and made their escape out of a canyon, but Stryker's slick shoes were blamed for his being unable to follow them. He reportedly turned back to find a different way to escpae but was overcome and perished. His body was found the next morning. The fire burned an estimated 2500 acres.