Our condolences to the Lupe family and Bureau of Indian Affairs of Arizona. Fuels Management Specialist Rick Lupe, 42, a 20 year veteran hotshot firefighter with the Bureau of Indian Affairs died Thursday June 19, 2003. Rick received third degree burns to forty percent of his body during a prescribed burn near Whiteriver on the Fort Apache Reservation on Wednesday May 14, 2003. Rick walked a half mile before being picked up by a helicopter and transported to a hospital. He was treated and kept in an induced coma at Maricopa Burn Center in Phoenix for five weeks while he underwent two skin graft surgeries.

     Rick was a Hotshot firefighter for twenty years, eventually becoming a Hotshot Supervisor and recently a Fuels Management Specialist. He is regarded as a hero in Show Low and Pinetop-Lakeside. Rick is credited with creating the fireline in Hop Canyon with a bulldozer that stopped the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski fire from crossing Highway 60 and burning into the town of Show Low. A tribute was already planned to honor Rick on Saturday June 21, 2003 9AM-3PM at Blueridge High School in Pinetop. The tribute is going on as planned.

     Our brother Rick leaves behind his wife Evelyn, and three teenage sons, Sean, Daniel, and Brent. Funeral arrangements are pending with Owens Mortuary in Show Low. Details will be posted when they become available. A memorial fund has been established and donations can be made online here or: