FISH CAMP, Calif. — A battalion fire chief with the U.S. Forest Service died in a traffic accident while returning home from battling wildfires on the Sugar Pine Railroad near Yosemite last week, California news site My Mother Lode reports.
Chief Gary Helming had more than 20 years of experience with the forest service, including his most recent role as battalion chief. He was stationed in Santa Maria and was dispatched to Yosemite to help extinguish a 1,900-acre wildfire on the Sugar Pine Railroad.
According to the article, Helming was killed in a traffic accident on his way home from those wildfires early Thursday morning.
California Gov. Jerry Brown ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in response to the fireman’s death.
Helming is survived by his wife and three children.
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