UPDATE: GoFundMe Set Up for Hilo Native Killed Fighting California Fire

Brian Hughes. PC: Sierra News Online

UPDATE: Aug. 1, 2018

A GoFundMe donation page has been set up for Brian Hughes.

ORIGINAL POST: July 30, 2018

The Los Angeles Times yesterday, reported that Hilo native Brian Hughes, 33, captain of the Arrowhead Interagency Hotshots, was killed while fighting the Ferguson fire near Yosemite National Park on Sunday morning, July 29, 2018.

Hughes was killed when he was struck by a tree while working with his crew to set a back fire to limit a fire’s spread on the east side of the fire, according to the National Park Service.

He was treated at the scene but died before he could be taken to a hospital.

The Ferguson fatality marks the second firefighting death in Mariposa County and the eighth fire-related death as more than a dozen wildfires rage across the state.

Hughes worked with the Arrowhead hotshots for four years. The hotshots are an elite crew of 20 firefighters based at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

According to a park spokesman, the Arrowhead team was one of two hotshot crews within the National Park Service working on a two-week rotation when the fatality occurred.

The fire started July 13; Yosemite National Park remains closed while thousands of structures are under threat.

The Times said that more than 3,850 firefighters on the front lines have achieved 30% containment.