Santa Fe Hotshot's History

The Santa Fe Hotshots were started in 1977 on the Long Valley Ranger District located on the Coconino National Forest south of Flagstaff, AZ. The crew was originally known as the “Happy Jack Hotshots”. The name Happy Jack originated from a Stagecoach robber from Montana with the nick name of “Happy Jack”. The first District Ranger for the Long Valley R.D. was from Montana and decided to name the crew and camp “Happy Jack”, as it turns out the logging camp located nearby for Southwest Forest Industries was also know as Happy Jack. The crew was one of 4 Hotshot crews on the Coconino at the time: Flagstaff IHC, Mormon Lake IHC, Blue Ridge IHC, and Happy Jack IHC. The crew was housed in barracks that had been moved from a WWII Japanese Internment camp in Eloy, AZ. The conditions were rough, lonely and remote. The crew quarters were eventually condemned by the county. Faced with building a new complex for the crew, the forest chose to transfer the crew to the Santa Fe National Forest which had been asking for a Hotshot crew for some time. So in 1981 the remaining crew and overhead made the move to Santa Fe, NM. The local Fire Management Officer had wanted to name the crew Redondo Hotshots (named after a local mountain). After some negotiation the crews name was chosen, the Santa Fe Hotshots were born. The crew was hosted on the Tesuque Ranger District until they combined with the Espanola Ranger District. The Santa Fe Hotshots are now based out of the Supervisors Office of the Santa Fe National Forest and have a work center/base that they operate out of during the field season. It is located in Santa Fe just off of Cerillos Road and Camino Carlos Ray.

The crew logo when the crew was hosted by the Coconino was simple and had several trees. The trees changed over the years but always remained on the logo in some fashion. The trees were significant because of the remoteness of the camp and every way you looked that was what you saw trees, trees and more trees. The original crew color was orange.

The history of the crew’s logo in Santa Fe begins with the “Three Horseman”. The three different heads or horseman represents the three dominant cultures in Northern New Mexico. The Native American, Spanish, and Anglo cultures. The trees in the background are tied the crews origins on the Coconino and the original Happy Jack Hotshots logo. The phrase “KAMARA AYENES FYR” was added at some point. The phrase is a combination of the three cultures languages and means “Comrades Against Fire”. The logo has changed over the years from its original form to more complex designs. The current logo is tied back to the original with the three heads, the trees, and the “kamara ayenes fyr” phrase across the bottom. The crew colors are now Black, Red and White. See Below

Current Logo

Former Superintendents and Years of Service: