Truck Fire Recovery Fund

After five successful trips on the Owyhee River, the Ouzel crew was returning to Bend with a truck, trailer and all of the equipment.  About 25 miles east of Burns on HWY 78, the truck began to smoke. After pulling over it was obvious the smoke was coming from the engine compartment. The guides discharged a fire extinguisher into the engine compartment but this only had a momentary effect. Fanned by strong winds at the time, the truck and trailer quickly became fully engulfed in flame. There was no time to remove equipment and no way to separate the trailer from the truck. Given the remote location it took an hour for fire crews to arrive. By that time, the truck, trailer and all the equipment were a total loss.

What was lost included an F350 Diesel Crew Cab, dual-axle cargo trailer, 5 rafts with frames and all the rafting, kitchen and camping equipment necessary to conduct a 5-day rafting trip for 20 people.  This constituted one of four identical sets of equipment capable of running a multi-day rafting trip. Before this loss, Ouzel had the ability to have four multi-day crews operating on different rivers at the same time. The loss effectively reduced our capacity to run multi-day trips by 25%.  As a result of lost capacity we were forced to cancel trips in 2025 and reduce the number of trips offered. Our half and one-day trips operate with different vehicles, trailers and equipment and were not affected.

The truck was in good condition, having been serviced before the Owyhee rafting season. The brakes and tires were new and the truck had not experienced any mechanical issues, nor exhibited over-heating during the steep and heavy pull out of the Owyhee Canyon for the previous 5 weeks.  The insurance company never determined the exact cause of the fire.

Ouzel has a commercial auto policy with Progressive Commercial. We include comprehensive coverage on all of our vehicles to cover the unexpected. However, Progressive Commercial does not offer coverage options for personal property or equipment being transported. For this and other reasons, Ouzel has an enhanced property policy which among other provisions provides limited coverage for "gear in transit". 

Our first priority following the fire was to take care of our guides. Four guides lost all of their rafting, camping and personal equipment. Two others lost some of their equipment. Guide equipment is not cheap. A set of oars costs over $700. Tents, sleeping bags, pads, dry bags and outdoor clothing need to be top-of-the-line (especially for an Owyhee season). Life jackets, safety and rescue gear and other technical equipment, not to mention personal electronics add up quickly. Within days we established a GoFundMe campaign that was expressly for and limited to the amount that we determined would be needed to replace all of our guides' gear and get them back on the river and working.  Thanks to the generosity of the river community as well as past and current Ouzel guests, that goal was achieved in short order and it did not take long to make our guides whole. Replacing company gear is a different matter.

Much of our equipment is custom and cannot be bought "off the shelf".  The model of rafts we use are typically only available on a pre-season, made-to-order basis. The aluminum raft frames and aluminum dry boxes are custom-made as are the truck racks and equipment trailers. Some of this fabrication work is done by Ouzel's owners. Riverbank toilets, partner stoves, aluminum camp tables, tents, sleeping pads, coolers, pumps, tarps, lifejackets and dry bags are all expensive, top-of-the line items and there is an innumerable number of other camp, kitchen and rafting items that go into a multi-day trip.   The total replacement cost of everything lost in the fire is estimated at $110,000.00.  The insurance settlement was $60,000.00.

We greatly appreciate the generosity of suppliers who  have provided additional discounts for replacing lost equipment.  Some items have been replaced but we have a long way to go.  Beyond the GoFundMe campaign in May to get our guides back up and running, we have not asked for support in rebuilding our fourth multi-day crew -  although we deeply appreciate the offers of help in this regard from Ouzel guests and others.  Now that the 2025 rafting season has wrapped up,  we have a clear sense of what was lost and what it will take to rebuild our fourth crew.  We have set up another GoFundMe campaign for those wishing to help out. Thank you! 

GoFundMe Ouzel Truck Fire Recovery Fund