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Paul Eugene Gibson

Firefighter

The 8 firefighters were a part of a 20-member contract fire fighting crew. The firefighters were returning from 11 days of fighting fires Idaho’s Boise National Forest. The firefighters rode in a 16-passenger van as a part of a caravan of 2 vans and a truck. As the van traveled through a 2-lane sloped curve marked as a no passing area, it crossed the centerline to pass a tractor-trailer truck. The van struck a tractor-trailer truck traveling in the opposite direction head-on. When the vehicles came to rest, a fire began which consumed the van and the majority of the tractor-trailer. The occupants of the tractor-trailer truck were able to escape the fire but all 8 firefighters remained in the burning wreckage of the van. The crew boss was in the lead vehicle some distance ahead and did not witness the crash. When the crew boss lost radio contact with the firefighters, they pulled over to wait for them to catch up. Seeing smoke in the distance, they drove to the crash scene and found the van totally engulfed in fire. As they traveled home, members of the crew had purchased beer and other food items in Idaho and again at a store just previous to the crash. Although tests were unable to exactly determine the amount of alcohol in the driver’s blood, it is accepted that the driver of the van had been consuming alcohol before the crash. All 8 firefighters were either killed in the crash of the ensuing fire and were pronounced dead at the scene First Strike Environmental was charged with 18 counts of reckless endangerment and drunken driving under Oregon’s corporate responsibility law. The charges were dropped in February of 2004. First Strike Environmental web site – https://dwp.bigplanet.com/firststrike/firelineservices
photo of the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial
Paul Eugene Gibson was honored on the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Emmitsburg, Maryland and was included in the USFA’s annual report Firefighter Fatalities in the United States.

Department information

First Strike Environmental
256 Quarry Road
Roseburg, Oregon 97470

Chief: Robert Krueger, President

Age: 25
Rank: Firefighter
Classification: Career
Incident date: August 24, 2003 10:45
Date of death: August 24, 2003
Cause of fatal injury: Struck By
Nature of fatal injury: Trauma
Activity type: Riding Vehicle/Apparatus
Emergency duty: Yes
Duty type: Responding
Fixed property use: Street/Road

Last updated: June 13, 2012