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10 & 18 Series - Seneca Fire

10 & 18 Series - Seneca Fire
Article provided by Harney County

The following is a continuation of a multi-post documentation. Click here to begin from Part 1

Location
Seneca, Malheur National Forest, Oregon

Origin of Fire 
On Sunday, September 4th, 1955, at about 2 PM a lightning strike hit Damon Creek, starting a brush fire 5 miles northwest of Seneca. 

Events
Immediately after the strike, the fire rapidly spread through sagebrush and grass, fanned by the wind. A bulldozer crew attempted to suppress the fire, but the flames swept over the crew at a three-mile point west of Seneca. By Sunday night, the flames were presumably controlled. However, by Monday, the flames broke off into two additional acres. The fire burned an estimated 4,000 acres before contained, with a total of 120 men responsible for containment (6 bulldozers utilized). The fire caused several non-critical injuries and one fatality. Elwood Jackson burned to death, and it is believed, based off of the body's location, that Jackson was disoriented by the smoke. 

Marker of Jackson's death

Conclusion
The contributing factors of the disaster included:
(a) Inadequate supervision of crew members
(b) Instructions were not followed and/or not received by crew members
(c) Search for missing was not conducted until it was too late

Sources

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