On the afternoon of Aug. 29, 1985, the Butte Fire on the Salmon National Forest in central Idaho made a sudden high-intensity crown run up Wallace Creek, a side drainage of the Salmon River. Over the next 90 minutes, this run consumed 3,500 acres. Approximately 118 persons on the Division—including hand crews, fallers, dozer operators, and overhead—were overrun by fire. The crown fire run chased 73 firefighters into three pre-identified “safety zones”. These safety zones consisted of a timber harvest clearcut—where firefighters do not have to deploy fire shelters—and two cleared areas, constructed
by the dozers when putting in the dozer line, in which all firefighters deployed their shelters. These people remained in their shelters for an estimated one and ½ hours as the fire burned intensely on all sides of these two safety zones. This preliminary study accompanies a staff ride that took place in 2016 to learn from this event.