Spencer Long (Grangeville ’07)
Posted: July 24, 2026
Spencer was born September 7, 1981, in Vernal, UT, the firstborn son of Devan and Wendi Long. He passed away on July 17, 2026, while hiking with his family in Southern Utah near the town of Bicknell. Spencer, his wife, and their three sons drowned in flash floods induced by heavy rains.
Raised on a cattle ranch in Vernal alongside his three brothers, Spencer developed a deep love for nature and the hard work of ranch life. He graduated from Uintah HS in 2001 and later served a mission for the Morman church in Argentina.
Following his mission, Spencer earned a bachelor’s degree in health and emergency management from Utah Valley University.
Spencer enjoyed outdoor adventure. He was happiest when he was outside and loved hunting, fishing, motorcycle riding, rock climbing, and mountain climbing. It only made sense that he was drawn to the excitement and risk of smokejumping.
“For me, anything in my life and my personality, whatever the top is, that’s where I want to go, whatever’s the most extreme,” Long said in a YouTube video posted in 2021. “That’s just my nature. I saw [smokejumping], and I thought, that’s what I want to do.”
He was a hotshot for two years before applying to the smokejumper program at several bases. Determined to get in, he drove hundreds of miles to each one so he could personally introduce himself. It was during a break from a fire class in Provo that he got a phone call inviting him to join the smokejumper program in Grangeville. When class resumed, an elated Long stood up to tell the whole classroom what had just happened.
Spencer arrived in Grangeville for the fire season of 2007. He called rookie training in Missoula “the best time of my life and the hardest as well.” He had a total of three fire jumps, breaking his shoulder on a rock at the end of the final one.
He left the smokejumper program after that. After training as a paramedic, he was accepted into the Provo fire department and eventually rose to the rank of captain. Spencer was a member of many special task forces including the Mountain Rescue Team (MRT), the Wildland Team, the Rapid Extraction Module Support Team (REMS), the Utah County Special Response Team, Flight Medic with Classic Air Medical, and the Utah Task Force 1 (UT-TF1), serving as a rescue specialist and hazardous materials specialist. His unwavering dedication to protecting others and his skills in hazardous operations were the hallmarks of his professional life.
On May 21, 2010, Spencer married Katrina Gubler in Vernal, UT. Katrina brought Lydia and Reid, her children from a previous marriage, into their marriage, and Spencer loved and supported them wholeheartedly. They went on to have two additional children, Thayne and Gage.
He remained proud of his smokejumper service.
“To this day, if there’s one thing I could say about smokejumping…I would say it was one of the greatest achievements in my life, hands down,” he said in the YouTube video. “Besides being married and having kids.
