Woodwardia Fire Retardant Drop Fatality 1959

Leo Pablano, a firefighter with the Zuni Nation from New Mexico, was assigned to fight the Woodwardia Fire, near Duarte, on the Angeles National Forest, California. On October 16, Pablano suffered a major head injury and passed away at the hospital in Pasadena. Contemporary accounts vary as to whether he received his head injury while trying to escape a drop from a retardant aircraft, or whether the drop itself caused fatal injuries.

Unknown, Fatality, Aviation, Hand Crews