Tragedy hit on the fire line Tuesday morning.
19-year-old Jesse Trader was killed when around 7:20 Tuesday morning officials said the water tender truck he was driving hit an embankment, slid, then flipped on Bear Camp Road. The young man was returning from the night shift fighting the Big Windy Complex fires.
“It was with great respect that we offer, as a team […] our condolences,” said Jim Whittington, with the Interagency Incident Management Team.
According to officials, after the call came in around 7:20am, firefighters on scene tried to save Jesse and life support ambulances arrived but efforts were unsuccessful. He died around 8 in the morning on a road system that officials describe as rugged.
“That entire road system is very steep and windy,” said Josephine County Sheriff Gil Gilbertson.
“It is some of the roughest terrain that a lot of veteran firefighters have seen,” said Sarah Saarloos, a spokesperson for the Big Windy Complex fires.
Officials said they’re still investigating the cause of the accident, but say it’s unlikely Jesse was driving any faster than 30-40 miles-per-hour. Josephine County Sheriff Gil Gilbertson said the water in the truck added more weight and didn’t help the situation.
Meantime, a somber note hangs in the air as firefighters and others come to terms with the first death due to the wildfires in Southern Oregon.
Officials said Jesse is from the Albany area but worked for his family’s company “County Fire” in Merlin.
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