march 16th 1965

On march 16th,1965 near harlan,kentucky a small fire involving grass and woodlands flashed upwards into a hollow and took the lives of three men.They working as a part of a eight man team under the direction of a state forest ranger.This fire started in a area called fairview hollow in the pine mountain area of southeastern kentucky.This small 26 acre blaze took three lives Kenneth mcknight,James Shepard and william brock.
It apparently began when a small debris fire control got out of control and spread in a northeasterly directionthreating several houses.A telephone alarm was sent to the dispatcher at the forest ranger station at 2:35p.m. and a minute later another alarm was recived by a nearby fire lookout tower.At 3:06 the forest ranger arrived with his crew.The afternoon of March 16th around
Harlan Kentucky was clear with good visibility and a southwesterly wind blowing four to seven miles per hour.The area leading into the hollow was covered with grass and hardwood timber of the 10 inch diameter class.The terrain was rugged raising from a elevation of 1,480 feet where the fire started up a steep incline to the top of the ridge where the fire lines were last established.The elevation was 1,760 feet in the gully where the men were trapped.Gone but not forgotten.


[This message has been edited by ff emt-p bleve (edited January 23, 2000).]