MEDFORD, Ore. — The governor of Oregon has ordered state flags lowered to half-staff to honor a fire crew foreman who collapsed and died, apparently of natural cases, while working on a wildfire in Northern California.
The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department says Oscar Montano-Garcia of Medford, Ore., collapsed Sunday during a lunch break while assigned to the Nabob fire in the Rogue River Siskiyou National Forest. Emergency personnel were unable to revive him.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Jayme Lynch says the contract firefighter’s death was not related to the fire.
The Mail Tribune reports four Oregonians are among the 77 people nationwide who have died while fighting wildfires this year.
