[1] The crew was constructing fireline downhill into a chimney canyon and were within 200 feet of completing their assignment when a sudden shift of winds caused a spot fire directly below where they were working.

[3] The Loop Fire started at 05:19 on November 1, 1966, from a faulty electrical line at the U.S. Army's Los Pinetos Nike Missile Site.

El Cariso Superintendent King led his crew to a small bench below this south point of the ridge and held them there until he could determine if it was possible to cold-trail the fire edge all the way down.

King could see the Los Angeles County dozers and crews working the lower edge of the fire and believed he could tie in with them.

By about 15:30 the El Cariso Hotshots were fully committed, cold-trailing their way down through the steep rocky chimney canyon with Superintendent King and the lead elements of the crew just starting to approach this point.

Division Boss Westmoreland had followed them about halfway down and observed minimal fire activity, but he also stated that it was not a clean burn.

At about this same time line construction by the Los Angeles County dozer and crews, that were working west along the bottom of the slope, was halted by a deep gully.

Terrain conditions combined with the rapid fire spread resulted in all members of the El Cariso Hotshot Crew being burned over as they worked from this stand location and up several hundred yards in the chimney above.