August, 7, 2008 - Ten Grayback Forestry firefighters were on board when a helicopter went down near Junction City, Calif. on August 5, 2008. Three of the ten survived and are still hospitalized. Seven of the firefighters are missing and are presumed to have perished in the crash.
Grayback Forestry officials spent the day on Wednesday working to notify families of the missing firefighters.
As of this morning, six of the families had been informed. We are continuing our attempts to reach the remaining family.
The following are the names of the missing firefighters whose families have been contacted. As soon as we have contacted the family of the seventh firefighter, we will update.
Shawn Blazer, 30 from Medford, Ore.
Scott Charleson, 25 from Phoenix, Ore.
Matthew Hammer, 23 from Grants Pass, Ore.
Edrik Gomez, 19, from Ashland, Ore.
Bryan Rich, 29, from Medford, Ore.
David Steele, 19, from Ashland, Ore.
Scott Charleson
Shawn Blazer
Edrik Gomez
Michael Hammer
David Steele
Bryan Rich
You can find their photos on the Web site: www.graybackforestry.com along with those of the surviving firefighters.
Our focus continues to be to support our employees and to help the families in anyway we can.
"We are devastated by this," says Mike Wheelock, owner of Grayback Forestry. "We train long and hard to make sure our crews are safe on the fire line. This kind of tragedy is something you just can't plan for."
The remainder of the affected crew who served with the missing men are due to arrive back to the Medford base this week. We will be providing incident debriefing and other support as needed to all of our crews.
All Grayback resources from the Iron Complex are en route back to their home base. No crews remain on the fire.
According to UC Davis Medical Center, Michael Brown's condition is fair. Jonathon Frohreich remains in serious condition and Rick Schroeder remains in critical condition.
We would like to extend our appreciation to members of the clergy, law enforcement and Forest Service who accompanied our representatives to inform the families.
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