By Kimberly Ross
The Record Searchlight
SISKIYOU COUNTY, Calif. — A Washington state firefighter who died Saturday scouting the Panther Fire in Siskiyou County had sought cover from a fiery blow-over under his personal emergency fire shelter, fire officials said Monday.
His fellow scouting partner apparently did not use his own shelter, and escaped with minor injuries and no hospitalization, U.S. Forest Service public affairs officer Davida Carnahan said Monday. Few details were available.
"We don't know what happened," she said.
The death of Daniel Bruce Packer, 49, of Lake Tapps, Wash., was being examined Monday by the U.S. Forest Service's accident investigation team, Carnahan said.
"Until the investigation team comes out with their report, we won't know what choices the second firefighter made," she said. Carnahan said she could not provide the survivor's name until safety investigators have interviewed him.
"No one is actually under investigation," she said. "The purpose of the investigation team is to understand best what happened and how it happened, so it need not ever happen again."
Packer, chief of the East Pierce Fire and Rescue in Bonney Lake, Wash., died working the Panther Fire in Siskiyou County, about 15 miles south of Happy Camp.
The investigators were at the site Monday, the morning after a Forest Service crew and Siskiyou County sheriff's deputy carried Packer's body out of the steep, rugged area. Packer's body couldn't be reached sooner because of intense fire and smoke, sheriff's spokeswoman Susan Gravenkamp said.
Sunday, the recovery crew used a litter to move Packer's body to the nearest road. The job was expected to take three hours, Gravenkamp said.
"Of course, it was still fiery and smoky, and having to carry on that duty is (emotionally) difficult in and of itself," she said.
By phone from Washington, Spokane Assistant Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer described Packer as "an incredible human being, a very good friend and, in terms of being a fire chief, I think he was one of the best."
"Anybody and everybody in the state of Washington knows Dan Packer," he said.
Packer loved his four children and two grandchildren dearly, too, Schaeffer said.
"In his work car, there were pictures of each kiddo ... from one side of his dashboard to the other," Schaeffer said.
Packer's was the second firefighter death in the north state in two days. Washington state firefighter Andrew Jackson Palmer, 18, died Friday after a tree fell on him. The federal firefighter from Olympic National Park in Port Angeles, Wash., suffered multiple injuries and died en route to the hospital.
The deaths led Gov. Schwarzenegger to order state Capitol flags lowered to half-staff. Redding's giant U.S. flag on Bechelli Lane also was kept low Monday in honor of the two fallen firefighters.
No services will be held for Palmer in California, Weaverville-based Forrest Funeral Home director Steve Forrest said. Palmer’s remains will be cremated and sent to his parents in Port Townsend, Wash., Forrest said.
An autopsy for Packer is scheduled this morning, Gravenkamp said. Packer suffered some burns, but did not appear to have broken bones or other injuries, she said.
Officials Monday said they did not know of any memorials planned for Packer. Gravenkamp said she doesn’t know whether any family members are in the north state.
Copyright 2008, The Record Searchlight
