Three firefighters were injured, one very seriously, by a falling tree July 3 in central California near Three Rivers, a town in the foothills of the Sierras. Damien Pereira, 25, underwent surgery Saturday to repair broken vertebrae, and more surgeries are planned to address his broken ribs and bruised internal organs.
Below is a news release issued July 4 by CAL FIRE.
As a Cal Fire contract faller I hate seeing this kind of news. Mop-up has become more dangerous because of these drought stressed trees. Guys please, examine each tree you will be spending any time near.
I was working as an AK Smokejumper in ’88, detailed to Redmond, OR from Ft. Wainwright. We were on a fire in the John Day area, predominantly bug kill pine, and if our parachute shredding landings were any indication, this would be any interesting fire. The fire itself was contained pretty easily, but we had major problems with yellow jackets, and at night, we could hear trees falling at a rate which must have been half a dozen per hour. No close calls, but definitely heads up all night, and fortunately, no problems with rolling rocks, another extreme hazard at night.
Hat tip to all the crews on the line; stay safe.
Last night a CalFire rep commented that the tree may have been drought stressed, weak, and unstable.