Jul 27, 2008 4:04 pm US/Pacific
Fire Chief Killed Scouting NorCal Wildfire
Second Firefighter Killed Since Friday
YREKA (AP) ―
A firefighter who died Saturday while scouting a Northern California blaze was a prominent fire chief from Washington state, colleagues in his home state confirmed.
Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Susan Gravenkamp said Sunday that investigators believed the firefighter was 49-year-old Daniel Packer of Lake Tapps, Wash., chief of East Pierce County Fire & Rescue in a 142-square-mile area with a population of 72,000 east of Tacoma.
The identity was confirmed by Mike Brown, executive director of the Washington State Fire Chiefs, of which Packer was the immediate past president, and by Spokane, Wash., Assistant Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer, a colleague on the board of the state group.
Packer was working as a division supervisor on the 250-acre Panther Fire in the Siskiyou Mountains, part of the Siskiyou Complex of fires covering 54,000 acres, more than 8.4 square miles, according to a news release and death notice issued by Schaeffer.
"He was overrun by the fire when the wind shifted unexpectedly," Schaeffer wrote.
A similar account was given in a statement of condolence by Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire.
Another firefighter managed to flee on foot, Davida Carnahan, a spokeswoman for the Klamath National Forest, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. It was unclear whether the surviving firefighter was injured, but he declined medical attention, she said.
"Following this accident, we pulled everybody off" the Panther Fire, Carnahan said. "We have not been able to retrieve the remains, because the fire is too unstable to get in there."
A ground crew was waiting to recover Packer's remains once conditions permitted, officials said.
Klamath National Forest spokesman Duane Lyons said a U.S. Forest Service team would arrive Monday to investigate the cause of his death.
In his work with the chiefs association, Packer was especially involved in state emergency mobilization and incident management team planning, Schaeffer added.
Packer formed a wildfire team to respond to blazes in more than 4,500 acres, nearly seven square miles, of undeveloped land in his own jurisdiction, East Pierce County Battalion Chief Russ McCallion said.
"He was a veteran wildland firefighter," McCallion said. "Dan took that experience and helped develop our own wildland firefighting team."
Flags at fire stations in Spokane and other jurisdictions around Washington state were lowered to half staff.
Eighteen-year-old Washington state firefighter Andrew Palmer died Friday after he was hit by a falling tree while battling another Northern California wildfire.
Gregoire wrote that she was saddened by the losses.
"When called, they stepped up to help our neighbors in California. They gave their lives doing the hard, heroic work of protecting the lives of others," she wrote.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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