to the east. Shortly after 5pm, two civilians who had been camping further up the road encountered the firefighters while attempting to leave the area. The two had driven up the road to the Thirtymile campground at 1pm and did not notice any firefighters along the way. Although the district fire management officer had ordered the road closed earlier that day, no action was taken until after 3pm. At 5:24pm, the fire's behavior abruptly changed, overwhelming the crew. Daniels instructed everyone to deploy their fire shelters—last-resort safety devices designed to protect wildland firefighters from heat and deadly gases. Six firefighters deployed on the rock scree, while the others and the two civilians stayed on the road. Although the shelters are designed to be used by one person, the two civilians shared a shelter with crew member Rebecca Welch. Minutes after deployment, two of the firefighters on the rock scree abandoned their fire shelters: Thom Taylor ran and jumped in the river, while Jason Emhoff sought safety in the crew's van. Rescue and body recovery Approximately 30 minutes after the deployment, Pete Kampen and members of the Entiat IHC arrived for the rescue operation. The eight firefighters and two civilians who deployed on the road suffered only minor burns and smoke inhalation. Jason Emhoff experienced third degree burns to his hands as a result of attempting to put out flames in his shelter without wearing gloves. The four firefighters who remained on the rocks exhibited no signs of life. All four—Tom Craven, of Ellensburg, and Devin Weaver, Jessica Johnson, and Karen FitzPatrick, all of Yakima—had died as a result of asphyxia due to inhalation of superheated products of combustion. Craven, who served as a squad boss during the fire, was a veteran firefighter in his thirteenth fire season with the Forest Service. Weaver, Johnson and FitzPatrick were all in their first season. The incident was the deadliest wildland firefighting disaster in the US since the 1994 South Canyon Fire in Colorado, which killed 14 firefighters. The Thirtymile Fire went on to burn an area of before it was declared fully contained on July 23. Over 1,000 firefighters were brought in to fight the fire. Suppression of the Thirtymile Fire cost a total of US$4.5million. Aftermath Investigation The Forest Service promptly opened an investigation into the incident. The investigation team first met in Twisp, Washington on July 11 and began conducting interviews,