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Retha Shirley

Firefighter

The 5 firefighters were passengers in a van headed from Oregon to Colorado to fight the Hayman fire. There were a total of 11 firefighters in the van and a total of 8 vans in a caravan.The caravan had just stopped in Parachute, Colorado for food and fuel. As the vans traveled along a rural interstate highway, the 21-year-old driver of the van containing the 5 firefighters lost control. The van veered left onto the median and rolled a total of 4 times. The driver reached for a cup and was distracted when the van veered left. Four of the firefighters died immediately and the fifth died on June 24, 2002, as the result of his injuries.Only 1 of the 5 firefighters that died was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. Four of the 6 surviving firefighters were wearing seat belts. The firefighters were traveling in a Ford Econoline E-350 Super Duty van. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that stretch vans such as the one involved in this crash are 3 times more likely to roll over when they carry 10 or more passengers. The NHTSA expressed concerns about vans manufactured by Ford, Chevrolet, GMC, and Dodge.The driver of the van pleaded guilty to 1 charge of careless driving and was sentenced to 50 hours of community service.
photo of the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial
Retha Shirley was honored on the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Emmitsburg, Maryland and was included in the USFA’s annual report Firefighter Fatalities in the United States.

Department information

Grayback Forestry Inc.
P.O. Box 838
Merlin, Oregon 97532

Chief: Mike Wheelock

Age: 19
Rank: Firefighter
Classification: Career
Incident date: June 21, 2002 17:15
Date of death: June 21, 2002
Cause of fatal injury: Vehicle Collision - Includes Aircraft
Nature of fatal injury: Trauma
Activity type: Riding Vehicle/Apparatus
Emergency duty: No
Duty type: Other On-Duty
Fixed property use: Street/Road

Last updated: December 09, 2014