lodd Archives - Page 24 of 66

California inmate firefighter killed by falling tree

Bill GabbertMay 26, 2017May 27, 2017UncategorizedCalifornia, inmate crew, inmates, lodd

Matthew Beck firefighter — Matthew Beck. Photo credit: CDCR.

(Revised at 1:13 p.m. MDT May 27, 2017)

The California inmate firefighter in Humboldt County was killed May 24 while working on a county roads project in the northwestern part of the state in Del Norte County.

According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Matthew Beck, 26, was working with a crew in the Hoopa area. He suffered major head, neck and back injuries when a 120-foot tall tree uprooted and fell on him. He died before life-flight crews were able to reach him.

“We are saddened by the death of Matthew Beck, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends,” said CDCR Secretary Scott Kernan. “The inmates who year after year help protect our communities from the devastation of fires perform a valuable public service, and it is a tragic event when we lose one of them.”

Mr. Beck, who was assigned to the Alder Conservation Camp in Del Norte County, was serving a six-year sentence for burglary and was due to be parolled in October. He is the fourth inmate firefighter to die on a fire since the conservation program was created in the 1940s.

In February of 2016 another California inmate firefighter, Shawna Lynn Jones, 22, died after being struck by a boulder that rolled down a hill on the Mulholland Fire near Malibu.

Our sincere condolences go out to the friends, family, and coworkers of both firefighters.

This article has been edited to rectify incorrect information initially provided by the CDRC. The firefighter was not working on a fire at the time of the accident.

Four firefighters killed in China

Bill GabbertApril 5, 2017UncategorizedChina, lodd

Four firefighters that were working on a wildfire in the Shanxi Province of northern China were found dead Monday April 3. According to local authorities they became entrapped while fighting the fire near Wenjiazhuang Village of Taigu County.

The initial report is that the fire was caused by a villager who was burning paper money while visiting the tombs of relatives before Tomb Sweeping Day, which was on April 4 this year. The custom in China is for people to pay respect to their deceased family members at that time of the year by burning incense and paper money.

Chief Jim Strain discusses coping with a line of duty death

Bill GabbertMarch 3, 2017UncategorizedCoal Canyon Fire, Jim Strain, lodd, South Dakota

Trampus Haskvitz was entrapped and killed while fighting the Coal Canyon Fire in 2011.

In this video Jim Strain, the Assistant Chief of Operations for the South Dakota Division of Wildland Fire Suppression, talks about how he and his department coped with the line of duty death of firefighter Trampus Haskvitz.

Mr. Haskvitz was killed while making an initial attack with an engine on a lightning caused fire approximately 9 miles north of Edgemont, South Dakota on August 11, 2011. One firefighter entrapped in the engine with Mr. Haskvitz survived but with serious burns and was admitted to a burn center in Greeley, Colorado. Another was injured while escaping from the engine and was admitted to a hospital in Rapid City, SD. Two others injured in a rescue attempt were treated at local hospitals and released.

The report on the fatality can be found here. All of our articles about the LODD are tagged Coal Canyon Fire.

Firefighter killed in national park in India

Bill GabbertFebruary 19, 2017February 19, 2017UncategorizedIndia, lodd

Two other firefighters suffered serious burn injuries while suppressing the 400-acre fire.

A firefighter was killed February 18 while fighting a fire in Bandipur National Park in India. It was reportedly the first time a wildland firefighter in the southern state of Karnataka has died in the line of duty.

The victim, identified as Murugappa Gouda Thammannanavar, was part of a team suppressing a fire in the Bandipura Tiger Reserve. Two others who suffered serious burns initially treated at a local hospital were later transferred to KR hospital in Mysuru.

“There was wind blowing from all directions and Murugappa could not escape from the spreading flames,” said Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Ranga Rao.

Below is an excerpt from an article in The Hindu:

While the immediate cause of the fire is not known, it has been established that most of the fires are caused by humans. In many cases, the dry vegetation is set ablaze by miscreants from the local community to wreak revenge when they are booked by the authorities for being in conflict with the law.

Bandipur is going through one of the worst dry spells in recent memory and though forest fires are an annual affair in view of its dry deciduous vegetation, the intensity of drought this year is high. The national park has suffered from two consecutive years of dry spell, and the failure of the southwest monsoon this year has aggravated the situation.

There are 373 waterholes in the national park, which is spread over 874 sq. km, but nearly 350 of them have gone dry.

Bandipur National Park is known for its tigers, Indian elephants, spotted deer, gaurs (bison), antelopes, and numerous other native species.

Our sincere condolences go out to Mr. Thammannanavar’s friends, family, and co-workers, and we hope the two injured firefighters have a speedy recovery

Another firefighter killed in Chile wildfires

Bill GabbertJanuary 25, 2017UncategorizedChile, lodd1 Comment

Ten days after three firefighters were killed while fighting a wildfire in Chile, another has been killed while battling one of the numerous blazes occurring during an extended drought in Chile.

According to AFP:

The man died after getting stuck while trying to help a family escape from their home near the city of Constitucion, a source in the fire service told AFP.

Our sincerest condolences go out to the family, coworkers, and friends of the firefighter.

Three firefighters killed in Chile wildfire

Bill GabbertJanuary 17, 2017January 17, 2017UncategorizedChile, lodd1 Comment

At least four other firefighters were injured.

Three wildland firefighters were killed Sunday January 15 while battling a fire in the commune of Vichuquén, Maule Region of Chile. An ongoing drought and variable winds led to extreme fire behavior when the accident occurred.

According to Cooperative.cl the deceased were identified as:

Ricardo Salas, head of the Maqui 3 brigade,

Wilfredo Salgado, crew chief Maqui 3 and,

Sergio Faúndez, head of the second crew Maqui 6.

Below is another quote from the above website. It is translated by Google and is a little rough:

The manager of Fire Protection Conaf, Andrés Mascareñ or, noted that 14 years ago no such fact occurred in the region and said that activate the relevant protocols to protect personnel.

“Since 2003 we did not have an accident of this level and all these years we have been presenting a critical situation of forest fires and we have faced them properly,” said the executive.

“According to the protocol we have, when situations such as these occur, the tasks are stopped and measures of safeguarding the personnel are taken,” added Mascareño.

Because this incident has consumed about 50 hectares of pine and presents a conflictive behavior, given the high temperatures and wind generating new outbreaks of fire, the Municipality of Maule decreed for the commune of Vichuquén Red Alert until conditions so They deserve it.

Firefighters in Chile have been very busy in recent weeks. The pilot of a single engine air tanker was killed December 28 when the aircraft crashed about 15 kilometers from the town of Santa Juana after working on a wildfire in the Bío Bío region.

Presidenta Bachelet lamentó muerte de brigadistas de Conaf y expresó su reconocimiento al trabajo que realizan: https://t.co/THFMsLFfnV pic.twitter.com/hf1h7BEBnM

— Cooperativa (@Cooperativa) January 15, 2017