Tom Craven: Family man loved the outdoors and fighting fires

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ELLENSBURG - Although yesterday was a tragic day for the Craven family, William Craven concedes that it could have been worse.

Fire "could have got my other three boys" who also are fighting blazes across the nation during this wildfire season.

Craven's 30-year-old son Tom, who was killed Tuesday, was remembered by family and friends as an accomplished athlete, outdoor lover, husband and father who's been fighting fires for the U.S. Forest Service since he was 18. After college, he made firefighting a full-time job, working his way up to crew chief.

William Craven's other sons also are working for the Forest Service and were fighting fires as far away as Colorado when they learned of their brother's death. All were returning home yesterday to mourn together. Tom was one of six children - five boys and a girl.

A former high-school- and college-football star, "he could run. He could turn on a dime," his father said.

During college, "the Dallas Cowboys came up and talked to him," said his mother, Virginia Craven, but he'd injured his knee and moved to other callings.

His father speculated that his son died in the fire because "he stayed with his crew. He stayed with the younger people. He probably could have gotten out by himself. He could run like hell."

Though he said he's been told few details about how Tom died, a county coroner told William Craven that his son's body was found inside the protective shelter that firefighters carry as a last refuge if they get caught in flames.

Tom Craven loved the outdoors and loved fighting fires, his mother said. "He loved being out in the woods."

By the time he graduated from Cle Elum High School in 1990, he had earned 11 athletic letters - four in football, four in track and three in basketball.

He went to the College of the Redwoods in Eureka, Calif., where he played football and is remembered for breaking O.J. Simpson's junior-college yardage record.

Then Craven was injured and transferred to Central Washington University, where he graduated with a degree in sociology in 1997. He hosted a rap and hip-hop program, "Off da Hook," Friday nights on KCWU, the campus radio station.

After taking a break in January, he was called back to work in March, his mother said, commuting to the Naches Ranger District near Yakima. He'd been called to work on the Twisp fire early Tuesday.

Craven is survived by his wife, Evelyn, whom he met in Eureka, and their two children, T'Shaun, 4, and Tomisha, 7.