Pine Mountain Fire Response Engine Accident Fatality 1968

Bruce Mecchi, an 18-year-old firefighter with the California Department of Forestry (now CAL FIRE) was killed when the engine he was riding on overturned on a dirt road on the way to a fire. The engine was one of six fire vehicles responding to a fire on Pine Mountain on the early afternoon of July 4, 1968, when it ran off the roadway on a steep grade and rolled over several times. Also injured in the accident was a 17-year-old firefighter who, with Mecchi, was taken to Healdsburg General Hospital. Mecchi was pronounced dead on arrival. Both young men were hired under a program that saw students hired every year by CDF to bolster their summer fire staffing at that time. The fire was suppressed at 12 acres by engines, crews, and air tankers. 

Engine Incident or Accident, Fatality, Driving, Initial Attack