By Laura Zuckerman
Idaho Falls Post Register (Idaho)
Copyright 2006 The Post Register
All Rights Reserved
SALMON, Idaho - Relatives, colleagues and government officials will gather today to unveil the life-size memorial sculpture that commemorates the deaths of firefighters Jeff Allen and Shane Heath.
Allen, a 24-year-old Salmon native, and Heath, 22, of Melba, died July 22, 2003, while battling a wildfire in the Salmon-Challis National Forest.
The dedication ceremony for the bronze sculpture begins at 9 a.m. at Indianola, the helicopter base about 30 miles northwest of Salmon where Allen and Heath were stationed. The statue, funded by donations and the federal government, depicts two firefighters in full gear hitting the ground after rappelling from a helicopter.
""We’ll be meeting to remember these two young men who fought fires in the Salmon River country — to talk about them and to honor them,"" North Fork District Ranger Steve Kimball said in a prepared statement.
Montana sculptor and firefighter Drew Brown fashioned the bronze after consulting on the design with the Allen and Heath families.
Three years have passed since the deadly blaze near Cramer Creek claimed the lives of Allen and Heath, but the memory of the two firefighters lives on. Yellow ribbons adorn signposts and businesses along the northern corridor of U.S. Highway 93 and the names of the dead arise in conversation every fire season.
Allen and Heath were stranded on ridge above the Cramer Fire when it raged uphill with flames rising as high as 100 feet. A government inquiry showed poor judgment and a series of safety violations by fire managers contributed to the deaths.
When the government went searching for culprits, they fastened on Alan Hackett, the incident commander in charge of the Cramer Fire.
Hackett was sacked in November 2004 as part of a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice. Under the agreement, Hackett was placed on 18 months of federal probation. An investigation by the Justice Department found that Hackett was ""negligent in providing proper supervision and safety to the two firefighters who lost their lives.""
A report by fire experts released in the aftermath of the lethal blaze showed Allen and Heath grew increasingly concerned about a promised rescue and that Allen repeatedly sought a helicopter.
""Oh, God,"" Allen said in a radio transmission shortly before his death. ""We just got fire down below us. The smoke’s coming right at us. Just make them hurry up.""
Government documents show Allen and Health tried to flee the fire in their last moments. Investigators later found fire shelters near the firefighters’ bodies. The shelters had been removed from their packs and one partially unfolded. With the fire raging as high as 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the shelters would not have saved them.