Man sets Denali Park on fire to be rescued

Last weekend, a 39 year old Canadian man started a wildfire inside Denali National Park after failing to get attention from aircraft for help.

Robert Faber had fallen on a backpacking trip near the Sanctuary River and was found about 10 miles south of the Park Road. He knew he had broken bones and after failing to get the attention of passing airplanes, he finally set a stand of dwarf birch on fire.

National Park Service rangers received a report of a fire in the Sanctuary River drainage area on a return from a hunting patrol in the far reaches of the Park’s northern boundary. The helicopter diverted its path to investigate. As the helicopter saw the smoke and started its descent, rangers on board saw a man laying on the ground waving with one arm.

Kris Fister, park spokeswoman, says that rangers on board the helicopter, Dan Fangen-Gritis  and Matt Smith, attended to Faber and found he had a fractured spine and fractures in his upper arm. Faber told them he had fallen about 20 feet down a slope the previous evening and tried to hike out while attempting to get the attention of passing aircraft. As his strength deteriorated, he started a fire above the riverbank to get attention. Fister says that they had no information on Faber’s backpacking trip, but that he might have had his fall while hiking through Foggy Pass.

Faber was evacuated and transported to Fairbanks. The park’s fire management team attended to the fire immediately. Fister says it grew to about 20 acres, but did not threaten anything. The fire was extinguished completely with several water-bucket drops.