SANTA MARIA – Station KEYT is reporting that a Battalion Chief returning home from the Railroad Fire has died following a traffic accident.
Oscar Flores says Los Padres National Forest officials announced that Santa Lucia District Battalion Chief Gary Helming was killed in a car crash early Thursday morning, Aug. 31, while returning home from an assignment on the Railroad Fire in the Sierra National Forest.
Helming, reportedly a married father of three children, was a past Elks’ Firefighter of the Year for the Los Padres National Forest, according to the agency.
We will update with more information when it becomes available.
