Incident Name: 18,000 acre Anderson Creek Fire, Boise National Forest, ID
Date: August 24, 1986, 0600 hrs
Personnel: 4 lives lost
Age:
Agency/Organization: Southwestern Indian Forest Firefighters of New Mexico working for the UF Forest Service, Koeterville, ID
Position: SWFF firefighters
Summary:
Members of Eagles Crew 4 from the Jemez Pueblo, Santa Fe National Forest, NM
Anthony M. Pecos, 24
Allen M. Baca, Jr, 19
Andrew V. Waquie, 33
Benjamin P. Waquie, 23
On August 24, 1986 at about 0600 hrs, a 5 ton National Guard dump truck returning the 19 members of the Jemez Eagles Crew 4 to firecamp after night shift ran off the dirt road as it narrowed from 16 to 10 feet. It rolled into a dry creek bed east of Crouch ID firecamp, killing 4 men and injuring 17 others. All were ejected from the bed of the truck. Two firefighters suffered major injuries; seven were moderately injured with fractures; and eight others suffered minor injuries. The injured were taken by helicopter and car to two hospitals in Boise, 40 mi to the south.
A plaque located up Danskin Creek a couple of miles.
Maps
Accident occurred 12 mi east of the base camp in Danskin Canyon; ran off a dirt road near Crouch and into a creek bed
{mosmap lat=’44.067921’|lon=’-115.826038’|marker=’0’|text=’Rollover Location’}
There’s a plaque up Danskin Creek a couple of miles (30 minute walk along a road that has several washouts).
Reports, Documentation, Lessons Learned
- Forest Service – Boise National Forest: Multi-Fatality Accident Report – Anderson Creek Incident (7.67 MB pdf; might need to be opened in Internet Explorer)
- US Forest Service Heroes Memorial: Anthony M. Pecos | Allen M. Baca | Andrew V. Waquie | Benjamin P. Waquie
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Wildlandfire.com Links:
Media Articles and Reports
- Deaths Stun Indian Pueblo Known for Its Firefighters8/25/1986 | Online article
JEMEZ PUEBLO, N.M., Aug. 25— This Pueblo Indian town today mourned the death Sunday of four of its men in a truck accident after they had spent 12 hours fighting a fire in the Boise National Forest in Idaho.
All morning, condolences had been coming in to Jemez Pueblo, whose Indian name means ”Mouth of the Canyon,” from as far away as New York City and Washington State. Gov. Toney Anaya of New Mexico has asked that all flags of the state be lowered to half staff for two days.
The crew in the accident was one of four teams of Jemez Indians, known as the Jemez Eagles, who have been fighting a rash of forest fires in Idaho. The Jemez have a national reputation as firefighters, according to Catherine Stephenson, a Forest Service mineral specialist who was pressed into emergency service as an information officer in this town in the Jemez Mountains, 45 miles northwest of Albuquerque. (More at the link…)
Photos, Videos, & Tributes
- USFA Memorial Database: Anthony M. Pecos | Allen M. Baca | Andrew V. Waquie | Benjamin P. Waquie
- Gov. Toney Anaya of New Mexico has asked that all flags of the state be lowered to half staff for two days.
Contributors to this article: Cache Queen
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