
Authorities: Calif. blaze kills Wash. fire chief
YREKA, Calif. (AP) -- Authorities say a firefighter has died while scouting a Northern California blaze.
Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Susan Gravenkamp said Sunday that investigators believed 49-year-old Daniel Packer of Lake Tapps, Wash., died Saturday. Packer is a fire chief.
Gravenkamp says the 250-acre fire had prevented crews from recovering the body to make a positive identification, but several other firefighters who escaped identified the victim as Packer.
Eighteen-year-old Washington state firefighter Andrew Palmer died Friday after he was hit by a falling tree while battling another Northern California wildfire.
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