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.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)