Again Russ, you have your facts wrong.
The blowback was in 8444, the man firing was the late Jim Duncan who was Assistant Mech Officer in Cheyenne. He was not wearing a jumpsuit, he was wearing his street clothes, as he had a tendancy to do. I guess because he preferred a shirt and tie to overalls. He was taken to the hospital and the only thing that saved him was that he was wearing cotton underwear. He lived into his 80's. He was a nice guy but very much a company man. He would fire because he knew that the boiler needed to be hot and the water needed to be seen in the glass. He was retired by the time that 3985 was converted to oil.
On the break in run on 3985 in 1981 from Cheyenne to LaSalle with UP CMO Frank Accord at the throttle I asked Jim, who was (coal) firing the 3985 at the time where he learned how to fire the Challenger. His reply was "Hell, I don't know what I'm doing, I'm just trying to keep it hot".
There are a lot of nasty rumors on the net about the 3985. Let's not start a new one, shall we?
Rick