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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Firefighter Spencer Stanley Koyle was scouting the Devil's Den wildfire when the winds shifted and he was overtaken by the blaze and killed, according to investigators' preliminary report.
Koyle, 33, of Holden was among 40 firefighters sent last Thursday to the 250-acre blaze in the Fishlake National Forest east of Delta, according to the report by investigators for the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.
The firefighters and equipment were airlifted to a safety zone that morning, the report released Monday said.
As assignments were being made, Koyle left the helispot to scout the bush fire.
About 1:50 p.m., the wind and fire conditions changed quickly.
"Koyle tried to return to the safety zone but was overtaken by rapidly advancing flames," investigators Joel D. Holtrop of the Forest Service and Gust C. Panos of the BLM said.
They said Koyle deployed his shelter, but did not survive.
Millard County Sheriff Robert Dekker said Friday that Koyle "had called in and said he was in trouble."
The other firefighters were evacuated.
It was the first death this year of a federal firefighter while battling a blaze, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
Koyle began fighting fires part-time in 1991. He graduated from Utah State University and worked his way up to fire-operations specialist for the BLM, supervising 30 firefighters in two federal agencies.
Koyle was married with three children.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
