Arizona deaths bring memories of 7 who died in northern Ontario

The deaths of 19 firefighters in Arizona brings back memories of a tragic fire in Northwestern Ontario in August of 1979.

Seven summer students, known as Junior Rangers, were trapped and died in a forest fire just west of Nakina, which is about 350 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.

A woman, two teenaged girls and four youths were trapped by the flames inside the lines of fire they had deliberately set to clear forest debris, according to a report in the Ottawa Citizen at the time.

A supervisor, Gaius Wesley, 52, escaped by running through the flames, believing his crew — aged 16 to 25 — were following him out, the Citizen reported.

Wesley suffered burns to 25 per cent of his body.

The charred bodies of the young people were found huddled beneath the remains of a clump of trees, about 45 metres from where Wesley managed to escape.

Larry Sanders was a CBC reporter covering the story at the time.

He said Thursday the tragedy brought changes to how fires were fought in Ontario.

"Almost immediately, without any of the inquiries, [they were] taking Junior Rangers away from those kinds of situations, they basically weren't putting kids in the line of fire anymore," Sanders said.

Sanders said, after the fire, new policies were brought in on how prescribed burns were planned and carried out.