Butte Ranger Unit Engine Accident Fatalities 1949

Rudy Gaub, David Keeney, and Bruce Weatherbee, firefighters with the California Department of Forestry (now CAL FIRE) on the Butte Ranger Unit, were fatally injured when the engine in which they were riding experienced mechanical failure of the axle and rolled over en route to a fire. The engine, staffed with a total of four firefighters, was responding to a string of initial-attack fires in rural Butte County near Bangor. When the engine overturned, Keeney was trapped underneath. Gaub and Weatherbee were violently thrown from the vehicle. All three were riding in the open back of the engine. Keeney was freed when a passing log truck pulled the engine over with a cable. He died shortly after the accident. Bruce Weatherbee survived two days in the hospital and Gaub passed away 17 days later. The fourth firefighter, James Foster, was hospitalized for an extended period with a broken pelvis and arm. 

Engine Incident or Accident, Fatality, Initial Attack, Driving, Engines