By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City)
Copyright 2006 The Deseret News Publishing Co.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday for a firefighter killed while battling a wildfire near Oak City.
Services for Spencer Stanley Koyle, 33, will take place at an LDS chapel in Holden. Internment will be in the Holden cemetery.
Koyle died while battling the Devil’s Den Fire, burning about three miles southeast of Oak City. Millard County Sheriff’s deputies said that winds had shifted, causing the fire to change direction and become more intense. Firefighters were ordered to evacuate from the area.
Millard County Sheriff Robert Dekker said that Koyle had become surrounded by the fire and had deployed his fire shelter. Koyle’s use of the shelter and other details remained under investigation Monday, the sheriff said.
An interagency investigation is under way into Koyle’s death. Over the weekend, investigators from the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture and Millard County Sheriff’s Office visited the accident site and interviewed firefighters who were battling the blaze when Koyle died.
“All that’s still being looked at,” Dekker said Monday. “We’ve been back up there, but they haven’t finalized anything.”
The Devil’s Den Fire has burned more than 1,400 acres of pinyon, juniper and brush and is currently threatening about 50 homes. Firefighters said they have been successful in building lines along the north edge of the fire. Attempts to “burn out” the fire have also been successful. Air tankers have been brought in to make retardant drops.
The fire was sparked by lightning on Aug. 15. So far, it has cost about $500,000 to fight.
A trust fund has been set up to help Koyle’s family. Donations can be made at any Wells Fargo Bank under the Spencer Koyle Memorial Fund. Donations can also be made to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation in Boise, Idaho.