An Oregon firefighter died in a fall while on a break from battling a wildfire in the southern Cascade Range, reports The Statesman Journal.
Matthew David Goodnature, 21, of Phoenix, Oregon, was dead when another firefighter found him Tuesday evening near Four Mile Lake in Fremont-Winema National Forest, Klamath County Sheriff Frank Skrah said.
Goodnature had walked away from fire camp while on the break and apparently lost his balance climbing over a rock before falling backward over a downed log and breaking his back, Skrah said.
The death was the first of a wildland firefighter in Oregon this season and the seventh nationwide, National Interagency Fire Center spokesman Mike Ferris said.
One of the others was killed in a plane crash, and five died in medical emergencies such as heart attacks.
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