Caleb Hamm was an outdoorsman — someone who loved nature enough to work in it every day, study it in college, and plan to make a career out of ecology so he could help preserve it.
The 24-year-old Hamm never got a chance to finish his plans, dying on July 7 while fighting a wildfire near Mineral Wells, Texas, with his Bureau of Land Management Bonneville Hotshot crew.
More than 200 wildland firefighters and fire officials — along with Hamm’s family — filled a conference room in the DoubleTree Hotel Riverside in Garden City earlier this month to show support for their fallen colleague and honor Hamm’s memory.
A common theme for many was how much Hamm loved to be in nature, whether riding a mountain bike, hiking with his beloved bassett hound, Princess, snowboarding at Bogus Basin Mountain Recreation Area, rock climbing, snowshoeing, or studying ecology at the University of Idaho and then Weber State University.
Loving. Loyal. Uninhibited. Honest. Full of integrity. These were words family members used to describe him.
Hamm spent his summers working as a wildland firefighter for the last several years, including work on a helitack crew before he joined a hotshot crew this summer.
“Caleb died doing the very thing he wanted to die doing,” which was protecting the ecology of the earth, said the Rev. William Sillings, who knew Hamm’s family from back East.
Caleb Hamm was born in Fayetteville, Ark., on Aug. 25, 1987, and his immediate family — younger brother Seth and parents David and Lynnette Hamm — moved to the Boise area. It was a great fit for Caleb’s passion for the outdoors.
Hamm graduated from Idaho City High School in 2005 and began his college — he attended both Boise State University and the University of Idaho before settling on Weber State — and firefighting adventures soon after.
Seth Hamm said his older brother always put the needs of others above himself — no matter what happened to him or anyone else he cared about, Caleb would be there.
“My brother was the most compassionate, loving person ... he always wanted me to better myself,” Seth Hamm said at the funeral while fighting back tears. “Caleb would be the one to tell it like it really was, often telling you not what you wanted to hear, but what you needed to hear.”
“It’s because of him I can achieve my goals.”
Seth Hamm said his most cherished memory will be the day he and Caleb built a mountain bike from scratch.
Family members say Hamm was a tireless champion of ecology — doing things like telling family members he would do their dishes if they stopped using styrofoam plates or designing a recycling system for his grandparents.
Sheryl McLain, Caleb’s aunt, talked a lot about his free, uninhibited spirit — the kind of spirit that allows someone to run a marathon in a thong or participate in “hashing” — a sort-of footrace where one person acts as a “hare” and leads a group of other runners on a chase, leaving scraps of paper or other items as a trail and making noises, until the end of the trail, when the reward for everyone is a bucket of cold beer.
Many tears were shed at his funeral July 14 as Hamm’s casket was carried through a phalanx of more than 100 wildland firefighters standing at attention.
Earlier that day, a procession of wildland fire engines, firefighters and law enforcement officers traveled down the Fairview Avenue/Chinden Boulevard corridor to honor Hamm.
Hamm collapsed while working the 337 Fire and was being medically evacuated to a nearby hospital when he died. An autopsy will determine the exact cause of death, but the BLM said indications are the extreme heat — temperatures in Texas that day reached as high as 105 degrees — was a primary factor.
Hamm’s family has requested that instead of flowers or gifts, donations be made to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation, a non-profit entity that helps the families of wildland firefighters who die or are injured in the line of duty.
The family has also set up "Caleb Hamm Memorial Fund" at Mountain West Bank, where all donations will be given to non-profit organizations that support wildland fire fighters.
Patrick Orr: 373-6619
In Remembrance is a weekly profile on a Treasure Valley resident who has recently passed away. To recommend a friend or loved one for an In Remembrance, email newsroom@idahostatesman.com.
