Fire Captain’s Family Dies In Flash Flood After Mother’s Final Training Post
A Utah community is mourning after Provo Fire Captain Spencer Long, his wife, Katrina Long, and three of their sons died in a flash flood near Bicknell.
The tragedy happened on July 17, 2026, during a family trip to an area known for camping, hiking, and canyoneering.
The only immediate family member who survived was Lydia Vernon, Katrina’s daughter from a previous marriage. She was not on the trip because she was working in Kentucky after recently graduating.
In the days after the deaths, two painful details drew attention: Katrina’s final video about emergency training and Lydia’s recent completion of medical training that might have mattered in a crisis if she had been there.
Family Trip Ended In Disaster
Spencer Long, Katrina Long, and their sons Reid Vernon, Thayne Long, and Gage Long died after heavy rain caused flash flooding in Wayne County.
The family had arrived near Sunglow Campground at approximately 11:30 a.m. that Friday. They planned to camp, hike, and go canyoneering in the rugged area about an hour south of Richfield.
At roughly 5 p.m., deputies responded after a person reported finding a body. A young male was discovered in a wash, prompting Wayne County Search and Rescue to begin searching for the rest of the missing group.
Two more males were found in the same wash during the initial search. The remaining two family members were located on Saturday.
By about 12:15 p.m., all five bodies had been recovered. Heavy rainfall was believed to have caused the flooding that swept through the area.
A Daughter Was Spared By Distance
Lydia Vernon, the eldest of the four children and the family’s only daughter, was not with the group when the flood struck.
She was working in Kentucky after recently graduating, while the rest of her family made the Utah trip. Her absence spared her life, but it also meant she was hundreds of miles away when her family faced the emergency.
That fact became even more painful because Lydia had recently completed medical training. Photographs connected to her graduation showed her wearing a cap and gown, with some images including a stethoscope.
In May, she shared the joy of completing her degree and wrote, “Graduating this week and I couldn’t be more excited to put BSN behind my name!🩺”
The same training that marked the beginning of her future might have been meaningful in an emergency, but Lydia was not present when the flood hit.
Spencer Long Served For 17 Years
The loss of Spencer Long was deeply felt among first responders across Utah. He had served with Provo Fire and Rescue for 17 years and had been a captain for the final two.
His work included service with the federal search and rescue group Utah Task Force One. He was also part of Provo Fire’s mountain rescue team.
On Tuesday, July 21, fire crews escorted the family from the state medical examiner’s office in Taylorsville to a mortuary in Spanish Fork.
Firefighters from several agencies stood on Interstate 15 overpasses as the procession traveled south. Emergency vehicles moved beneath them in a quiet tribute to the family and to Spencer’s years of service.
People who gathered along the route described the loss as sudden, shocking, and difficult to process.
Remembered For Service And Family
Provo Fire Chief Jeremy Headman remembered Spencer as an exceptional firefighter and paramedic who volunteered when help was needed.
Yet the quality that stood out most to those who knew him was not only his work in uniform. It was his devotion to his family.
“The thing that stands out the most about Capt. Long was his love for his family,” the chief said during a news conference.
He also described Spencer’s deep connection to the outdoors and to his sons.
“He spent an enormous amount of time out in the outdoors with his boys.”
That love of outdoor adventure was part of the family’s life, which made the location of their deaths especially painful for those who knew them.
Katrina Built A Life Around Care
Katrina Long was also widely known in her community. She was a co-founder of Summit Medical Spa, a Utah business offering massage, post-operative lymphatic services, hormone and weight-loss care, and skin and wellness treatments.
Friends described her as a determined entrepreneur whose first impression could seem guarded, but whose warmth became clear once people knew her.
Dozens gathered at the spa’s Spanish Fork location for a candlelight vigil on Sunday, July 19.
Katrina’s close friend and co-worker Meagan Dexter said the family spent considerable time exploring mountains and canyons.
“Knowing that all of this happened in a canyon just kind of breaks my heart,” she said.
A Blended Family Built With Love
Katrina built a blended family with Spencer after they met while she was working at Red Mountain Spa. She already had Reid and Lydia, and the couple later welcomed Thayne and Gage.
The boys played hockey and shared their parents’ enthusiasm for outdoor adventures. The family’s photographs showed a household repeatedly gathered for portraits, celebrations, and time together outdoors.
Business partner Sam Butler recalled realizing how quickly Spencer embraced Katrina’s older children.
“He wanted to start a family and love Reid and Lydia like his own. I knew he was good,” she said.
Katrina’s care also extended into her workplace. After Meagan shared struggles with fertility, Katrina opened the spa’s services to her and encouraged her to pursue testing and treatment without worrying about cost.
Final Video Took On New Meaning
Only days before her death, Katrina shared a video that was practical at the time but painful in hindsight.
Her last Instagram post was a collaboration between her personal profile and the spa. The video showed the entire spa staff receiving CPR training and learning how to use an automated external defibrillator.
In the caption, Katrina thanked Utah Medic for training and recertifying the team. She explained that the group had returned every two years for the previous six years to keep the staff’s emergency knowledge up to date.
The lessons had already been useful outside work. Katrina wrote that staff members had needed to apply what they learned to their own relatives three times during the previous year.
“Thank you for helping us stay up to date on our knowledge so we can be useful at work, home and in every day life situations to help those around us,” she wrote.
At the time, the message was about preparedness and helping others. After the flood, it became a haunting final reflection of the life she had built around care and readiness.
Lydia’s Own Training Added To The Pain
The CPR training video also created a painful connection to Lydia, who had recently completed medical training of her own.
Lydia’s social media posts showed a close family and a young woman preparing for the next chapter of her life. In April 2026, she celebrated her fifth anniversary with her longtime boyfriend.
“Thank you for always knowing how to love me, hold me, and convince me that I can in fact get through nursing school;) 3,” Lydia wrote in the anniversary caption.
The following month, she celebrated graduation and the completion of the demanding years she had referenced.
Her nursing knowledge might have been valuable during an emergency. But the same absence that saved her life also meant she could not be beside the people she had been trained to help.
Community Welcomed Her Home
When Lydia returned to the family home after the tragedy, she did not arrive alone.
Friends, firefighters, and members of the hockey community lined the neighborhood streets to welcome her back and show support.
Chief Headman described the scene as an outpouring of love. It offered a small measure of comfort to a young woman facing funeral arrangements and a future changed in a single day.
A fundraiser was also created to help with funeral and memorial costs, housing, counseling, education, daily expenses, and other needs.
The fundraiser had raised $288,765 toward its $300,000 goal, reaching 97 percent at the time the figures were recorded.
Support Cannot Erase The Loss
Bree Nielson, whose husband had worked with Spencer for 12 years, organized the fundraiser for Lydia.
Bree said the families had shared trips and milestones as her friendship with Katrina grew.
“No amount of money can take away Lydia’s pain or replace the family she has lost,” Bree wrote.
The fundraiser was meant to ease practical burdens while reminding Lydia that she was not alone.
For the community, the response became one way to support the only immediate survivor of a tragedy that took five members of one family.
Fire Captain: Investigation Continued After Search Ended
Authorities had no reason to believe anything aside from flash flooding caused the deaths, though the case remained under investigation.
Search personnel eventually cleared the area, and it was reopened to the public.
For Lydia and the people who loved the Long family, however, there was no simple return to normal. The photographs, celebrations, and shared memories now preserve the family as they were before the flood.
Katrina’s final training video remains a painful last message about being prepared to help others. Lydia’s nursing milestone stands beside it as another reminder of care, readiness, and the cruel timing of distance.
The Long family’s deaths left a community grieving a fire captain, a mother, three sons, and the life they built together in the outdoors they loved.