Porterville firefighters died trying to save others inside burning library

  • Source: KFSN-TV ABC 30 Frenso/Visalia
  • Published: 02/20/2020 06:37 PM

It was a somber dawn in Porterville as the flag-draped body of 25-year-old Patrick Jones was brought out of the building where he answered his last call for service. On Thursday new details were revealed about the fallen firefighters, who were killed in a massive fire at the Porterville city library on Tuesday afternoon. They were on Engine 71, the first crew to arrive at the scene. Of the three firefighters who were on that truck, only one survived. Two died trying to rescue others. "The focus was to ensure that they had a primary search and a primary clear that all of the citizens had made an exit," said Captain Joanne Bear of the Tulare County Fire Department. It turned out, everyone who was in the library when the fire started made it out. But firefighters searching inside the building gave a May Day call and were never heard from again. Figueroa was found by the rapid intervention team.



Comments

We welcome comments from registered users. Comments are solely the responsibility of those who post them; their viewpoints are not endorsed by the Daily Dispatch and DailyDispatch.com. (read more)
Highlight
ship name
no comments have been added


FREE QUICK SUBSCRIBE
Sign up to subscribe to custom state Daily Dispatch emails for free

click to subscribe