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Created by USWFA HOTSHOTS Apr 16, 2008 at 3:53pm. Last updated by USWFA HOTSHOTS Apr 16.
FEATHER RIVER HOTSHOT STEVEN E. ZINN
HAS PASSED AWAY IN A TRAGIC ACCIDENT!
OROVILLE — A firefighter assigned to the Butte Lightning Complex was killed Sunday when he lost control of his motorcycle on the transition ramp from Highway 149 to southbound Highway 70.
He was identified as Chico resident Steven E. Zinn, 27, a member of the Feather River Hotshots, operating out of the Feather River Ranger District office in Oroville.
Zinn was a member of a Type 1 crew — often the first to reach a wildfire and trained to rappel or parachute into fire zones if needed.
Officials said Zinn had been with the district for nine years. He was reportedly off-duty at the time of the accident. Witnesses told the California Highway Patrol Zinn was traveling south on the southbound onramp to Highway 70 at a high rate of speed and passing other vehicles when he lost control on a curve at 2:15 a.m.
He was reportedly ejected from the motorcycle and slid several hundred feet before coming to rest in the roadway.
Zinn was wearing dark clothing and was struck by two oncoming cars whose drivers failed to see him in the roadway.
The CHP said Zinn was wearing a helmet, but suffered fatal upper body injuries from being struck by the vehicles.
According to a friend, Zinn was a 1999 graduate of Pleasant Valley High, where he played football.
He reportedly joined the fire service soon after graduation.
"He was a highly valued crew member of our Feather River Hotshots and a friend to many.
I know that you will keep Steven, his family
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Perhaps you should really know what a Hotshot Crew does. The very term "Hotshot" means many things to many people. But those of us who recruit, train, and work Hotshots, the job title is anything but glamorous. From experience we know that fire-fighting is 90 percent physical labor for the Hotshot Crews. The nature of the work is demanding. Only those of high strength, agility, coordination, and stamina can cope with the sustained physical exertion required of the average Hotshot. As a Hotshot you will be required to not only produce physically but to live together, eat together, sleep together in close, crowded conditions. Complete compatibility is in itself a difficult challenge.
You must take orders, and carry those orders out at all times, day after day. The emotional strain is extreme and the competitive pressure of your peer group is always present. For a crew is only as good as it's weakest member! When not on fire duty, you will be required to engage in daily structured physical fitness training that consists of running three to five miles, coordination exercises, pushups, sit-ups, chin-ups, stretching, etc.
The rest of your day will be like every other day: hard labor using various hand tools, other duties include digging weeds, picking up garbage, cleaning up toilets, sharpening tools, piling brush, and other duties as assigned. You will be expected to be ready at all times to answer fire calls on the District or throughout the United States. This requires you to be on a twenty four (24) hour alert.
On the fire line, the Hotshot Crews are singled out for the most hazardous and difficult assignments. It is normal for Hotshot Crews to be on the first shift up to thirty two hours before relief is available. Succeeding shifts of up to 16 hours are necessary. On occasion you will be "spiked" out away from the main fire camp, thirsty, hungry, and sleeping on rocky ground, sometimes without even a sleeping bag. You will hardly have the luxury of washing your hands, much less facilities to bathe. You will be filthy, exhausted, underfed, and hurting. There will be no privacy, no sanitation, no shelter, and no doctors, however first aid is available.
The Hotshot Crew is so named because of the need for tough, knowledgeable, rugged individuals who can be sent ahead of the main contingent of ordinary labor crews, and independently construct holding lines around critical segments of the fire, hold their line, and survive with little or no support. You will be required to walk long distances, sometimes packing heavy loads, up and down extreme mountainous terrain, (carrying packs of hose, chainsaws, or backpack pumps) cut trees into shorter lengths, drag limbs and brush out of the fire's path: dig (3 feet to 10 feet wide) fire lines to mineral soil: build trenches; haul hose, pack heavy portable pumps and tanks; and burn out your line before the fire gets there: then start extinguishing spot fires over your lines. And that's not the end of it. The dirty work of mop-up begins; digging and scraping all hotspots out and extinguishing the heat source. Other features of the job are living and breathing smoke for days, contending with mosquitoes, ticks, gnats, flies, stump beetles, snakes, scorpions, spiders, rolling rocks and falling debris, thorns, and cactus. It is dirty, dusty, hot, and you are always sweaty and at times freezing cold. Hotshots travel all over the United States and Alaska, often seeing home only a few days a summer. We want the toughest and the best. Being a Hotshot can be exciting, but very challenging. Many people try out for the Hotshots and don't make it. This is not the time or place to get in shape, you must be in outstanding shape and mentally tough when you start work.
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