Teenage Firefighter Died in Early Days of First Firefighting Season

Jesse Trader, 19, of Albany (OR) died Tuesday while driving a water tender back from a night shift fighting wildfires in a hard-to-reach area north of Grants Pass. Around 7:20 a.m., the truck hit an embankment and rolled over, reports The Oregonian.

Trader was the second Oregon firefighter to die in the line of duty in the past week. Tuesday was the third day of his first firefighting season, his 15-year-old brother said.

Trader had wanted to be a firefighter since he was 9, said his mother, Gigi Trader. His uncle owned a fire-suppression company in Merlin called County Fire and Rescue and hired the teenager for the summer, she said.

The company was helping contain the Big Windy complex of fires, started by dry lightning July 26.

Trader had just worked more than 12 hours and was driving back to the fire camp in Merlin along a narrow, winding road above steep canyons, said Jim Whittington, a spokesman for the Pacific Northwest Incident Management Team.

He was among a group of about 170 people who were heading back to the base from the fire lines. The night shift workers typically start at 5:30 p.m. and finish about 7 a.m.

The water tender tumbled at an altitude between 3,500 and 4,000 feet, on Bear Camp Road.

Oregon law does not cap the hours a firefighter can work within a 24-hour period, said Charlie Burr, communications director for the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries.

The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the case, said spokeswoman Melanie Mesaros. The agency will look into supervision, training and safety protocols, among other things, and might interview witnesses and other employees.

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