A statement from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Saturday that the 25-year-old Ontario man was working just before 11 a.m. Friday in a remote area when his heavy-duty SUV overturned on a gravel road. .
Police said the victim, who has not been publicly identified, was airlifted to Fort St. John but died on the way.
The Royal Mounted Police indicated that an investigation is being carried out at the scene into the incident.
Provincial authorities confirmed the man was a contract firefighter working for the wildland fire service through a private British Columbia company and died fighting the nearly 6,000-square-kilometre (2,316-square-mile) Donnie Creek fire.
On July 13, 19-year-old Devyn Gale was killed fighting blazes near Revelstoke, British Columbia, after being struck by a collapsing tree.
British Columbia Premier David Eby issued a statement Saturday saying the death shortly after Gale’s “has affected people everywhere” in the province and devastated the fire community.
“This wildfire season has been deeply horrible,” Eby said.
According to statistics from the province’s wildfire service, there are currently 363 active fires in British Columbia, with 11 new ones in the last 24 hours and 191 classified as out of control.
In all, there have been 1,517 wildfires in British Columbia this year, consuming a record 5,944 square miles (15,397 square kilometers) of trees, shrubs and grass.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
