Jim Schanel has feared for his life during his four-decade career as a wildland firefighter.
He fought Hayman, Waldo Canyon, Black Forest, the 117.
But the day that haunts him — the day he can’t recall without tears — is June 30, 2013. That’s the day he thought a wildfire had killed his son.
Schanel was battling Colorado’s West Fork fire with a Type I incident management team, protecting structures near the headwaters of the Rio Grande River, when he got a call: “Your son is missing.”
Aaron had been a Prescott, Ariz., Hotshot for six years.
Schanel found a spot with better cellphone reception and heard that 19 Hotshots were missing. “And you go, ‘S--t, that’s my kid.