Firefighter Hillman passed away from injuries he sustained in an accidental fall from a piece of heavy equipment while working under contract for the Forest Service on the Siskiyou and Blue 2 Complex of fires.

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An air tanker (Neptune Tanker 09) under contract to the United States Forest Service crashed shortly after take-off from the Reno-Stead Airport . The crew of three was lost in the incident.. Preliminary statements from NTSB and witnesses indicate that a jet engine fire engulfed one of the tankers wings in flames moments after take off, sending the plane rolling into the ground.

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Assistant District Forester Curtis Jessen suffered critical injuries after falling at least 50 feet from the Big Bradley Falls near Saluda , NC , while working an outdoor fire. The fire had been burning since the previous evening.

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While operating at the scene of a structural fire, Captain Robeson and another firefighter ascended to a higher elevation in the bucket lift of a ladder truck. When the bucket lift reached a height that put it near power lines, there was an arc of electricity from those lines to the truck, electrocuting Capt. Robeson, the other firefighter in the bucket, and two other firefighters who were near the truck. 

 

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Firefighter Holmes and another firefighter were attempting to rescue a 44-year-old female resident from the second floor of a burning duplex, when conditions in the building rapidly deteriorated and the firefighters became trapped. The two firefighters were rescued by a rapid intervention team and transported to the hospital. Firefighter King has since been released from the hospital, but Firefighter Holmes, after several days in critical condition at the Mercy Hospital Burn Unit, succumbed to his injuries The female resident of the structure did not survive the fire.

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Los Angeles Firefighters were summoned to investigate smoke in the 8800 block of South Sepulveda Boulevard . At approximately 1440hrs, an explosion occurred at a nearby building, causing injury to two male Firefighters and one civilian. Firefighter Brent A. Lovrien, died shortly after arrival at the Centinela Freeman Regional Medical Center.

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On Friday, 06/27/08, Firefighter MacDonald was battling a fire on the north rim of the Grand Canyon National Park when he was bitten by an insect and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. On Sunday, 06/29/08, he suffered anaphylactic shock from the antibiotics and was being flown to the Flagstaff Medical Center in Arizona . Approximately one quarter mile from the hospital, the helicopter collided with another medical-transport helicopter killing Firefighter MacDonald.

Kurt Kamm writes novels about fires and firefighters. A resident of Malibu, he has lived through several wildland fires. He is a regular visitor at the fire camps, stations and training academies of L.A. County Fire Department and CalFire. To learn more about his novels, One Foot in the Black, and Red Flag Warning, visit   http://www.kurtkamm.com.




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