GRANTS PASS, Ore. — A firefighter working a blaze in southern Oregon has died after he was struck by a tree on Thursday, officials said.
The Oregon Department of Forestry and Bureau of Land Management confirmed the death of Logan Taylor, 25, in a Facebook post. The agency said Taylor, of Talent, Oregon, was critically hurt while working on the Rum Creek Fire north of Galice. He was the operator of Sasquatch Reforestation, an Oregon Department of Forestry-contracted firefighting company.
Officials said he was airlifted out of the mountains Thursday afternoon to a hospital in Medford and died despite lifesaving measures.
The incident is under investigation.
“We are extremely saddened by the passing of Logan Taylor. This loss is deeply felt by our ODF family and throughout the wildland fire community as a whole,” Tyler McCarty, ODF Southwest Oregon District Forester, said. “Safety remains our top priority. ODF and our partners are committed to learning from this accident and to doing everything we can to reduce the risk of similar incidents occurring in the future.”
“A loss of a firefighter’s life impacts the whole firefighting community, and we send our condolences to the family friends and coworkers,” said Elizabeth Burghard, BLM Medford District Manager. “Safety is the number one priority for the BLM and our wildland firefighting partners. We want every firefighter to come home safely each day.”
Last week, a firefighter from Colorado, 27-year-old Collin Hagan, died while fighting a wildfire in Douglas County, Oregon. Hagan was seriously hurt by a falling tree before he succumbed to his injuries, according to officials.
