Incident Name: Silver Creek Fire, Nez Perce National Forest, ID
Date: 8/30/1961, 1710 hours
Personnel: 2 lives lost
Age:
Agency/Organization: US Forest Service
Position: firefighters
Summary:
Lewis Watkins, 31
Albert M. Klingshirn, 21
On August 30, 1961, two firefighters of a regular hand crew from Spokane WA, were burned over by a sudden flare up on steep terrain. They died. Baxter Johnston, age 17, also of the crew, suffered minor burns and was treated in Grangeville, ID. His account is presented in the newspaper article.
Maps
Approximate Incident Location, Silver Creek Fire.
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Reports, Documentation, Lessons Learned
- Entry from the Lessons Learned Center database from NWCG records.Date: 1/1/1961
Location: Nez Perce NF
State: Idaho
Incident: Silver Creek
Accident: Entrapment
Category: Fire
Organization: Federal
Agency: USFS
Number of People: 2
Shelters Available: Not Applicable
Shelters Deployed: Not Applicable
Fatalities: 2
Injuries: Not Applicable
Note: The 1/1/1961 indicates the date of the incident in 1961 is not known. The article below clarifies the date as 8/30/1961
Wildlandfire.com Links:
Media Articles and Reports
Photos, Videos, & Tributes
Albert Klingshirn Headstone, credit KT Winston
- Albert M Klingshirn according to familysearch.org is buried in Holy Cross Cemetary Towne and Country, Spokane, Washington.
- Lewis Watkins of Spokane WA; it is possible this is his registration in the US Social Security Death Index.
Contributors to this article: Brett Rogers
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