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Incident Name: Strause Fire on the Klamath National Forest
Date: 10/1/87
Personnel: Freddie Pahnemah
Age: 38
Agency/Organization: BIA, Snow Band Strike Team 2 from the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in Idaho
Position: firefighter
Summary: On October 1, 1987, Freddie Pahnemah of the Snow Band Strike Team 2 died after collapsing on the fireline at the border of the Klamath and Shasta-Trinity Forests. He suffered a fatal heart attack.
Part of the lightning-created firestorm of 1987 and a closeup of the Strause Fire boundaries
Reports, Documentation, Lessons Learned
- NWCG Safetygram for 1987 (single page excerpt)
- From a 10/3/87 Modesto Bee Article: 9th firefighter dies in state blazes
Other firefighters administered CPR for approximately 2 hours before a doctor at a fire camp medical center advised them to stop, spokesman Lee Pogue said.
Pahnemah had been carried on a litter to a helicopter landing spot near the northeast flank of the Strause Fire, but a helicopter was unable to land because of poor visibility and steep terrain, Pogue added.
- USFA Memorial Database: Freddie Pahnemah
- Hotlist: Facilities Bill has 1987 records.
- The Klamath Fire Siege began August 30 when 187 lightning fires occurred in the Klamath National Forest. Throughout September, 33 major fires were burning in the forest at the same time and were fought by as many as 8,530 firefighters from across the United States.
Contributors to this article: facilities bill, Mellie
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