B.C. firefighters who died in crash were ‘irreplaceable’: employer
Posted September 21, 2023 5:59 pm.
Last Updated September 21, 2023 6:57 pm.
The four B.C. firefighters who died in a highway crash this week all worked for a Kamloops-based contractor, whose owner says they were like family.
Aaron Duczak, owner of Tomahawk Ventures, says three of the men were Indigenous, and that all four were “irreplaceable.”
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The men died when their pickup collided head-on with a semi-truck on Highway 1 east of Cache Creek in the province’s southern Interior early Tuesday morning.
Duczak says in a statement that the men’s lives had been “tragically cut short.”
The Ashcroft RCMP says the initial investigation suggests a Ford F-350 pickup truck carrying the four men failed to navigate a bend in the highway and slammed into the semi-truck travelling in the opposite direction.
When crews first arrived, they found the semi-truck had caught on fire. The driver had been able to escape before it was engulfed.
Police say the four firefighters were pronounced dead on the scene, approximately one kilometre west of Juniper Beach Provincial Park on Highway 1 near Walhachin, B.C.
Several statements have been made regarding the tragic collision, including one from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday afternoon.
“May we never forget how selflessly and fearlessly they served others,” he said in a post on X.
I’m sending my deepest condolences to the families, friends, and colleagues of the four wildfire fighters whose lives were cut short near Walhachin, British Columbia earlier today. May we never forget how selflessly and fearlessly they served others.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) September 20, 2023
Duczak says the company appreciates the public’s support and concerns but is asking for privacy.
“The wildland firefighting community has lost four good ones and they are irreplaceable,” he says.
