MARIPOSA COUNTY, CA — A California firefighter was killed battling a wildfire near Yosemite National Park, CalFire officials said.
Officials identified the firefighter as heavy fire equipment operator Braden Varney. Officials said Varney, 36, leaves behind a wife and two small children.
Varney was part of the crew battling the Ferguson Fire that broke out Friday night and is burning near the west side of the park. The fire has burned 130 acres as of Saturday morning and is just five percent contained. Highway 140 is closed in the area due to the fire. Evacuations were ordered for people in the are due to the fire.
Varney worked through the night and was driving the bulldozer to cut a firebreak to keep the fire from extending into a nearby community, according to fire chief Nancy Koerperich. Investigators were working to determine further circumstances surrounding Varney’s death, but they believe he was working his way out of the fire area when he was killed, Koerperich said.
Varney was a second-generation firefighter and his father had also been a heavy equipment operator for CalFire.
According to Sierra News Online, the fire is burning in “the very steep terrain” of the Merced River Canyon.
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Gov. Jerry Brown ordered flags at the state’s capitol to be flown at half-staff to honor “a man who dedicated his life to protecting his fellow Californians.”
The death is the second reported fatality of the 2018 fire season in California. A civilian was killed in the deadly Klamathon Fire that burned on the California/Oregon fire earlier this month.
The fire near Yosemite is one of 11 active blazes currently burning in the state.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Photo by Renee Schiavone/Patch