LON SLEPICKA
Firehouse.Com News
Lightning struck a firefighting crew in Utah's Stansbury Mountains, about
45 miles west of Salt Lake City, killing two and injuring four others
Wednesday afternoon.
The crew, called the Flame-N-Go's, is made up of inmates from the Utah
State Prison. They had been working a fire that covered about 250 acres
and was 100 percent contained late Wednesday.
The men killed are Michael Bishop, 27, and Rodgie Braithwaite, 26. Bishop
would have been up for parole in July 2002. Braithwaite was set for parole
in October of next year. The four injured have been released from area
hospitals.
Mary Ellis with the Fallen Firefighters Foundation in Emmitsburg, Md.,
said the two firefighters killed would likely be considered Line-of-Duty
Deaths. The U.S. Fire Administration has always honored prison inmates who
were involved in firefighting duties when they died, she said.
Glen Foreman, public affairs officer with the Utah Bureau of Land
Management, said the crew was doing mop-up work when they saw the storm
coming. They were moving to shelter when the lightning struck.
Foreman said the crews from the prison system have been working wildfires
for 22 years. "They are some of our best trained and best experienced
firefighters. On the fire line they are firefighters. They are the most
dedicated you can find," he said.
In the 22 years, there has never been a fatality among the inmates, which
run several crews during the wildfire season, Foreman said. He had nothing
but praise for their work saying they do a "superb job".
This year the NFFF will honor Martin Stiles, 40, an inmate from Los
Angeles County, California, who died while fighting a wildland fire in
July 1999.
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2 Utah Inmates Die Fighting Wildfires