1994 03/05 OK Charles Butchee

Incident Name:
Date: 3/5/94
Personnel: Charles Dee Butchee
Age: 54
Agency/Organization: Warren Community Volunteer Fire Department, Blair, OK
Position: volunteer firefighter

Summary: On 3/5/1994, Firefighter Charles Butchee died of a heart attack after being exposed to smoke and heat at an outside controlled burn. Firefighter Butchee had been standing by during the event wearing structural PPE.

Maps

Warren Community Fire Department, Blair, OK 73526

{mosmap lat=’34.780688’|lon=’-99.329124’|marker=’0’|text=Warren Community Fire Department, ‘Blair, OKlahoma’}

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Reports, Documentation, Lessons Learned

Excerpt from Protective Clothing for Wildland Fire Suppression …Protective Clothing for Wildland Fire Suppression
The article that this was transcribed from is no longer online — was at tinhelmet.com under archives_files/mauney_wildland.pdf

The following portion was apparently a MTDC review of deaths of firefighters (1985-1999) wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) not designed for wildland fire conditions.

The following has info on firefighters that died… Ch 8 (pp 26-27) heart attack and heat stroke fatalities.

“The following individual firefighter fatality information was obtained from NFPA, NIOSH, and OSHA investigation reports as well as personal interviews with department personnel.”

6.2 Mid-West and West Coast Fatalities

(snip)

On March 5, 1994, Firefighter Charles Butchee of the Warren Community, OK, FD died of a heart attack. He was standing by at a controlled burn while wearing structural PPE. He was exposed to smoke and heat.
MTDC: 1993 – Components of Wildland Fire Personal Protective Equiipment (PPE)
Charles’ name, death date and brief bio are included in the USFA Firefighter Fatality Retrospective Study, published April 2002 (2,888 K pdf)
USFA Memorial Database: Charles Dee Butchee
The National Fallen Firefighters Memorial under Oklahoma