Incident Name: Hull Mountain Fire near Medford, Oregon
Date: 8/25/94
Personnel: Sidney Maplesden, Jr
Age: 25
Agency/Organization: under contract with Oregon Department of Forestry
Position: Dozer Operator
Summary: On August 25, Sidney Maplesden, Jr, a contract bulldozer operator was attempting to cut a fire break around a spot fire on the Hull Mountain Fire near Medford, on Oregon Department of Forestry lands. Fire behavior became extreme: 90 degree temperature; relative humidity was 22%; and it was burning in oak, madrone, ponderosa pine. The fire began spotting up to one-quarter mile. Fire intensity quickly grew and the fire became a large plume dominated event. Sidney Maplesdon and his dozer were overrun by the main fire and he was killed.
Maps
The Hull Mountain Fire was near Medford, OR in Sam’s Valley
{mosmap lat=’42.491112’|lon=’-122.975536’|marker=’0’|text=’Sam’s Valley, Oregon’}
Reports, Documentation, Lessons Learned
- Comments in a brief report: “Burnover – dozer – critical fire behavior predictions not available to victim. Individual working alone, no communications, no lookout, no dozer boss. Victim had no wildland firefighter training.”
- Oregon Death Index: Sydney Bruce Maplesden
- USFA Memorial Database: Sidney Bruce Maplesden Jr and on the National Fallen Firefighters’ Monument plaque under
- Sydney’s name, death date and brief bio are included in the USFA Firefighter Fatality Retrospective Study, published April 2002 (2,888 K pdf) Oregon
Return to top
Wildlandfire.com Links:
Media Articles and Reports.
- Oregon Department of Forestry cited:
Photos, Videos, & Tributes
Forest Service Fire Management Today, Vol 55, No. 1, 1995 “In Memoriam”:
Oregon Memorial to Fallen Firefighters:
Contributors to this article: Mellie
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