List of Cal Fire firefighters killed in the line of duty

Although it is seen as one of the most dangerous professions, most firefighters do not die of traumatic injuries, or in dramatic rescue attempts. It is more common to suffer illness and early death from heart disease and various cancers. It is often said that by choosing the occupation, you shorten your expected lifespan by and average of ten years due to the additional stresses and hardships placed on a person by the regular hardships of the job. In recent years, these cardiac related and cancer deaths have come to be recognized as duty-related and also sometimes categorized as Line of Duty deaths for a variety of purposes. Nationwide in 2014, 56% of all on duty deaths were heart attacks. For volunteers, which make up a large percentage of the fire service in the US, on-duty and off-duty lines can be vague and easily blurred by the travel to and from duty, which also is often seen as duty-related. Additionally, it can be argued, that injuries or deaths that occur while a firefighter is off-shift, but bound by an occupational code of ethics to act in a capacity of a rescuer can be duty-related. These other duty-related deaths, however, are more difficult to identify and catalog, based on the additional facts and circumstances which must be considered. This fact is evidenced by the wide variety of criteria used by various organizations such as the California Fire Foundation, the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial, the Public Safety Officers Benefits program and other similar organizations. All in all, any early death of a firefighter is a tragic loss to his or her family, friends and the community at large and deserves to be recognized, whether they meet specific criteria for any particular organization or definition.
Tragedy prompts safety
As of April 2016, the State memorial in Sacramento, CA honors 158 Cal Fire firefighters who have died from work-related causes, but only 34 are known to have died directly due to actions in response to a fire or other emergency. Typically these on-duty deaths are analyzed and examined more closely than deaths from other medical reasons. Many improvements in firefighting safety have come about after case-studies of fatal firefighter incidents. Flame resistant nomex clothing and upgraded training were required after Steve Arrollado was burned in the Bell Valley fire. The wildland fire shelter was mandated for all Cal Fire firefighters after the Spanish Ranch fire in 1979, and it was redesigned and improved after the disastrous South Canyon fire near Glenwood Springs, CO. in 1994. The 1990 death of Kenneth Enslow prompted the "Look Up, Look Down" safety training program. A variety of firefighting air tanker crashes eventually led to wider inspections and removing the oldest and most vulnerable large air tankers from the national wildland firefighting fleet.
The following is a list of known deaths of employees, paid-call firefighters or contractors of(Cal Fire ) California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection) and it's predecessor, the California Division of Forestry related to injuries directly caused by or that occurred during a fire or other emergency incident. Date of Death(DOD), Date of Incident/Injury (DOI) are noted as such.
1940s
BROWN, Donald M. - DOD 12 Nov 1947, DOI 17 Dec 1947, vehicle accident involving fire engine in Perris, CA
1950s
O'REILLY, Gerald - DOD/DOI 5 Jul 1950, burnover on a wildland fire near Las Pilitas, CA
HIGGINS, Larry - DOD/DOI 18 Aug 1952, burnover on a wildland fire near Murrieta, CA
HENISER, James E - DOD/DOI 25 Aug 1952, burnover on a wildland fire near Santiago Peak, Orange County CA
GUTHRIE, John D. - DOD , DOI 8 Aug 1959, burnover on the Decker fire near Elsinore, CA. Posthumously awarded the Governor's Medal of Valor for his actions on this incident. Guthrie is credited with saving the lives of three of his crew by rushing them into the safety of the enclosed fire engine when over-run by fire.
1960s
MILLER, Melvon L. - DOD/DOI 17 Aug 1965, collapsed in cardiac arrest while operating at the scene of a structure fire in La Quinta, CA.
MORRISON, Robert J. - DOD/DOI 20 Jul 1968, pilot of TBM air tanker crashed while dropping on a wildfire near Idyllwild, CA.
1970s
ARROLLADO, Steve M. - DOD 28 Aug 1973/DOI 11 Aug 1973, burnover on Bell Valley fire near Potrero, CA.
MORRISON, Samuel P. -
RAY, Dick - DOD/DOI 8 Jun 1979 pilot
CONNER, Dennis - DOD/DOI 8 Jun 1979 pilot
MANLEY, Steve R. - DOD/DOI 15 Aug 1979, burnover on Spanish Ranch fire east of Nipomo, CA.
LORANT, Ronald T. -DOD/DOI 15 Aug 1979, burnover on Spanish Ranch fire east of Nipomo, CA.
CULLINS, Dennis Lee - DOD/DOI 29 Sep 1987, burnover on the Lauder fire near Willits, CA.
1990s
ENSLOW, Kenneth E - DOD 14 Aug 1990/DOI 13 Aug 1990, hit by a snag on wildland fire (Recer), near Ukiah in the Mendocino NF.
STARK, Roger - DOD/DOI 19 Jun 1992, S2 pilot T92 crashed after making a drop on a fire near Railroad Flat, Calaveras County, CA
BUC, Robert L. - DOD/DOI 13 Aug 1994, C130 pilot under contract to CDF crashed mid-flight while on fire mission
JOHNSTON, Joe W. - DOD/DOI 13 Aug 1994, C130 co-pilot under contract to CDF crashed mid-flight while on fire mission
GROFF, Larry - DOD/DOI 27 Aug 2001, mid-air collision of S2 tanker over Bus fire, Mendocino County, CA
KANTON, Chris - DOD/DOI 6 Aug 2005, vehicle accident involving fire engine in Beaumont, CA
SCHICKE, Eva Marie - DOD/DOI 12 Sep 2004, burnover of helitack crew Copter 404, Tuolumne River Canyon, CA
STONE, Robert Paul - DOD/DOI 6 Sep 2006, crash of OV10A air attack plane near Mountain Home State Forest, Tulare County, CA.
WILLETT, George Sandy Jr. - DOD/DOI 6 Sep 2006, crash of OV-10A air attack plane near Mountain Home State Forest, Tulare County, CA
WILL, Matthew R. - DOD 9 Oct 2007/DOI 8 Oct 2007, Dozer rollover while operating on the Palo Colorado fire south of Carmel, CA.
2010s
DOUGLAS, Christopher L. - DOD/DOI 5 Jul 2013,vehicle accident while enroute to a traffic collision
HUNT, Geoffrey Craig - DOD/DOI 7 Oct 2014, S2 pilot, impact with terrain near Yosemite National Park.
Additional names of Cal Fire (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection) firefighter deaths as listed on the California Firefighter Foundation's memorial wall as part of the California State Capitol Museum, Sacramento, CA. can be found here.

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