By Greg Skinner, for Peninsula Daily News
REDDING, Calif. –– One month after graduating from Port Townsend High School, 18-year-old Andrew “Andy” Palmer died on his first day working the Northern California fire line as a member of an Olympic National Park crew.
Palmer was struck by a falling tree on Friday while working the Iron Complex fires burning in Shasta-Trinity National Forest near Weaverville, Calif.
Authorities said Palmer died aboard a Coast Guard helicopter while he was being airlifted to Mercy Medical Center in Redding, Calif., about 50 miles east of the fire line.
Palmer is the first Olympic National Park firefighter to die in the line of duty in more than 20 years, park spokeswoman Barb Maynes said Saturday.
“He was extremely energetic, and dedicated to his job,” Maynes said.
“He was eager and excited to fight fires.”
Beyond describing Palmer’s injuries as “multiple,” Maynes had no details.
