Editor’s note: This is running 31 years and three days after 14 firefighters gave their lives in defense of our community. We apologize for not recognizing their sacrifice on the anniversary itself.

Over 31 years have passed since fire swept up Storm King Mountain outside Glenwood Springs, changing the lives of families, firefighters and an entire community.

On July 6, 1994, a wind-driven blow-up on what had started as a small wildfire turned deadly in an instant. Fourteen wildland firefighters — deeply committed to their work — were caught in a place where terrain, weather and timing all turned against them.

They didn’t make it home.

The Storm King Fire, as it came to be known, took the lives of nine Prineville Hotshots from Oregon, two smokejumpers, and three helitack crew members. Each had a name, a family, and a future that ended just above the Colorado River. They were working to contain a blaze that, for days, had seemed manageable — until it wasn’t.

The tragedy became a turning point in wildland firefighting. Lessons were learned the hardest way possible. Communications protocols were overhauled. Briefings became more thorough. Fire behavior training, equipment, weather tracking — all of it changed. And behind those changes were 14 faces that the fire world vowed never to forget.

In Glenwood Springs, the reminders are quiet but steady. A trail winds up the mountain, tracing the steps the crews took that day. Along the way, crosses mark the places where lives were lost, where memories now rest. It’s not the easiest of hikes. But many make it, year after year.

In town, a statue in Two Rivers Park stands in their honor. It’s a place for reflection, for remembrance, and for the community to pay its respects. And last year, a mural was completed on the outside of the downtown Glenwood Springs fire station as one more visible testimony to the sacrifice made by the Storm King 14.

More than three decades later, the story of the Storm King 14 continues to carry weight. Not just in how wildfires are fought, but in how those who serve are remembered.

In memoriam:

Prineville Hotshots

• Kathi Beck
• Tamera Bickett
• Scott Blecha
• Levi Brinkley
• Douglas Dunbar
• Terri Hagen
• Bonnie Holtby
• Rob Johnson
• Jon Kelso

McCall Smokejumpers

• Roger Roth
• Jim Thrash

Missoula Smokejumper

• Don Mackey

Helitack

• Robert Browning, Jr.
• Richard Tyler