Incident Name: Gibson Creek Fire, spot fire from the Fish Lake Fire
Date: 07/27/1977, approximately 1557 hrs
Personnel: Ron Neely, Okanogan National Forest
Age: 28
Agency/Organization: US Forest Service
Position: Assistant Fire Management Officer
Summary: The Fish Lake Fire started on the Okanogan National Forest as the result of an abandoned campfire on July 27. The Gibson Creek Fire started later that afternoon from long range spotting (3/4 mile) on Washington DNR protected lands; hence the 2 separate fires. Ron Neely stated he would take the Concully Crew and work on the spot fire. Neely instructed the crew to start digging line down in the Gibson Creek drainage, he then departed from the crew to further scout the fire, which was about 5 acres at this time. The fire quickly grew to 250 acres and Neely was overrun.
Maps
Accident Site (approximate)
{mosmap lat=’48.620743’| lon=’-119.720303’|text=’Burnover Location for the Gibson Creek Fire’}
Reports, Documentation, Lessons Learned
- Accident Investigation Fish Lake/Gibson Creek Fire: Full Report (2.9 MB pdf)
- Fish Lake/Gibson Creek Fire: Sequence of Events (445 K pdf)
- Gibson Creek Staff Ride Summary: Paul Gleason et al. (11 MB pdf)
- USFS Heroes Memorial: Ron Neely Scroll down to 1977.
Return to top
Wildlandfire.com Links:
- Wildlandfire.com: Memorials page (Scroll down to Loomis WA)
Media Articles and Reports.
- Article from USFS Publication: Ron Neely (6.4 MB pdf)
Photos, Videos, & Tributes
- Smokejumper Obituary: Ron Neely
Contributors to this article:
Please support the Wildland Firefighter Foundation
