Dozer operator killed on Spanish fire

A bulldozer operator was killed on a fire in Spain on Wednesday. The accident was described this way by Earth Times:

Avila, Spain – Wildfires in Spain claimed their eleventh fatality this year when a man helping to fight one of the fires was killed near Avila northwest of Madrid on Wednesday, officials said. The man was hit by a bulldozer which he had been using with a companion after getting out of the vehicle.

Typically Spanish had this account:

Eight people have now lost their lives in the forest fires which have been blazing across the country this month, with the death in Ávila on Wednesday of a bulldozer driver sent by the Madrid Region to assist the fire-fighting operation in the south of the province. He is named by Europa Press as 40 year old Juan Carlos Rodríguez Matabuena, and is understood to have died shortly before 8am when he was run over by his own vehicle.

He became the second person to have died in the blaze in the Valle del Tiétar in the space of 24 hours, after the death on Tuesday of a 63 year old retired teacher, Javier Heras Artero, who was trapped in his home by the flames in the area known as Las Majadas.

A missing woman who was also feared to have died was later found safe and sound.

 

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Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.