The California Highway Patrol is investigating the death of a Texas firefighter killed Monday in a vehicle collision while helping battle a complex of wildfires that has burned a quarter-million acres in the Mendocino National Forest.
Diana Jones, 63, a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician from Cresson, Texas, was working for a private contractor on the August Complex fires, died in the incident.
Jones served in the fire agency in Cresson, a town of 1,000 about 25 miles southwest of downtown Fort Worth.
Cresson Fire Chief Ron Becker said Tuesday the community was stunned by news of Jones’ death.
“We’re all numb. We’re shell-shocked. She’ll be sorely missed,” Becker said.
The Forest Service said Jones and two other firefighters were working on the Tatham Fire, within the August Complex and about 50 miles southwest of Redding, when the incident occurred. A second firefighter was injured and is receiving medical treatment for burns, while the third firefighter received no injuries.
“This was a tragic incident and our hearts go out to the family, friends, and colleagues of the fallen firefighter,” said acting Forest Supervisor Sandra Moore. “Right now we are committed to providing support to those involved, while safely continuing firefighting operations.â
Jones had been working as an engine boss for K&L Fire of Summerville, Oregon, and based on social media posts appeared to have been assigned to the August Complex since at least Aug. 20. K&L’s Facebook page says it has contracts to provide wildland fire engines. K&L declined to comment when contacted Tuesday.
Jones’ death marks the second fatality among people helping battle wildfires in California since mid August when thousands of lightning strikes ignited hundreds of blazes around the state.
The other was also a firefighting contractor: Michael John Fournier, 52, of Rancho Cucamonga, a helicopter pilot killed while fighting a wildfire near the Fresno County town of Coalinga.
Becker said Jones had been with his department for five years and that she was a “big contributor” to the volunteer firefighting force of about 60 people.
On Sunday, Jones posted to Facebook a picture of the area where she was working. It depicted a burned-over landscape with a series of smoke-shrouded ridges fading into the distance.
Along with the California Highway Patrol, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the incident, according to a Department of Labor spokesman.
Several private contractors, mainly heavy equipment operators, have been killed while working some of California’s largest wildfires in recent years.
Robert Reagan of Fresno County died in 2016 when the bulldozer he was operating in a fire in Big Sur toppled down an embankment.
Garrett Paiz, a contract water tender driver from Missouri working on one of the October 2017 Wine Country fires, was killed when he lost control of his truck on a steep grade.
And Donald Ray Smith, a bulldozer operator from Pollock Pines in El Dorado County, was killed in the Carr Fire in 2018.
Several agency firefighters â from Cal Fire or other departments â have also died over the past several years in California blazes. They include Cory Iverson and Braden Varney of Cal Fire; Jeremy Stoke of the Redding Fire Department; and Matthew Burchett of Draper, Utah.
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