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Second firefighter dies battling California forest fires
Source: Reuters
US | Mon Aug 10, 2015 12:00pm EDT
Second firefighter dies battling California forest fires
SACRAMENTO, CALIF. | BY SHARON BERNSTEIN
A 21-year-old Sacramento-area man became the second California firefighter to die battling wildfire this year, as a series of lightning strikes ignited blazes in the drought-parched Sierra Nevada over the weekend.
Michael Hallenbeck, of the Sierra foothill community of Shingle Springs, was killed on Saturday as he and his firefighting crew tackled a blaze near Lake Tahoe in Northern California, the U.S. Forest Service said on Sunday.
Dave Ruhl, 38, died last month fighting another Northern California fire.
"The grief we are feeling at the sudden loss of two of our firefighters, Dave Ruhl ... on the Modoc National Forest and now Mike Hallenbeck on the Basin, reminds us of the sacrifices these men and women make every day,” U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Regional Forester Randy Moore said in a statement.
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Second firefighter dies battling California forest fires
SACRAMENTO, CALIF. | BY SHARON BERNSTEIN
A 21-year-old Sacramento-area man became the second California firefighter to die battling wildfire this year, as a series of lightning strikes ignited blazes in the drought-parched Sierra Nevada over the weekend.
Michael Hallenbeck, of the Sierra foothill community of Shingle Springs, was killed on Saturday as he and his firefighting crew tackled a blaze near Lake Tahoe in Northern California, the U.S. Forest Service said on Sunday.
Dave Ruhl, 38, died last month fighting another Northern California fire.
"The grief we are feeling at the sudden loss of two of our firefighters, Dave Ruhl ... on the Modoc National Forest and now Mike Hallenbeck on the Basin, reminds us of the sacrifices these men and women make every day,” U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Regional Forester Randy Moore said in a statement.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/10/us-usa-wildfire-california-idUSKCN0QF1PI20150810
1 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
This young man paid the ultimate price. More will pay this price. Climate change is drying northern forests further north making areas that haven't burned with big fuel buildups burn more intensely. Longer fire season, dangerous conditions and insufficient resources.
We are still fighting wildfires with technologies and tactics developed generations ago. 