Red Lodge firefighter’s survival story retold in new book

June 19, 2024

RED LODGE – Longtime firefighter Dan Steffensen picks up the bright orange book, leafs through it and sits down to read it aloud.

“I had to remind him that he was strong,” Steffensen said.

These words were spoken to him during a critical period of his recovery in the summer of 2021, when he suffered severe burns while battling the Harris Hill fire north of Joliet.

That day the wind changed and he was greeted by a wall of fire.

He was taken to Salt Lake City to recover from severe burns, learn to eat and walk again, and heal both mentally and physically.

Three years later, his story is now found in a book called “Burned Over! The Survival of Montana Firefighter Dan Steffensen.”

Steffensen and Montana author AJ Otjen took 21 months to tell it.

As Otjen reveals in his book, Steffensen’s tragedy was not the only one to hit Red Lodge that summer.

“So many people were involved this summer, not just Dan,” Otjen said.

That same summer, Red Lodge was struck by tragedy when the Robertson Draw Fire burned eight homes and 13 other structures and tragically killed an experienced hiker named Tatum Morell while climbing in the Beartooth Mountains.

Red Lodge was stunned and tried to find something positive to hold on to.

“His return allowed everyone to breathe a sigh of relief, because the summer had been so terrible,” Otjen said.

And he came home, even though his recovery was not yet complete there.

When Steffensen asked her to write the story of his burning, Otjen says she was under a lot of pressure to get the story right.

“It was very difficult to capture that and put it on paper,” said Otjen. “But how do you say no to a firefighter who has been burned?”

His struggles went far beyond what people in Steffensen’s town saw or even what was reported on the news.

“He was really struggling internally with whether he wanted to live or die, and it was very difficult to capture that and put it on paper,” Otjen said.

Steffensen talks about a crucial moment in his recovery when, after another operation, he was at least superficially healed and no longer had any open wounds to treat.

He had to make a decision – much to the dismay of his close friends and family: Would he continue fighting the fire?

“And everyone, especially my family, asked me why I was doing this?” he said.

To which he replied, “But that’s who I am.”

He now works regular shifts at Red Lodge Fire Rescue and says he has no plans to stop anytime soon.

“It took me a long time to get there and I’m not going to give up easily,” he said.

As for the book, he hopes it will be well-received and answer some of the burning questions we all have about how he survived such a horrific encounter with fire.

The book is now available on the shelves of Beartooth Books in Red Lodge and online at Amazon.