Never Forget
El Cariso Hotshots
Loop Fire, Angeles National Forest
11/1/66
12 lives lost
US Forest Service
Summary:
Kenneth Barnhill, 19
Raymond Chee, 23
Frederick Danner, 18 (died sometime after 11/24)
John P Figlo, 18
Joel A Hill, 19
Daniel J Moore, 21
James A Moreland, 22
Carl J Shilcutt, 26 (died 11/6)
John D Verdugo, 19
William J Waller, 21
Michael R. White, 20
Stephen White, 18
On November 1, 1966, the El Cariso Hotshots, a U.S. Forest Service Interregional Wildland Firefighting Crew, was trapped by flames as they worked on a steep hillside in Pacioma Canyon on the Angeles National Forest. An unanticipated upslope wind came up in afternoon and a spot fire was fanned and funnled up the steep canyon. The crew was cutting handline downhill and part of the crew was unable to reach safety in the few seconds they had. Ten members of the crew died on the Loop Fire that day. Another two members died from burn injuries in the following days. Most of the 19 El Cariso crew members who survived were critically burned and remained hospitalized for some time. The Downhill Indirect Checklist, improved firefighting equipment and better fire behavior training resulted, in part, from lives lost on this fire.
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