Incident Date:
August 21, 1937
Departments:
Civilian Conservation Corps, US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management (WY)
Number of Line-of-Duty Deaths:
15
A 71-foot-long memorial to the firefighters who lost their lives on Blackwater Creek west of Cody, Wyoming, was dedicated in August 1939, two years after the fire. Photo from the Park County Archives.
A lightning strike started this wildland fire near Cody, Wyoming. This devastating fire left 38 firefighters injured and 15 dead. Eleven of the fatalities were Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees from Texas, two were U.S. Forest Service rangers, and one was a member of the Bureau of Public Roads. The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program created during the Franklin Roosevelt Administration to offset Depression unemployment. Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees worked on conservation projects and fought as wildland firefighters when needed. They typically worked under a ranger or other land manager with firefighting experience.
Crews were working to contain the fire when a weather system caused the fire to expand explosively, trapping the men before they could escape.
Remembering
Related
- The Wyoming State Historical Society: The Deadly Blackwater Fire
- Forest Army Blog: Remembering the Civilian Conservation Corps
- National Wildfire Coordinating Group: Collection of Historical Photographs from the Blackwater Fire
- National Wildfire Coordinating Group: Staff Ride to the Blackwater Fire
- Wildfire Today: Blackwater Fire of 1937 Remembered
- Wildfire Today: Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the Blackwater Fire
