Incident Name: Cedar Mountain Fire, Oconee National Forest (near Blairsville, GA)
Date: 1994/11/20
Personnel: Mary Jo Brown
Age: 49
Agency/Organization: US Forest Service
Position: Forester, acting as crew member of the Brasstown RD crew
Summary: On November 20, Forester/Firefighter Mary Jo Brown of the U.S. Forest Service was hiking in to IA a wildfire. She died of smoke inhalation after her position on the Cedar Mountain Fire in the Mark Trail Wilderness on the Chatahoochee and Oconee National Forests was overrun by the rapidly moving fire. Two other firefighters deployed their personal shelters and survived the fire.
Maps
Accident Location
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Reports, Documentation, Lessons Learned
- Report of Cedar Mountain Fire Investigation by sections due to size:
- Cover & Preface (530 K pdf)
- Table of Contents (81 K pdf)
- Executive Summary & Conduct of Investigation (1182 K pdf)
- Accident Narrative & Findings (1900 K pdf)
- Appendix A: Weather Report & Fire Behavior (780 K pdf)
- Appendices B (Entrapment , Response, & Analysis) and C (Brown’s Career Summary) (756 K pdf)
- Appendices D, F, G & H: Key Personnel-redacted, Med Examiner-redacted, 10 & 18 & Other Organizations Involved, respectively (411 K pdf)
- Team included technical and management people from FS, OSHA and GA State Forestry Commission
- 1994 Calendar Year Fire Report
- Mary Jo’s name, death date and brief bio are included in the USFA Firefighter Fatality Retrospective Study, published April 2002 (2,888 K pdf)
- US Forest Service Heroes Memorial:Mary Jo Brown
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Wildlandfire.com Links:
Media Articles and Reports.
- Woods fire that took forester’s life in North Georgia ruled not arsonDate: November 22, 1994 | Pay per view of entire article
According to a preliminary investigation byt he U.S. Forest Service, a 493-acre fire in Union County, which killed forester Mary Jo Brown over the weekend, was accidental. The blaze at Cedar Mountain is one of four that have roared through 622 acres of Chattahoochee National Forest. The cause of the other three fires – two in Union and one in Towns County -still has not been determined.
Blairsville – A 493-acre fire in Union County, which killed a forester over the weekend, was accidental…
Photos, Videos, & Tributes
- Forest Service Fire Management Today, Vol 55, No. 1, 1995 “In Memoriam”
- USFA Memorial Database: Mary Jo Brown
Contributors to this article: Mellie, John Miller, WFF, J. Benshoof, Rene Vanderhooft
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