On Aug. 12, Anne Veseth was killed while fighting the Steep Corner fire, when a snag 200 feet up the mountain in front of her fell onto another tree, which fell on her, according to the Missoulian. Anne, a second-year firefighter, was just 20 years old.

Spokesman Review journalist Betsy Russell advised that on Aug. 11, the day before Anne's death, that a specialized Forest Service Hotshot crew refused to work on this fire near Orofino, because of hazards including burning tree snags, and questions about how the fire was being managed.

Hotshot crews are specialized firefighting crews of some 20 people who have specialized training and equipment including chains saws, to fight the worst of the forest fires.

According to a Missoulian article, the hotshot crew was at the scene the day before Anne's death. Their superintendent hiked the area and observed a number of safety concerns, including poor communication, lack of emergency rescue, snags burning, and that hiking was very difficult because of the steepness of the slope and the number of dead trees on the slope. Safety was an issue. That hotshot boss reported "we will not be engaging until the hazards are mitigated." He stated his crews were held to a higher standard. He was told by the Idaho crew that "we are just doing the best we can with what we got."

Were some crews on the Steep Corner fire poorly equipped? Yes. The Idaho group included inmates that were observed by the hotshots being chased up the steep mountain by the fire, while simultaneously being pelted with boulders tumbling down the mountain. Idaho had big problems that week, with some l2 wild fires burning. Eventually our governor mobilized the National Guard.

The Spokesman Review article noted tensions between the Department of Lands teams and the Hotshot crews. Did the divisions between the two groups hinder the operation? Did some egos get involved here?

The issue isn't whether the Hotshot crew could have prevented Anne's death, but whether their expertise, assistance and presence could have mitigated and helped an obviously outmanned Idaho crew who were bravely fighting the Steep Corner fire.

I wonder what Anne was thinking the night before she died. It must have been lonely for Anne on that mountain, two miles from a vehicle, and away from her family and friends - and when she realized that the Hotshot team had pulled out that day, gone home and refused to fight the fire because they had higher standards.

Anne was a 5-foot 11-inch beauty raised in a firefighting family. The Olympian newspaper reports that "she liked to wear blue basketball shorts, with a wife beater T-shirt and cowboy boots" - and she also liked to dress up. She graduated from my Alma mater, Moscow High School, with a 3.92 grade average. Anne received a 2-year degree in auto mechanics, then developed a love for firefighting from her brother, Brian. She played on the high school basketball team and competed in the Junior Miss pageant. Anne wasn't a video game addict, she was a hard-working perfectionist; she constantly made lists for herself.

Notes and flowers from around the country poured in to the family. Her memorial service had to be moved from the Catholic Church in Moscow, to the Nazarene church which seats 1,300 people.

Some young people could take a lesson from the life Anne lived. There is a saying "service is the rent I pay, for being on God's earth today." "A coward dies many times before his death, the valiant never taste of death but once." - William Shakespeare. Anne is a fallen hero in my book.

I am hopeful that a scholarship and tribute can be set up in the name of Anne Veseth who bravely died fighting the Steep Corner Fire.

Steve Bell is a Coeur d'Alene resident.